Why does Boumeister who finally has a chance to win a Cup waive his NTC?

Because it is the only way to make the deal work He does look like a dude who would like warm weather and golf.

I suppose Gunnarson could step into the deal for Bouwmeester, but that would require some math gymnastics next year. Possible, but difficult.

Yeah Bouwmeester isn't waiving for Arizona reality check here, OEL probably doesn't get dealt until the draft and OEL is looking for around $9 million per doubt St Louis has the cap to sign him that much they need a #1C would be better going for Tavares then OEL.

Going to edit the whole post and slide Gunnarson in Bouwmeester's slot. I don't necessarily want this trade, just curious to see how things would look if it occurred.

Funny, how you mention that about Bouwmeister. I thought about that for Shane Doan. Apparently he enforced his NTC when the Coyotes wanted to trade him for a contender for futures. It would only be for few months of additional time and then as a UFA he could resign back in Arizona. But IMO, Dane just wanted to play till mid April, and not really help his team long term. And for that Doan is an Arizona icon?

Yeah Gunnarson makes far more sense then Bouwmeester just don't see Bouwmeester waiving his NTC for Arizona he's finally on a team that has a chance to run for the cup and Arizona possibly getting Dahlin wont cut it.

I totally get that professional athletes are hyper competitive, but if you gave me the chance to get paid millions of dollars to sit in 70 degree weather during the balls of winter I would totally do that. I just googled Phoenix' weather, the lowest this week is 63 degrees. Its like 10 degrees in STL right now.

Looking at it now, could work - 2nd pairing of Bouwmeester - Parayko is nice mix of stay-at-home and puck possessing/moving. 1st pairing of Pietrangelo - OEL would eat a lion's share of minutes and be extremely dynamic (and also force Mike Yeo to stop putting a 4th winger on the point on the PP. I love VT91, but he can't move the puck from the blue line like a true defenseman can).

I'm intrigued, but doubt this trade would happen for a million reasons, most importantly because OEL would be in high demand and another team could probably beat this offer.

Much better i still think this would be more of a draft day deal then a TDL deal i would be surprised if Chayka moved Ekman-Larsson before the draft and too by then if a teams deals for him he can agree pretty much to an extension by then seeing that it would only be a week before free agency and the GM acquiring him can work out a long term extension with his agent.

Yea - that's the best point yet. Would be completely moronic to trade futures now and have no clue whether the asset would walk in 1 year when you can trade futures later and also know whether you can retain the asset.

If Tavares leaves this year i can definitely see the Blues making a major bid for him. Really don't see them going after OEL he'll want big money if that's the case Army would've just resigned Shattenkirk back last summer. Blues need a #1C worse then another D man.

Well, I do believe that STL has a path forward at center (assuming Stastny, Brodziak walk) with Schenn, Barbashev, Robert Thomas*, Berglund, Oskar Sundqvist, and Adam Musil*. Absolutely not the strongest up the middle, but I think the pieces are there to field a competitive team for 2-3 years, and if the two prospects*, both of whom will take another year to develop turn into capable top 6/bottom 6 respectively, the team is solid long into the future.

Also GMDA, based on reports from our local beat writers, did offer Shattenkirk, who declined. But at the same time Shattenkirk was skating behind both Pietrangelo and Parayko whereas our left side has 2 UFAs in 1 1/2 years in Bouwmeester and Gunnarson. Edmundson has been amazing, Dunn has been a pleasent surprise, and Jake Walman is awaiting his debut - so it is not the end of the world.

From a total roster standpoint, I'd say the weakest aspect of the Blues is the left defense. Right now we have 2 very big question marks in 1 1/2 years and have 2 prospects who need to prove that they are both capable of filling those slots. That is probably not going to happen, and hopefully 1 of the 2 iron out. Weaknesses beyond LHD are followed by goalie and center. We have so many winger prospects who are all doing well (and Tarasenko, Schwartz, potentially Schenn if a center is acquired), that we shouldn't spend a penny on a winger unless it is a 100% 1-year cheap rental.