Dan Rosen mentioned on his mailbag this morning on Sirius XM NHL Radio that he thinks the Blues are not going to offer Petro 7-8 years, but that they would probably give him 3-4 years at top dollar. I don't know if Rosen has any specific insight into our front office, but it could be that the Faulk trade and extension is Army's hedge against Petro walking over years and not AAV.
On one hand, I see (and support) Army's POV (if this is true) about not wanting to pay top dollar to a guy when he's 38 years old, as Petro would be at the end of an 8 year extension. On the other, they pulled the trigger quickly on a 7 year deal (albeit for a guy who is more than 2 years younger) within minutes of acquiring him in a trade. What kind of message does that send?
Ultimately, I want to see Petro stay. Hopefully there is a compromise around 6 years or so, and Faulk ends up as fodder for the expansion draft. But if it appears that Petro is not going to extend, I would rather trade him sooner if you can get significantly more value for him than to wait until the TDL and have to decide if he's worth what someone else is offering.