ST. LOUIS \u2014 A year ago, after the manner in which the St. Louis Blues lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, there was a sense of abruptness at their exit interviews.<\/p>\n
Saturday, it was absorbing an issue that was months in the making.<\/p>\n
General manager Doug Armstrong and coach Jim Montgomery talked about team attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow we came to work every day,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThe groups I\u2019ve worked with that have had success, they\u2019ve loved the grind. They\u2019ve loved the challenge. They\u2019ve loved the adversity. They couldn\u2019t wait for it. They thrived under it. They wanted someone to punch them in the mouth so they could respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re seeing \u2014 16 teams playing (in the playoffs) that had that, and we are not one of them today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blues will seek to change that as they evolve the roster with younger players.<\/p>\n
Beginning with the trades of Ryan O\u2019Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko, which led to three first-round picks in the 2023 NHL Draft \u2014 Dalibor Dvorsky, Otto Stenberg and Theo Lindstein \u2014 the Blues are sticking to their plan of building for the future. With the trades of Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk at this year\u2019s deadline, they will have three first-round selections again this June.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe created space this year and I think we\u2019ll create more space, but we\u2019re not in a total \u2018get rid of all the veterans,’\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThe plan that I shared with (Blues chairman Tom) Stillman is still the plan, and we\u2019re just further along in it. I believe in the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Montgomery: \u201cWe\u2019re committed to our young core. It\u2019s deep and it\u2019s talented. Those are the guys that we\u2019re going to be building around, along with our first line, our goaltending tandem. We\u2019ve got some really good pieces here that I believe, with the right attitudes and a better start, this is a team that\u2019s going to challenge for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blues touched on a lot of topics Saturday, so let\u2019s find out what we learned from their exit interviews.<\/p>\n
Armstrong downplays Thomas trade talk<\/p>\n
Robert Thomas, who ended the season on a two-month heater, said health was a \u201chuge factor\u201d in his success down the stretch. After a minor knee procedure, he had 14 goals and 31 points in 22 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to get into too much of it, but it was really nice to feel healthy and feel like myself again,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThat was a big thing to just getting back to the level that I\u2019ve been playing at the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dylan Holloway, who was the beneficiary of Thomas\u2019 performance, reiterated Saturday that \u201che\u2019s such an elite player in this league. I feel like he doesn\u2019t get the praise that he deserves. Every night, he\u2019s matched up against their top-line center, and I feel like he always shuts down their top-line center and then he puts up points, too. To play with a guy of that caliber has been a ton of fun. He\u2019s a big reason our line was going the way it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
So will the Blues hang on to Thomas this summer, or rekindle trade talks that occurred before the trade deadline in March?<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these trade talks \u2026 are a little bit of fabrication,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThey start out and all of a sudden they get legs and they go and they go and they go and they never stop. The cost of acquiring someone of Robert Thomas\u2019 talent is extremely high. I don\u2019t think anyone values Robert Thomas more in the NHL than Doug Armstrong values Robert Thomas in the NHL. So, if he was available, the reason he\u2019s here is because I value him higher than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this summer, the decision will belong to incoming GM Alexander Steen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of conversations that need to happen this summer and those haven\u2019t happened yet, so I can\u2019t really speak too much on it,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI guess we\u2019ll kind of see where it goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko was also involved in trade talks in March, nixing a deal to the Buffalo Sabres. He said his response to the question was exactly the same as Thomas\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been much time for conversations since the season wrapped up,\u201d said Parayko, who has a full no-trade clause.<\/p>\n
Armstrong said he\u2019ll talk to Steen about the plans for those two players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re both excellent NHL hockey players,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been foundational players for this franchise for a long time. We just have to cement the direction we\u2019re going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeping Binnington may be the plan<\/p>\n
Like with Thomas and Parayko, there\u2019s been a lot of speculation about whether goalie Jordan Binnington has played his last game with the Blues. Like the other two players, he said he\u2019ll have a conversation with Steen.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I\u2019m a competitive goaltender, right?\u201d said Binnington, who has one more season on his contract and holds a 14-team no-trade clause. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s just taking care of what\u2019s in my control. It\u2019s the same old story I give every time, but if I take care of what\u2019s in my control, the rest will unfold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say, I believe in what Steener has in mind for this group. I\u2019m excited about that, and being part of a good, winning, successful hockey team is where I want to be. That\u2019s something you just handle as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listening to Armstrong, it was hard not to take away that the Blues might want to hang on to Binnington to back up Joel Hofer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NHL is a long season, and you need two good goaltenders,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI think that that tandem can lead a team through dark times. Not every game is going to be great, but we have two goalies that can be great any given night, and that gives us great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyrou wants to stay in St. Louis<\/p>\n
