The idea of that trade (top-9 forward and a prospect) does make sense to me; however, the St. Louis Blues do not seem like the right partner. They are looking to contend for the cup again, and this makes their team worse. Especially given that they lost some forward depth this off-season. I can see a more appropriate partner in the Jets or Devils.

Disagree. Berglund is not as good as Hartnell. Hartnell will produce anywhere. Berglund likely would walk after the season. Next years free agent class is not good, and if they still try to ride out the Shattenkirk situation, then they need experience with an edge. Because they no longer have Backes.

I actually like this deal, and the lines you've proposed. No, Berglund is not as good, but freeing up cap and term is huge. Next year or the year after when we NEED to get rid of Hartnell we won't be able to because of his age and possible reduced production. It's got to go down at some point. He's not Jaromir Jagr.

In the last 2 full season statistics, who is the 2nd liner & who is the 3rd liner???
Bergland 119 G / 22 G / 20 A / 42 PTS - 28 yrs old making $3.7M
Hartnell 156 G / 51 G / 58 A / 109 PTS - 34 yrs old making $4.75M

Hartnell played on primarily a 3rd checking line with rookies & sophmores (Wennberg, Dano, & Anderson)
CBJ would be better off keeping Hartnell and divesting either Johnson, Foligno, or CLARKSON contract(s)

Have you ever even considered the possibility that Jaromir Jagr is no Hartnell?
Hartsy hasn't slowed down and he lifts the play of his linemates.
As you point out above, it bodes watching, Hartnell's production did drop off from 60 pts to 49 pts last year.

Well, Bill the whole team struggled. So I don't read that much into it. Hartnell is a "what you see is what you get" kind of player. He will give you 40-50 points a season. The Jackets are in transition to a faster pace team. Hartnell is not the strongest skater. Berglund maybe a better short term option. Plus, the cap space would be a great help to our future.

If the Jackets want to free cap space....starting 2017 for two years and the Blues would be willingly to take a change on Hartnell for 3 years as opposed to Berglund's one year.......then it's a very good deal for both teams.