St. Louis Blues Buying Out Jay Bouwmeester Wouldn’t Make Sense

The window to buyout player contracts is currently open right now. However, despite a swell of support for the idea, buying out Jay Bouwmeester would not make sense – right now anyway.

The St. Louis Blues are in a tough spot. They’re looking to stay competitive and keep building upon a season where they reached the Western Conference Finals.

Doing so, however, is a little bit difficult due to the Blues lack of space between what they’ve already spent and the salary cap ceiling. Also clouding the situation are the Blues own free agents, such as restricted free agent Jaden Schwartz and unrestricted FA’s in David Backes and Troy Brouwer. On top of that is the chance that the salary cap ceiling could actually be slightly lower than it was this past season.

Due to both the player’s performance and the hope it would clear up cap space, an idea that has gained steam among the fans is buying out Jay Bouwmeester. Though I was open to the idea to clear up money, the situation would not make sense due to the type of free agents out there and the uncertainty regarding trade partners.

Although I could actually envision the Blues starting the season with Kevin Shattenkirk on the roster, the tide seems to be building towards a deal to send him out either at the draft or once free agency opens. If you trade one of your top four defenders, you don’t necessarily want to be replacing two of your top four defenders.

Even if you think guys like Colton Parayko or Joel Edmundson are ready to step up, you would still put yourself in a spot of needing to replace at least one spot. Petteri Lindbohm might have a decent NHL career ahead of him, but no matter how down any of us are on Bouwmeester, Lindbohm would be a good replacement for someone like Carl Gunnarsson, not a top two defenseman.

So who do you bring in? Dan Boyle will be 40 when the season starts. Alex Goligoski has been traded to Arizona and normally those deals aren’t done if the team acquiring the player didn’t think they are likely to get him to sign. Dan Hamhuis has indicated his first preference is to stay in Vancouver and he’s not likely to be any cheaper than Bouwmeester currently is.

Kyle Quincey is likely a better pure defender, but he’s not a top line defenseman to me. From a production point of view, the only name that might make sense is Keith Yandle.

Yandle is a great scoring defender. He’s averaged almost 51 points over his last five full seasons (not including the lockout year, which would only bring his average down to 47). However, he’s a minus player several years. Some of that could be blamed on playing in Arizona, but he was a -4 even this last season playing for the New York Rangers with Henrik Lundqvist in goal.

Yandle isn’t going to be cheap either. His last contract gave him an average of $5.3 million per year, which is saving almost no money over Bouwmeester – who you’d still be paying a portion of his contract anyway. Also, you’d basically have the exact same player with an offensive defenseman with defensive deficiencies.

None of the other defenders that are free agents are really top two quality either. So, you could explore trade options.

Even then, you don’t buy out a defender with only the hope of acquiring a replacement via a trade. I realize that trades are not an exact science, but you don’t give up what you have for the hope of something better. You do it knowing you have something set up or you don’t do it.  So, the window to accomplish this has to be at the draft, since the buyout window closes on June 30.

Trying to trade Bouwmeester makes the most sense if you’re that hardcore about the idea of getting rid of him. There are plenty of teams looking to add defenseman, but Bouwmeester’s age might be more of a detraction than his salary. Then again, perhaps not given that Brian Campbell was getting paid over $7 million and was 32 when dealt to the Florida Panthers.

If Doug Armstrong could work that out and really earn his salary, then kudos to him. For as down as many are on the Blues GM, he really hasn’t had any bad trades. There have been some that haven’t worked out for the Blues, but there hasn’t been anyone the Blues dealt away that have really done much.

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Buying out Bouwmeester doesn’t make sense though. Not with the prospect of the salary cap actually lowering. The Blues would still be paying about $1.8 million per year, which would soak up the potential difference in cap room if it drops, and that would be stretched out over six years instead of three and the cap hit would vary by a few hundred thousand dollars over the same amount of time.

It’s understandable why people want the Blues to buy him out. He has never been the same player since his injury in 2014-15. He went from 37 points in his first full season with the Blues to 13 and 19 respectively in the seasons since. He has also seemed to lose a step from a speed perspective too, which is disappointing since he was one of the quicker defenders in the league when St. Louis brought him in.

If the Blues went ahead and bought him out, it would not be completely shocking. However, other than to remove the frustration he has brought on the last two seasons, there wouldn’t be any marked improvements.

You’d be spending as much money on a suitable replacement and also losing money on his buyout cap hit. That takes money away from spending on forwards, which is more of an area of need for the Blues to improve.

The Blues have defensive depth, but again, is anyone really ready to be a top pair defender? Parayko is, but then you have two right handed shots and we seem to have returned to a time where everyone wants a right hander and left hander paired up.

So, the Blues are likely to hang on to Bouwmeester unless he can be packaged in a trade. In the end, that’s really not as bad as some want to make out.

Next: Free Agents The Blues Could Consider Part III

He’s not likely to return to his form with the Florida Panthers when he scored 15 and had over 40 points. He is still a decent defender if he can overcome his injuries. Ever since he got a concussion, he seems to have shrunk from the play.

His contract might be a bit of an albatross now, but with all the numbers I’ve seen over the last few weeks researching stories, it’s really not that bad of a contract.  If Bryan Bickell can get $4.5 million from someone, then paying Bouwmeester (who was a top tier player when the deal was signed) close to $6 million isn’t all that bad.

If the Blues are actively shopping Shattenkirk, do we really want them to have to replace both him and Bouwmeester next year?  If he can simply stay healthy and not worry about it, he would remain an asset for this team. One way or the other, Blues fans are likely going to see 19 suit up wearing the note when September rolls around.