NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nobody believed him, but Doug Armstrong stood firm in his belief.

Heading into the 2023 NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, the majority of prognosticators felt there was no chance the St. Louis Blues general manager would be walking up on stage with his hockey operations staff to make three selections in the first round.

It almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Blues would certainly make their pick at No. 10, then trade away at least one, if not both of St. Louis' later picks at No. 25 and No. 29.

It never materialized for the Blues, or for anyone else in the league.

It doesn't mean there wasn't any chatter. It doesn't mean GM's didn't try. It just simply didn't get done on the first day.

"It seemed like everything got quiet, quiet around the league," Armstrong said. "We didn't see anything today. Usually you see picks flying back and forth and everything. It was just a quiet night. People were excited about the depth of the draft. Everyone felt comfortable, the old, 'I can't believe he was there when we picked.' I think that played out tonight. There might be a little more movement tomorrow, but for me, I thought tonight for St. Louis went the way we expected it to."

The Blues in fact went to the stage three times, and each pick, they took their selection time-wise down to the wire. They selected Dalibor Dvorsky at No. 10, a big Slovakian center (6-foot-1, 200-pounds) the team was really high on, then went Swedish at No. 25 and No. 29, taking center Otto Stenberg (5-11, 185) before going with left-handed defenseman Theo Lindstein (6-0, 185).

"Obviously very excited," Armstrong said. "It was a little nerve-wracking on a couple of those picks where guys were going to get (slid) to that spot and they did. I think Tony [Feltrin] and his staff did a great job. ... The guys put a lot of work into that list and it was a little bit nerve-wracking a couple of those picks and we had a really nice day."

Once the Detroit Red Wings selected at No. 9, Armstrong said there actually was a team trying to get in at No. 10, but as was the case throughout the night, a player the team really coveted was on the board and nobody was willing to budge, including the Blues.

"I had one crazy (offer) just as soon as the ninth one was made," Armstrong said. "It didn't really have enough. You want time to make sure you can vet it and I didn't have time to vet that call so we made the pick and we're really excited about the pick also."

The pick at No. 10 was not as much a surprise as were picks 25 and 29. Those picks, the Blues acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers through the Dallas Stars, respectively.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for commissioner Gary Bettman to make it to the podium to announce, "We have a trade," especially with the Blues, and it just didn't come to fruition.

Would the Blues move one or both picks for draft capital and even move back into the second round?

"That was brought up and again, the old, 'We can't believe he was there,'" Armstrong said. "We were actually down to 25 and 29, I think with one player. If that player that we took at that was gone, we would have moved back. It was close on a couple of those, but we were excited those players were there.

"It was that kind of draft where our firsthand column was going like really quick. Usually you have some crazy ones that can come in from the second or third column, but today it was a lot of mocks were pretty bang-on."

What happens with the Blues and their two picks in the third round, a fourth, a fifth, sixth and seventh is yet to be seen. But before this draft started, the Blues acquired a ready-made center in Kevin Hayes from the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, then made three first-round picks Wednesday to keep the cupboard fresh with prospects, but one area that never changed was on defense, and Armstrong said he's OK with that after defenseman Torey Krug implemented his no-trade clause that would have made the Blues-Flyers trade a larger one.

"We wanted a top-nine forward, we did (acquire one)," Armstrong said. "I know our defense gets a lot of scrutiny from the media, but we need them to play back to the best of their capability. That's our focus now to get into training camp."