Krug and Backes

There 's no way that trade is good. That return is just awful

Difficult for teams to take on 10m in cap without sending some money back

The blues would never send a 2nd to take Backes from you.
At most Krug would be the price to pay, but considering every boston fan wants to dump Krug, mainly because he's not really all that good, you will most likely have to sweeten the pot.

Hard to sell teams on 5'9 defense men. Talk him up all you want People like big defense men, they don't get injured as often, they hit, they clear the net.

Except the little guys who score keep getting paid and keep getting drafted high. Yes - Bruins fans want him out because A) they know he is going to get a substantial raise. B) We see McAvoy as a replacement with Grzelcyk as a backup for the Defensive QB.

Guess who has the exact same amount of points this season and last combined? Erik Karlsson.

This is an absolute horrible deal for the Bruins. 2 years of Backes at 6m isn't good, but real money is far less, and if not STL teams will need to get to floor. STL has a ton of expiring money (Boumeester, Del Zotto, Gunnerson, Maroon) would give them more than enough $ to bring in both salaries and arguably be better. Backes is better than McKenzie MaCeachern. He'll pretty much give you what Maroon has given you this year.

The Bruins are far better off dealing krug for a 1st and Backes and 3rd for a 7th of something like that.

the "little guys who keep scoring keep getting paid" ???? where?
Maybe a winger that can play a top line. But even then they aren't 5'9. There are a hand full of players that small.

Please don't compare Krug to Karlsson it's not even close. Karlsson is 6 foot and can handle crap on his own end. Krug is hidden. That's why he's considered one of the best and Krug is not.
I don't know where you get this idea he's worth a 1st. I highly doubt any team is giving you a 1st for him. If he was that good you would trade other people out and not him. He wouldn't be the 1st on the list out the door. They would have saved money not signing an old slow Chara and used it on Krug. But teams like their defense men big, which is why Chara stays and Krug is out the door.

You have an up hill climb to convince any GM to take Krug. It doesn't help that player like Shattenkirk have been total flops before him as well.
While someone might take a flyer on him, it won't be giving something up for it. Especially if they are taking Backes. You can forget that.