Still singing the Blues

I was ready to get on St. Louis GM Larry Pleau's case for deciding to exercise their option on underachieving left winger Keith Tkachuk, but now that I think about it, it's really not such a bad idea after all. Tkachuk will make $3.8 million next year, but because the CBA states that the average of his contract will count against the cap, that's $5.7 million accounted for. Why is it not a bad idea? Well, this past year, St. Louis ended up with about $27M in salary, with a $21.5M floor. Next year, the league minimum could jump as high as $29 million, which would leave the Blues a good two million below the limit. Now, this extra $1.9M that will count against the cap with the Tkachuk signing should give them a little more of a cushion to make sure they are in compliance with the cap. Clever, no?

Of course, they could have always gone out and spent that money on some free agents who would have earned it...