While I believe Faulk would be the best D on our team, I also believe 100% he would be testing the market in two years, unless we miraculously won a Cup within the next two years and he felt there was a great need to stay and continue the winning.
If we were to acquire a player to lead our D it would have been better to target Hamilton, Hanifin or Trouba. Two of those guys are already gone (although Hanifin has not been signed yet) and I don't believe that Trouba is going to be traded.
We may as well stick with our guys and promote from within over the next couple of seasons. It would be nice to get a young star like those mentioned above, I'd even be ok with over-paying for one of them, but as good as Faulk would be here, I would NOT overpay for him, and including a player like Larkin PLUS a protentional 1ST OVERALL LOTTERY pick in insane overpayment. That's even overpayment for any of the three I mentioned above. If we were including the 2019 1st, the player going back would have to be either a prospect or a player along the lines of Nyquist or Helm. Depending on the prospect, that still might be overpayment.
I'm not even interested in Skinner, he too would more than likely test the market after this season and jump to a contender.
Here's what I think would be acceptable (it may not be market, but I'd find it acceptable) for Faulk. At the VERY most:
Svech and 2019 2nd.
They may not like it, but again, I am not trading AA or a potential Jack Hughes for Faulk.
If they wanted to swap Skinner out, I'd trade them Nyquist straight up, maybe throw in a conditional pick, but basically a UFA for a UFA. Again, not giving up AA or a higher prospect/pick for a potential rental.