The writing was on the wall for Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong ... err make that bed sheets of ex-Islander superstar center John Tavares. The top free-agent prize grew up in Toronto, Canada, with dreams of playing for his storied, hometown Maple Leafs dancing in his head as he slept covered in Maple Leaf blue.
So, while the dream became reality for Tavares, Armstrong — never in the mix of teams considered candidates for his services — was left to his own devices. He had to devise a way to make St. Louis a Stanley Cup contender without the benefit of a sit-down with hockey's top free agent prize.
While Toronto reeled in the NHL's biggest catch of the summer, Armstrong and his Blues became the most talked about story of the offseason with a series of acquisitions that landed a bevy of considerably talented players that will go a long ways toward competing for a chance to hoist the Cup this year!
With owner Tom Stillman's blessing and willingness to spend within cap reason, Armstrong brought back winger David Perron for his third tour of duty with the Blues — a 4-year, $16-million contract — signed Maple Leaf free agent center Tyler Bozak — a 3-year, $15-million contract — traded for Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly and his $7.5-million signing bonus and $1-million salary before completing their accumulation of pucksters to date by nabbing St. Louis' own Patrick Maroon on 1-year, $1.75-million deal Tuesday.
The rugged Oakville High winger comes home to join a roster that features Alex Pietrangelo, Brayden Schenn, Vladamir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz. Vince Dunn, Colton Parayko, Robby Fabbri, Jay Bouwmeester and Alexander Steen among its core players. Coach Mike Yeo and his staff should feel like kids in a candy store with the even-strength, power-play and penalty-kill units they can put on the ice at any given time.
If goaltender Jake Allen can hold up his end of the bargain and play like the team's number one netminder he's expected to be, the Blues could very well position themselves to put 51 years of futility on ice.
You have to give Armstrong as much credit for the moves he's made as he got criticism for the bad contracts he doled out to players who proved to be underachievers and potential franchise-strapping deals. He was instrumental in unloading Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Jori Lehtera (2017 in steal of a deal involving Schenn) to upgrade the current core group and he may not be done wheeling and dealing. There was a lot of pressure on Armstrong to wave that magic wand of his and get the kind of results that would prove transformative for the 'Note as soon as last season ended with a dud of a loss to Stan Kroenke's Colorado Avalanche which kept them out of the playoffs by a mere point.
That loss stung in more ways than one but also served as motivation for Armstrong to use his hockey savvy to orchestrate trades or free agent additions that wouldn't rob the team of its future assets, namely center Robert Thomas and winger Jordan Kyrou who are much closer to making the team out of training camp than is winger Klim Kosten. He did lose Tage Thompson in the O'Reilly trade. More than anything, Armstrong has bought time for that future to develop at a much normal clip rather than be rushed to show their immense skills translate to the National Hockey League.
Long-suffering fans should be excited, invigorated and very pumped up to get the 2018-19 season underway. Armstrong has rebounded. The Blues have reloaded. The puck can't drop soon enough and no one should derive more satisfaction for his efforts than Doug Armstrong — that is, unless he has another deal up his sleeve!
