Trying to fast-track re-tool, build for future, all options open for Blues at draft
ST. LOUIS -- With one week to go before the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, for the St. Louis Blues, all options are open and available.
With three picks in the first round (Nos. 10, 25 and 29), general manager Doug Armstrong, if he already hasn't been, will be a busy man between now and June 28 when the first round commences at Bridgestone Arena.
It's with great certainty that the Blues are more than likely to make the 10th pick in the draft, unless somehow Armstrong can pull off some wizardry and move up from No. 10, but as far as Nos. 25, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 17 in a package that involved Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari, and No. 29, acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 9 in a package involving Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola, the Blues are certainly open for business.
However, nothing's come across the table just yet.
"Nothing that's come across our desk that we seriously considered yet and that doesn't mean that won't happen between now and before those picks are taken," Armstrong said. "I've been fielding a lot of calls on our picks, all three picks quite honestly and letting people know what we want and then they go back and see if there's a fit, but no one's brought to us anything what would perk our interest as of yet, but that's not abnormal. Usually things will start picking up probably Monday."
No. 10, however, is a pick that Armstrong has coveted since knowing when the Blues will pick and one that will take an awful lot of prying, especially from those teams that may want to move up, for the Blues to give up.
"I feel strongly about that again," Armstrong said. "We're pretty honed in on what it would take to get to remove that pick from us. We haven't had any conversations with anyone to move back and in fairness to the other teams, moving back is something that you do at the table. So at pick 10, I expect to hear from people at about pick eight, maybe seven that, 'OK, there's a couple of guys there.' I think in this draft, I think most mock drafts have the top four non-Russian players all at the same top four or I would say the well majority of them have the same top four and then it starts to deviate a little bit. You're looking probably pick 5-10, if you have eight guys in that group and three or four are three, three are there, two are there at pick seven or eight, I might start to hear from guys. But I don't expect to do that at the draft and we’ll have to have a comfort level on how far we’re willing to move back and what that asset is to make it worthwhile."
Armstrong had the opportunity to meet some of the top prospects at the NHL Combine in Buffalo and pick their brains about who they are and what they're all about, getting a feel for what type of player could be available there for the Blues to select.
"I think from when we started doing the combine now, the players are very well schooled, they're much more in tune with this process that we go through," Armstrong said. "I think their agents do a great job preparing them. There's really not a lot of difference right now in these interviews quite honestly. But it's always great to get to meet people, ask them about their path to this point. The guys are all very well schooled on the answers that they want to give. Just the excitement, that's one thing that hasn't changed is the excitement of the draft, the excitement of the feeling of getting drafted potentially and that's just the starting point of them going back and signing a contract and turning pro."
The Blues, who missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2017-18 at 37-38-7, have indicated that they'd like to fast-track a re-tool more so than go into a any kind of rebuild, including even a short-term rebuild, but depending on what direction they are able to go starting with the draft will determine the direction they take how they approach free agency, a trade/trades moving forward, or if they happen to make all three picks in the first round to build for the long haul.
They could also trade the later picks to move out of the first round and gain more capital. The Blues currently do not have any second round picks this year.
"I think the quality of player we can get, how we view the short- and long-term. We are trying to feed two masters right now: get competitive as quick as possible and have the longest window open available when some of our younger players start to mature," Armstrong said. "That’s sometimes a tricky situation. What we don’t want to do is jam a square peg in a round hole and if the trades don't make sense, if we can't see the value of ... let's say trading for a player with multiple years on his contract knowing that we're going to get value throughout that and he can help with the development, we're not going to do it or we're not ... do we trade for a 25-year-old and give up a valuable asset knowing that we have him this year and next year, probably not something that we'd look to do. It’s term on the contract, it’s age and term and I think those go hand-in-hand. I think when you’re looking at forwards, prime years (are) 24-29, defensemen prime years are 26-31. If you’re trading future assets, you want to get players that will sort of fit into that window for as long as possible. That’s what we’ll look to do if we move these picks. If we don't get the proper player, we're more than happy to select, build more assets into the development area and then see what's available in free agency and see what's available via trade. And if not, we'll build internally."