Jordan Kyrou, who scored half as many goals this season (18) as in 2024-25, acknowledged that he didn\u2019t put up the numbers he would\u2019ve liked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a group, when we get off to a tough start, it\u2019s kind of just hard to bring it back and for everyone to kind of get going,\u201d Kyrou said. \u201cI\u2019ll just reflect and try to focus on next year, coming in and having a great start and a competitive camp and get going.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the Blues are hoping.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take the last three years, he\u2019s a 30-goal scorer that had a bad year,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cHe\u2019s in a time of his career where he wants to be successful, and how he\u2019s going to go about doing that is something that he\u2019s going to have to wrestle with (Montgomery) and (Steen) on making sure this doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to play in this league for 15-16 years, like he could, not every year is going to be a Rembrandt. But if I\u2019m him, I\u2019m excited to get up tomorrow morning to go to work and prove to everybody that the 2025-26 season was an aberration and that\u2019s not going to happen again. I believe that\u2019s what he will do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyrou, who also has a full no-trade clause, said Saturday he wants to stay with the Blues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve loved my time here in St. Louis,\u201d Kyrou said. \u201cThe team has been amazing to me. I love the city. I love playing here. We\u2019ve got a lot of good, young players coming in right now, and there\u2019s a really great future coming up here for this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holloway\u2019s health a factor with contract<\/p>\n
Holloway, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, sounded as if he would\u2019ve signed a long-term contract with the Blues on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very thankful to be a Blue and I want to be a Blue for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s exciting, but it\u2019s kind of out of my hands. It\u2019s up to my agent and \u2018Army\u2019 and \u2018Steener.\u2019 But I\u2019m confident that we can get something done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong didn\u2019t sound opposed to that but was clear that Holloway needs to stay healthy for an extended stretch of time before the Blues can commit to a long-term deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cDylan Holloway has to prove to himself and the league that he\u2019s an 82-game player to that level that he played at the end,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI think he is, but what I think is really irrelevant \u2014 it\u2019s what he does. That\u2019s just an honest answer that we need consistent, 82-game play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hiring new assistants will be a process<\/p>\n
The Blues announced Friday that they will not be renewing the contracts of assistant coaches Claude Julien and Mike Weber.<\/p>\n
Armstrong said Saturday the Blues will begin the search for their replacements by making a checklist of what the team needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll come up with the criteria that\u2019s needed before the names,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cWhat I don\u2019t want to do is just start throwing out names. I want to find out what we want and then what names fit that \u2014 more than just putting a guy in here because he\u2019s got a name and hope it works out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montgomery, of course, will have a heavy say.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need someone that has high energy,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to need someone that\u2019s a cerebral thinker. But the most important thing is that they\u2019re intelligent and they teach. They know how to teach defensemen how to pivot the right way, stick on puck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m going to be looking for \u2014 some specialties in coaches that are going to be able to come in and make our players individually better and understand the team concept in those things that they do and why it\u2019s important to get them to habitually do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captaincy may not be filled<\/p>\n
With Schenn dealt to the New York Islanders, the Blues have a vacancy with the \u201cC.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with everything else, filling that role will come after a conversation between management and Montgomery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary to have a captain if you don\u2019t have a captain and I don\u2019t know if we do or not,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we necessarily have to have one next year. Boston hasn\u2019t had one this year and they\u2019re a playoff team and significantly improved. Now if you think you have the right person, you should name a captain. That\u2019s the way I feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues may trade up in draft<\/p>\n
Before the Olympic break, the Blues had the second-lowest point total in the NHL, which at that time would\u2019ve given them the second-best chance to win the draft lottery. They went 17-5-3 in the final 25 games, however, so they now have the 11th-best chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the season is over, you wish you had the high pick,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI did talk to the players after the trade deadline, and I told them, \u2018We\u2019re going to bring up younger players and put them in positions that reflect what we want to see from them. We have a plan and your job is to disrupt the plan,\u2019 and they did. Yeah, we could have picked No. 2 or 3, but there would be less belief in our group if we had just rolled over and got doormatted the last seven weeks of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blues will also have the No. 15 pick in the draft, which they got from the Detroit Red Wings in the Faulk trade. They\u2019ll have a third first-rounder, too, from the New York Islanders, but that pick originates with the Colorado Avalanche, so it will be slotted where the Avs finish.<\/p>\n
Armstrong acknowledged the possibility of trading up.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we would \u2014 we can use the picks, we can use prospects, we can use players,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll give it our best chance. But you also have to have someone that wants to move out of that pick and that\u2019s where the fly in the ointment sometimes comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LOUIS \u2014 A year ago, after the manner in which the St. Louis Blues lost in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[71,5,4,534,84,5285,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-555680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-blues","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouisblues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116428764916334603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}