Blues center Brayden Schenn

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Much like his veteran teammate Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn was not short on words Saturday.

The Blues' veteran center/forward/multi-faceted skater asked to do anything and he will, was pretty succinct in his assessment of why the Blues (37-28-7 this season) failed to not only make the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18 but why it didn't happen. And the 31-year-old didn't hold back any punches either.

But for Schenn, it had to from a personal standpoint be a somewhat fulfilling season simply because he and Faulk were the only Blues this season to play in all 82 games.

The style of game Schenn plays, a mix of skill and physicality, lends to him being suceptible to injuries, which he has had, but playing a full 82-game season for the first time since his first season in St. Louis (2017-18), enabled him to 65 points (21 goals and a career-high 44 assists).

Schenn, who if the Blues choose a captain moving forward checks off the boxes that fit the description, discusses the season, why it went awry, what needs to change moving forward, among other topics:

Six points out of a playoff spot when you traded Ryan O'Reilly, then went on to lose eight of nine; why did that trade hit the team so hard?

Obviously a huge piece for us and then probably emotions run high and he was our leader. You probably feel the writing's on the wall a little bit where you're obviously still trying to make the playoffs but it's going to be tougher. We just probably folded more than we should have. If you look even before that, even before the bye week, we lost five in a row, we lost eight of nine there, this are a lot of points where you feel you just gave away. Before you know it, you're playing essentially meaningless hockey when it comes to the playoff push down the stretch.

The personnel was a little bit different than last season, but in your eyes, why was there a 28-point dropoff this season?

I think from the very beginning, we probably didn't come together as a team. It's a humbling league. Year by year, you have to be a team. We've always said the Blues aren't built on superstars with [Connor] McDavid and [Nathan] MacKinnon and guys like that that can easily win you a game each night. We feel that we have to play together and we didn't do that enough this year, so we've got to get back to building something next year with each other and it shows when you're not a team, it's tough to win and we proved that this year.

Why do you feel like that's the case where you didn't play like a team?

Obviously it boils down a little bit to guys worrying about themselves realistically too much. That's kind of what happens. When you do that and worry about I guess yourself and your individual play, you're not worried as a team as much. Like I said, it's tough to win in this league and that's a culture you don't want to have is guys kind of worrying about themselves.

Faulk saying you can see the professionalism slip early on in the season; what does it take for those younger guys to realize what needs to be done? Does it take something like this to have a season end without playoffs?

Yeah. This is a lesson where you ... and I've missed the playoffs before, but I've never had a season like this where you realistically you're out of it since Game 30. It's not fun playing those hockey games. It slipped early. It's a lesson for everyone. It's a lesson for all of us. It is a humbling league and you have to become prepared right from the beginning of the season. We were chasing it all year from the seven, eight-game losing streak. When you do that, it's still early on in the year, but it's hard to make up points in this league and you have to be ready from Day 1. Realistically, after a three-game win streak at the start of the year, it fell off.

Craig MacTavish saying last 20 games are like march of the living dead where you have to show up for work, you have to do your best and you know the team is not going to make the playoffs; how tough is that to deal with and come to work every day, especially for someone like you who has won a lot in his career?

It's not what you want to be a part of obviously. We're still lucky to be in a situation where we come to the rink, we play in the NHL, we get treated good and all that kind of stuff, but you're in the business to win and after experience winning, that's all you really want to do, right? And when you be a part of a season like this, everyone has to take a look in the mirror and realize this isn't fun, this is not something you want to be a part of. You have to find ways yourself individually to be better in order that this doesn't happen again.

How do you get the professionalism back? Is that a guy by guy thing to raise their standards or is it a culture thing around the team?

It's both. It's a culture thing. You have to get back to holding each other accountable, demanding more of each other and that slipped throughout this year. No doubt about it. And individually too. You have to find ways to keep on getting better, whether that's on the ice, off the ice. Accountability's a big thing. It goes a long way and we feel in our locker room from Day 1 this year, we probably didn't have enough of it.

What will it be like when you're out of the playoffs and you see Ryan O'Reilly trying to help another team win? Is that hard to accept?

Yeah, actually talking to a former teammate a while ago. The Blues have kind of been built on guys moving on from having success, not guys moving on -- whether it's coaches or players -- getting shipped out because of failure, right? That's something that we have to make sure that doesn't happen again, take care of each other. You're cheering for a guy like Ryan O'Reilly, don't get me wrong, he's a good friend and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, it's not fun seeing a guy, who's a good player helping another team when you know that he could be helping you right now and you could be playing playoff hockey. It's a tough year. We put it on ourselves, in our locker room, self included. Leadership has to be better for next year, and you may not go to the Stanley Cup Final, but at the end of the year next year, you want to make sure that you hold yourself accountable, you hold your teammates accountable and you feel good about your season, right? I don't think anyone in our locker room or anyone in the organization has that feeling this year. Next year we have to get back to making positive steps.

What are the qualities of making a good captain? From O'Reilly, did you learn things what it took to be a good leader?

Over my career, I've had good captains with Petro and O'Reilly and Claude Giroux and guys like that. A captain's one thing, but I think you learn from everyone in the locker room realistically. There's so many different types of personalities, the way guys handle themselves. I was very fortunate, lucky to play with some guys in my young career where you learn from guys. If we're talking about O'Reilly, what you take away from him is just his work ethic, the way he drags guys into working before practice, after practice. Obviously that's one of his biggest qualities. For a guy that's played almost a thousand games that from 18 years old, it's not from being lucky. It's from putting in the work. That stuff wears off on guys and he's doing it now in Toronto. Obviously I know that from my brother [Luke] being there and stuff like that. They're lucky to have it, but at the same time, I think you learn from lots of guys in the locker room. Obviously everyone always looks at the captain and he's obviously the guy that gets the most recognition from leadership, but there's guys that I have played with, and good leaders that haven't worn a 'C.'