Blues' Offseason Primer: What Should Armstrong's Approach Be?

There are a bunch of decisions to be made and the front office must regain the trust of its fans

The St. Louis Blues enter the offseason with a lot of decisions to make. They must figure out what direction to take this thing in after a second straight season without the playoffs.

The club is an interesting spot with no real way to tear down and rebuild the roster. The no-trade clauses, bad overall contracts, and lack of direction have caused the organization to have a middling team on the ice over the past two seasons.

St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff Roberson)

It’s been well-documented the issues that general manager Doug Armstrong has created after a series of bad decisions. Here’s a snippet from an article I wrote back in December on the mistakes he’s made since winning the Stanley Cup in 2019…

“Not only did the Blues move assets for an aging Leddy, they also chose to re-sign him to a four-year deal instead of re-signing veteran forward David Perron. He’s not a good enough defender to spend $4 million per season on. The idea that they chose Leddy over Perron to shore up the defense doesn’t make much sense. On top of that, they are paying Parayko a $6.5 million AAV and Scandella $3.275 million this season. The Blues have little to no cap flexibility due to these types of contracts on the back end. Currently, the eight rostered defensemen for the Blues take up over 35 percent of the cap. That would be a far better figure if they had better personnel to pay that money to.

Armstrong has made several mistakes in structuring the blue line and it’s been a major part of their downfall overall since 2019. They gave Parayko a long-term extension, but haven’t found a shutdown partner for him, which was a role played by now-retired blueliner Jay Bouwmeester. They overestimated the impacts of Faulk, Krug, Leddy, and Scandella, while also not giving enough opportunity to a youngster like Scott Perunovich until now.”

So…yeah, it’s not great right now. The blue line was not quite as bad this past season, but it’s still nowhere near the likes of the Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, and countless other Cup contenders right now. What made the team great in 2019 was a blue line with big bodies and quality structure in front of red-hot goaltender Jordan Binnington. They aren’t near that level and probably can’t return to it anytime soon. Without further ado, let’s get into the offseason and what Armstrong needs to get done.

Who is the Head Coach?

The first decision to make is behind the bench. The club fired head coach Craig Berube in December and replaced him on an interim basis with America Hockey League (AHL) coach Drew Bannister. While he’ll be a candidate to get the job full-time, I believe they must look outside the organization for a fresh voice.