Spoke to a source today regarding the status of teams pursuing Jay Bouwmeester. I was told that for the Flames to get "serious" offers closer to what they're looking for (especially in this seller's market for defensemen), other teams want the Flames to eat a chunk of his $6.68 million cap hit before they'd consider upping the offers.

Of course, under the new NHL-NHLPA agreement, teams can eat up to half of a player's cap hit as part of a trade. In the case of Jay Bouwmeester, general managers feel that his current contract is "too odious" to take on in full given what he done for the bulk of his time in Calgary. As such, in order to make it more of a hockey trade than a salary dump, the Flames may need to eat a chunk of his deal (which runs through 2013-14).

If YOU were Jay Feaster, would you offer to absorb some of Bouwmeester's salary or would you bank on the seller's market for defensemen and hold out for your trade price while demanding potential J-Bo destination teams take on the whole thing?

Boston, LA, Montreal and Philadelphia all have varying degrees of interest, so there is some competition involved here. J-Bo does have a no-trade contract but that can be worked around. I still believe it's a matter of time til he's dealt.

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