St. Louis' pick?
With the condition that St. Louis keeps their pick this year if they miss the playoffs and instead the Flames get a 4th (2013) and their 2014 first, which would you prefer?
If the Blues make the playoffs at the very best the Flames get the 15th pick this year, could be worse if they go on a run. 2013 might have some nice centers, especially if the Flames move up with that pick using the Penguins or another asset. So I can understand wanting to play it safe and hoping the Blues don't do any better than one and done after making the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Blues have ~40M already committed to the team next year. For most teams that's not an issue. But the Blues need to sign, Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Stewart, Berglund, Russel and Cole as RFAs and a couple roster spot positions. For a team that's spent between 45M-55M the last couple years, that's not a ton of wiggle room. Bouwmeester should make them better, as with just the young core getting a year older, but the same could have been said about them last year after winning the central division. Although I suppose realignment placing them in a 7 team division helps their playoff odds.
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