and in 2021-22 when Schwartz/Kyrou/Thomas/Binny/Barbashev/Sanford all need raises?

hate to say, but when they signed Faulk, i think AP is a cap casualty, unless Parayko is moved

Hopefully, but we were told the cap would be $84million last year and it ended up being $81.5 at the last minute, not to mention they screwed a lot of player movement by not having it decided until after the draft. That could very well happen again.

Somebody has to go in the expansion that year too though, and hopefully it's Faulk

hes got a NTC; he would need to waive, and not likely to go to an expansion team and then be far from home (MN)

Only NMC need to be protected, not NTC

NTC does not apply to expansion. NMC is what prevents being exposed.

Faulk to Seattle, Bozak is gone and doubt Scandella or Griess sign for that so they are gone.

Even if the cap only raises to 84 mil, trading Allen is the only thing that needs to happen to re sign Petro.

Uhh, why would it be Parayko moved? Lemme guess... Leafs fan?

fair enough, but what if Seattle doesn't select him?

They must be kicking themselves for not signing him earlier. I think he gets 10Mx8

Well, that's why I said "hopefully" Faulk.

They probably won't select him outright, they're building a very progressive front office and Faulk is very mediocre analytically in what should be his prime, knowing that will only get worse as he goes through this contract, not to mention we'll probably have some pretty good players exposed for less money and time. But if the Blues retain Pietrangelo, they need to look into incentivizing Seattle to take Faulk. Faulk is objectively the third best RHD on this team, and we can't justify paying 6.5 million to a third pairing defenseman. Kind of the same thing with why we need to move Allen this summer.

Even if Seattle doesn't select him, they need to pursue every opportunity to move him even if it involves asking him to waive, because his contract is going to seriously hamstring us in the future. We can't afford to pay 20million+ on our right side D, and I don't think Faulk is a second pairing caliber defenseman right now, so letting Pietrangelo walk or moving Parayko and replacing them with Faulk long term is a poor bet if we want to stay in contention.