It seems, according to the latest report, that St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong has finally come to terms with the fact that some kind of fatal flaw is permeating the current construction of his team.
"You look at the St. Louis Blues. Again, they're not pressing to doing anything, but they're more open than they've ever been to a team calling them on one of their core guys - their veteran guys - and saying, 'Do you feel like moving an apple for an apple.' I think the Blues would do that because they know that something is not quite right in terms of them being a disappointment in the first round every year. So they're an interesting team to keep an eye on," TSN NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun said Wednesday while appearing on Vancouver's TSN 1040, via TodaysSlapShot.com.
Throughout another strong season, the sense seemed to hang like a dark, foreboding cloud over the team that all this regular season success would be just another frustratingly hopeful precursor to another disappointing postseason if the Blues and head coach Ken Hitchcock weren't able to make some serious playoff noise.
Well, that fear became reality and questions about Hitchcock's future and the state of the Blues swirled after they were unceremoniously ousted by the Minnesota Wild in the first-round.
Now that that self-fulfilling prophecy has come to pass, Armstrong seems to have accepted that something in St. Louis just isn't right - whether that something is Hitchcock is another argument entirely and, at this point, moot, considering it's been announced that Hitchcock would return for 2015-16 on a one-year deal.
That leaves the Blues facing the proposition of moving out one or two or a few of their formerly "core" players this offseason, though there's no telling who that could be.
T.J. Oshie? Sure, that'd make some sense. His name was part of numerous trade rumors prior to the NHL deadline, though a late surge by the one-time Olympic darling seemed to quell that talk and nothing ultimately came of it.
Patrik Bergulnd? His name was floated around the trade deadline as well. Heck, even Ty Rattie was rumored to be a trade target of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Or perhaps they'll pick from their deep stable of defenseman, though that seems both unlikely and unnecessary. The breakout season from Vladimir Tarasenko, the addition of Paul Stastny and the quietly productive year for Jori Lehtera mean the Blues are likely to deal a forward if anything.
Whether a couple of offseason trades by Armstrong can fix whatever unidentifiable issue ails a too-talented-to-fail Blues team though, remains the question.
