The conversation, imho, should be about value. At the end of Strome's current contract he will have cost $37m for 13 years of service. Schmaltz will have cost $43.7m for 10 years.
If we look at point production Schmaltz has a mere 57 more points than Strome.
Strome has a 49.4% career faceoff % and has won 2,582 faceoffs. Schmaltz is 40.7% and has won 1,748 draws. The Coyotes are last or near last in the league in faceoffs.
Schmaltz is a faster skater but Strome would be a better value and bring more of what the Coyotes need at the position. Chayka overestimated Schmaltz' value both in the assets he gave up (I know 1st rounder Perlini didn't pan out but still) and overpaying Schmaltz on a long term deal.
They should've stuck with Strome and developed him. It's not that he is awesome it's just that Schmaltz is not that much better than him overall and what Strome is good at the Coyotes need.
I recall it being that Schmaltz was and still is top tier at zone entry with possession which is what the team sorely needed. Strome had good vision and decent stickhandling/passing, but his skating was an issue so he couldn't bring the puck into the zone on his own consistently. If he had someone who could handle that aspect on his line, then his strength would get to show through and I think other teams have been able to better support him at times which shows when he can still produce points. I recall he was effective on the powerplay when he got that split second of extra time to make his plays. It was a real struggle for him during 5-on-5 play.
The team has always had centers who are good at one or two of the main things a center needs to do, but never have the full package on one them.
Strome had good vision and passing but lacked at skating and executing the play quickly enough (I don't remember his defensive play because he was still young when we had him, but he's smart, so I imagine it was ok when his skating wasn't a factor).
Schmaltz has good skating and is excellent at gaining the zone, as well as backchecking, but he plays to the perimeter and isn't great at defensive zone play where he needs to engage more physically in board battles.
Dvorak was solid defensively, but not as strong as the other two are on their offensive specialties.
Hayton seems to be most similar to Dvorak in play thus far. His hands seem to slow.
Cooley is very encouraging because he's showing promise in everything. Tourigny has had him penalty killing as well and he's thriving at it (Guenther too).