Doug Armstrong was hopeful that the St. Louis Blues could add, albeit small addition(s), and not subtract by Friday's NHL Trade Deadline.
Well, the Blues general manager did neither, outside of a minor league deal sending American Hockey League goalie Malcolm Subban to the Columbus Blue Jackets for future considerations.
And it was all predicated by one game, or that's at least when the thinking pivoted for the Blues (32-28-3), who sit six points outside of the Western Conference wild card with 19 games remaining.
"When the bottom fell out for me was that Nashville game at home (on Feb. 17, a 5-2 loss)," Armstrong said. "We were flat in Toronto (Feb. 13), tired. I sort of understood that. Some nights you just don't have your legs, but we came home, we had Nashville, I think we were four points up, we had a couple games in hand. We knew we were going to get a tiger by the tail. They got thumped at home 9-2 by Dallas, they had internal strife as far as vacations and what they were going to do and concerts. They made a statement that they weren't happy. I thought if we had won that game, if we rose up to that challenge, then all of the sudden you're six up, their problems haven't gone away and you still have games in hand. They found a way to win that game and they've gone on a massive heater since then and that started our massive slide.
"I wish I had an answer to why we weren't up to the challenge that day and then a week later you go up to Detroit, national televised game and we didn't have the effort we had hoped to have (a 6-1 loss). We're always searching for why these things are happening."
The Blues were on their best stretch of hockey prior to and coming out of the All-Star break having won seven of eight, and their only loss was an uninspiring 1-0 home loss against lowly Columbus prior to the break. They came out of the break and won back-to-back games against Buffalo and Montreal but have since gone 4-7-1 to being on the outside looking in on the wild card race.
"When we made a coaching change (from Craig Berube to Drew Bannister on Nov. 14), we saw that bump, but it wasn't just a bump in the record, it was a bump in play," Armstrong said. "We were playing more direct hockey, getting pucks behind people, making them work 200 feet, getting traffic. You can correlate our slides to too much east-west play, too many offensive zone turnovers, not making defenders turn. If you look at, not just the fancy stats, look at the normal stats, shots attempted, shots on net, slot shots, when we're in a bad stretch, you go to those stats and they'll tell you why you're in a bad stretch."
So the Blues went from being buyers to sellers to nothing.
They remain status quo for the rest of the season playing with a veteran roster that has underachieved the past two years. The bright spot is that some of the younger players, such as Jake Neighbours, Scott Perunovich, Joel Hofer, Alexey Toropchenko, Matthew Kessel, Zack Bolduc and others have shown at the very least, glimpses to strong play, what the future holds.
But that future will now be the key to seeing what the roster looks like in the immediate future as the Blues stick to the course of building with their own players.
"It's too early to speculate on what will happen in May, June or July," Armstrong said. "I think that a reality check of where we are today happened around the league and in our locker room. Players are now down to one-quarter of the season to prove their worth to themselves, to their teammates, to the management and to the rest of the league. It's too early to tell how this is going to play itself out because we still have a quarter of the year left."
It's going to be a hard sell to fans if the Blues stick to a similar roster for 2024-25, but Armstrong is determined to make this a long haul fix and not a short one.
"Well, I think that all depends on where you are as an organization," he said. "When you have a long term plan and you want to stay to that plan, it can't fluctuate with July 1. It can't fluctuate with the trade deadline. It can't fluctuate on certain dates where other teams may be active. My belief is you have to stay somewhat consistent to what you're plan is. I understand when you see what Edmonton did, or what Vegas is doing, or what Vancouver is doing, what Dallas is doing, what Winnipeg did, and Colorado did ... you're like, 'What is this guy, sleeping? How come he's not in on these deals?' But those deals didn't make sense with where we are today or where we want to get to.
"Why we didn't get assets for certain things, that's a legitimate thing, and, quite honestly, we weren't offered. So, I do understand fans' frustration, but I have to stay consistent with the plan that is going to hopefully make these fans happy for a long time. I'm fortunate in our ownership structure, they'd like to see us be competitive over a large window then over a year or two, and they're willing to give us the opportunity to do it. I know they don't expect this to last forever, nor do we, and we have to just keep working toward that. I wish I could paint it in a lighter, brighter way for our fanbase. It's just the reality that it's not as far away as you think it is, but it sure feels like it."
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