ST. LOUIS -- Well, we wrote in this space Thursday night if the Blues' recent three-game winning streak was enough to convince general manager Doug Armstrong they could claw their way back into the playoff chase pretty much went out the window Friday night.
For the second time in a week, the Blues made a major trade, this time sending captain Ryan O'Reilly and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday in exchange for Toronto's 2023 first-round pick and 2024 second-round pick, along with Ottawa's 2023 third-round pick, and forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette. The Minnesota Wild were part of this three-team trade and acquired Toronto sent a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Wild, who sent forward Josh Pillar to Toronto. The Blues will retain 50 percent of O'Reilly's salary, and Minnesota will retain 25 percent as part of their inclusion on this three-team trade.
The Blues (26-25-3) are eight points out of a playoff position and were poised to go after their fourth straight win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at 1 p.m., but instead, Armstrong will speak at noon to address his position on the direction he obviously has decided to go in after trading forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers a week ago Thursday for forward Sammy Blais, defenseman prospect Hunter Skinner, a conditional first-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick in 2024.
It's clear with the ups and downs the Blues have gone through this season, even in the latest little recent uprising from the dead, there was no way Armstrong and the rest of the management team were going to waste the chance of acquiring picks and/or prospects for players on expiring contracts.
Can this officially close the window on the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019? Well, it's pretty darn close, if not there yet. The Blues are now down to seven players (Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, Ivan Barbashev, Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko, Robert Bortuzzo and Blais) that were on the roster from the team that won it all just four years ago.
Armstrong was hoping there could be a five-year window open for this particular group to keep together a group and try to win multiple championships, and the Blues were on the cusp a couple times but never could quite get over that hump.
After trading Tarasenko and Mikkola last week, Armstrong expressed his disappointment and not seeing this quick of a fallout after last year's 109-point team, one that pushed the Avalanche as much as anyone in the playoffs.
"I don’t think to this level," Armstrong said. "In my managing career, as a general manager, I’ve had playoff disappointment in St. Louis and in Dallas, where I thought we would go deeper. Really no regular-season disappointment to this magnitude. So I am disappointed. I thought quite honestly we would be pushing right now for a playoff spot, which would cloud things more than they’re clouded right now on what to do moving forward."
So now that there have been two big trades by the Blues, who have sent packing four potential unrestricted free agents, there is Barbashev, Blais, Josh Leivo, Tyler Pitlick and Thomas Greiss as remaining UFA's.
Barbashev is likely next to be jettisoned off, and he could potentially bring in a first-round pick if the bidding goes high enough with multiple teams, according to sources, interested in his services.
The Blues, at the moment, have three first-round picks this year, two third-rounders, and one each in the fourth-seventh rounds, as well as two seconds and two fourths in 2024.
It would mark the first time since 2007 that the Blues held and selected three in the first round when they took Lars Eller at No. 13, Ian Cole at No. 18 and David Perron at No. 26.
O'Reilly exits St. Louis after five of the more worthwhile seasons a player has ever had with the Blues. He wasn't focused on being traded as recently as a week ago.
"There's a lot of speculation, a lot of rumors, but honestly, I pay no attention to that," O'Reilly said after the Tarasenko trade. "My focus is here."
The Blues acquired O'Reilly from Buffalo on July 1, 2018 in a haul that sent to the Sabres: forwards Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka, 2016 first-round pick Tage Thompson, who has blossomed into a star in his own right; a first-round pick in 2019 and a second-round pick in 2021.
O'Reilly and the Blues went on to win their first Stanley Cup together in his first season, making the trade more than worthwhile from a Blues perspective, even though Thompson has emerged into a star.
With his contract set to expire July 1, there had been plenty of rumored talk of O'Reilly's desire to remain in St. Louis and perhaps sign an extension, but from the Blues' perspective, it would have to be at a lower cost than the current $7.5 million average annual value for the 32-year-old.
There is always the chance the Blues could bring O'Reilly back when free agency begins, but those chances now are dimmer following a trade rather than work out an extension between now and July 1.
O'Reilly, who was named captain after Alex Pietrangelo left as a free agent following the 2019-20 season, was having a bit of a down season after the Blues chose not to re-sign his partner in crime, Perron, and it showed with O'Reilly only putting up 19 points (12 goals, seven assists) in 40 games; he missed 14 games in January with a broken left foot. In five seasons with the Blues, O'Reilly won a Cup, the 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy and 268 points (96 goals, 172 assists).
As for Acciari, who signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract last summer, the Blues got themselves a terrific bargain for a player that coach Craig Berube called one of the hardest workers he's ever coached who put up 10 goals and eight assists in 54 games but was as versatile a center as the Blues had this season with his all-around play.
O'Reilly's biggest goal with the Blues was the opener of Game 7 of the Cup Final at Boston that set the wheels in motion of a 4-1 win and St. Louis' first Stanley Cup.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEL0AUHqfZU[/embed]
Abramov, 21, was a fourth-round pick by the Maple Leafs in 2019; he has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 34 games for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League this season.
Gaudette, 26, has 34 points (20 goals, 14 assists) in 40 games for the Marlies this season; he has 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists) in 218 NHL regular-season games with the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators.
There will be more reaction to this on Saturday when Armstrong speaks to the media at noon (CT) prior to puck drop against the Avalanche.