Rumor: Torey Krug in the doghouse with his own team.

You would think that with National Hockey League general managers hating no trade and no movement clauses so much, they would put some thought into not handing them out so freely.

It would seem that a no trade clause is once again causing problems with the St. Louis Blues reportedly less than pleased at the fact that Blues defenseman Torey Krug exercised the power of his no trade clause last summer to block an important trade.

"Doug Armstrong doesn't mess around and I don't wanna say it would be purely for vindictive purposes but he definitely hammed up their offseason last year," revealed NHL insider Frank Seravalli last week.

Of course it was Doug Armstrong himself who signed Krug to the contract that comes with a full no trade clause in the first 5 years of the deal, a no trade clause that will once again be a factor during the 2024-25 NHL regular season. It is perhaps for that reason, as well as the fact that Krug may now be in the Blues' doghouse, that Seravalli believes Krug's contract could be bought out this summer.

"[Armstrong] has gotta back changes to his back end and the buyout is tolerable enough that it would take you 4 years of paying that buyout on your cap to get to one more year of Krug at $6.5 million," said Seravalli. "So I think you would have to consider it."

The Blues would get significant cap relief in a Krug buyout with his cap hit of $6.5 million next season dropping all the way down to $333,333. The next two seasons would also represent a massive savings with a cap hit of just $2.333,333 and $2.833,333 respectively.

Where the pain would come in for the Blues would be in the 2027-28 season where the buyout penalties will begin to be applied, 3 seasons at a penalty of $2,333,333. That being said as Seravalli points out, it would take several years of Krug's buyout just to reach his cap hit for a single season if he were to remain under contract.

 Not only does Seravalli believe that the move makes sense from a financial perspective for the Blues, but he also feels general manager Doug Armstrong could look to send a message with the move as well.

"If you also want to send a message of 'Don't get in the way we're the St. Louis Blues' you jettison a guy into the moon," said Seravalli in conclusion.