With the NHL trade deadline fast approaching, we're getting clearer glimpses into the thinking of the league's 30 personnel men. St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong, for instance, recently told ESPN's Craig Custance that the team won't be pulling a Dean Lombardi and shelving forward Alexander Steen until the postseason in an effort to create phantom LTIR space. This approach though leaves the Blues, again one of the strongest teams in the West, with little wiggle room to enact trades. Any deal Armstrong is able to pull off - assuming he's able to pull off a deal or two - is likely to be a hockey trade, meaning salary in, salary out. Which is a good thing, because according to at least one rival GM, Armstrong's first-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft won't be enough to land a player like Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin.
"St. Louis' first doesn't do it for Steve," the GM told Custance, alluding to Lightning GM Steve Yzerman.
Despite that fact, the Blues "remain connected" to Drouin, per Custance, though it's hard to tell whether those rumblings are coming out of St. Louis or another league source. Either way, Drouin, talented though he may be, isn't the kind of piece that's likely to help the Blues in the here and now.
The former fourth-overall pick had a steady, if unspectacular first season in the NHL and Tampa, and followed that with only a short stint with the big club in 2015-16 before his trade request went public and Yzerman banished him to Syracuse and subsequently suspended him indefinitely.
Landing him would be as much a move for the future as for 2015-16, which Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock probably doesn't want to hear because his tenure may very well (see; almost assuredly) hinges on a deep playoff run this year.
But other avenues for upgrade remain available to St. Louis and Armstrong.
The Blues have an abundance of talented defensemen thanks to the emergence of Colton Parayko, Joel Edmunson and Robby Fabbri, which, in case you hadn't noticed, is a rarity in today's NHL. Armstrong can probably chase just about any deal he wants - the problem, circling back to Steen, will be making it work under the cap.
One GM told Custance that he believed the Blues were an "Eric Staal" away from a Stanley Cup. That jibes pretty well with the manner in which the NHL's St. Louis-based franchise operates. No one is confusing Paul Stastny for a top-shelf No. 1 center at this point and David Backes would look mighty good as a No. 3.
The trick is to find that first-line guy without giving up the farm.
The interest in Drouin on the Blues' part is obviously real - though there's no guarantee it will amount to anything - and there's no doubt that Armstrong is willing to ship out assets to upgrade his team, but with limited cap space and few impact forwards available, the Blues won't have an easy time taking their roster from good, to great.
