How lessons from 2019 have impacted the Blues’ strategy this season
Doug Armstrong is in his 12th year running the St. Louis Blues, making him the second-longest-tenured general manager in the NHL. While he’s not sure what to make of his team this season, he knows one thing.
“I’ve never been part of a group that’s had such a diversity in play and results,” Armstrong told ESPN over the weekend. “Our peaks are high and our valleys are low. And we get to both quickly.”
The Blues have had a dramatic start to the season. A franchise-record eight-game losing streak was followed by a seven-game winning streak.
Along the way, the Blues demonstrated some bad habits, like allowing a one-goal deficit to quickly become two or three. They’ve also engineered incredible comebacks, like Saturday; down 4-1 entering the third period, St. Louis stunned Florida with an overtime win.
“I know what our identity has been in the past and I don’t think this team has an identity yet,” Armstrong said. “That’s one of the struggles our coaches are having right now. You’re a quarter into the season and you still haven’t found anything you can hang your hat on and say, ‘This is what a good game looks like.'”
With an average age of over 28, the Blues have the eighth-oldest roster in the NHL. And they’ll face big decisions soon: The two highest-paid players (captain Ryan O’Reilly and winger Vladimir Tarasenko, with matching $7.5 million cap hits) both become unrestricted free agents this summer.
But for now, Armstrong is exercising patience — despite his team hovering around .500 in a competitive Central Division. With tenure comes perspective, and Armstrong knows how to weather a storm. In a wide-ranging conversation, the Blues GM explained why seismic moves this season are unlikely — and a rebuild isn’t in the team’s plans anytime soon.
The quarter mark is too early to panic
Rewind to the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup season. In January, the Blues had the worst record in the league and had already undergone a coaching change, replacing Mike Yeo with Craig Berube. The team had made several big free agent acquisitions the previous summer: O’Reilly, Tyler Bozak, Pat Maroon, David Perron.
“A lot of pundits thought we were a solid team, a Cup-contending team, but we weren’t playing like it,” Armstrong said. “We wanted to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Good players have bad years. I learned that early in my career from Bob Gainey. If a player is going to have a 12- or 16-year career, they’re not all going to be memorable. You don’t want to make a mistake out of frustration.”
On a Western Conference road trip just before Christmas, a shift began. “We didn’t win the games, but we started to play really well,” Armstrong recalled. “It didn’t look like we had turned the corner, but inside it felt like we were turning the corner. In January, Jordan Binnington came in and a storybook season was had after that.”
Most of the noise is just that — just noise
Every player on the Blues has seemingly seen their name come up in trade rumors, including the captain, O’Reilly. Armstrong laughs and says he has learned to live with the white noise.
“People just make up things that they think would work because they want to play GM,” Armstrong said. “I’m not sure how many trades that get made up actually come to fruition. You know the people have a job to do — whether it’s every day on TV or radio or on Saturday nights. That’s just where we’re at as a society, and we as managers, players and owners have to understand it.”
When asked specifically about O’Reilly, Armstrong said: “At the end of the day, he’s a good player and he’s been a good player for a long time for us. If I say we want to get better in incremental ways over the next month or two, he has to be a big part of that.”
The trade market isn’t actually that robust
“I don’t even know the last time there was a shake-up trade,” Armstrong said. “Not in season. And in the offseason — to me, those are contract-forced trades or shifting-direction trades. Not ‘I want to get people’s attention’ trades.”
Since the Blues won the Cup four years ago, roughly two-thirds of the general managers in the league are new at their posts. Unfamiliarity makes it less likely to commit to a franchise-altering trades, Armstrong said. There’s also an aspect of risk aversion.
“I think it’s easy for managers, myself included, to say, ‘Well the salary cap makes it hard to trade,'” Armstrong said. “I actually just don’t think there’s an appetite to make those trades like there were in the past. It’s become a seasonal industry where you make your trade at the trade deadline and at the draft. You’re always talking to teams, but it seems like it’s more talk and less action.”
The Blues don’t have an appetite for a retool or rebuild
“We all have a different definition of what a retool, rebuild or re-whatever means, but it really just means you’re taking a step back,” Armstrong said. “To me, taking a step back to take two forward, I have a vision for how that would look. But taking eight steps back and trying to pick in the top five for the better part of five or six years, those things sound great in July but they’re not a lot of fun in January. And if you do that year in and year out, it takes a special market to be able to sustain a revenue and keep fans wanting to come out and see that team. Look at teams that have done it — their attendance has dropped significantly. When they come back, they’ll probably have great attendance again, but it’s still a business at the end of the day and we still have to put a product on the ice that can sell tickets.”
Armstrong is proud of the team he built and wants to see his vision through. And there’s one specific reason why he thinks the Blues can stave off a rebuild: drafting Jordan Kyrou in the second round (2016) and Robert Thomas at No. 20 of the first round (2017).
“Those are both point-per-game players. If you redrafted those guys, they’re probably both in the top 10,” Armstrong said. “So in my mind, we went through a rebuild without having to do it because our amateur scouting staff did a good job of getting us competitive players. If we had picked normal players that go in that area, instead of point-per-game players, you’ve got players that you’re trying to get into the league.”
Kyrou is 24. Thomas is 23. They are both signed to extensions with a $8.125 million cap hit that kicks in next season.
“Because we have these building blocks moving forward, we can keep our veterans together and push with the top teams,” Armstrong said. “So I don’t think a rebuild for us is going to look like it has for other teams. If you look just at those two players, they’re too good to let us go to last place consistently.”
Parity reigns now more than ever
“The teams that are rebuilding are getting better quicker than the teams that have been good are getting bad,” Armstrong said. “So we have everybody meeting in the middle.”
The style of play has also changed, leading to even more unpredictability. “Now no lead is safe because defending has taken a secondary thought process for most teams,” he said. “They play offense — and offense is great when you score, but it creates offense for the other team when you don’t. It’s an entertaining style of hockey, but it creates such a variance day to day and team to team.”
And that also has created crowded standings.
“Boston and New Jersey are the outliers at the top,” Armstrong said. “Other than that, you have five or six over [.500], and four or five under [.500] for 26 teams. Having new teams sprout up is good because we’re in an entertainment business. And that’s the beauty of the cap system. Every organization, every owner, every fan base believes that they should be competitive. But the reality is that half the teams aren’t going to make the playoffs, and three-fourths of the teams will be done within two weeks of the playoffs.”
The Blues are committed to consistency behind the bench
Craig Berube was signed to a three-year extension in February 2022. That belief hasn’t wavered. After the Blues lost five in a row earlier in the month, Armstrong decided to handle media availability himself — and give the players and coaches the day off. And during that session, the GM reaffirmed his coaches’ security.
“At that time we weren’t playing well, and usually calling for a coaching change is the lowest hanging fruit,” Armstrong said. “None of us are immune. Craig took this job, I took this job, and every day we wake up, we’re one day closer to getting fired. That’s just the nature of the beast of our profession, and we accept that. But that’s not something we would take lightly.
“I thought it was beneficial for myself to get that out there because we had lost five. If we lost another game or two, I knew that would be the narrative. I figured if we squashed the narrative before it started, we didn’t have to deal with it. But also … Craig is a good coach. Like O’Reilly, it’s incumbent on him to get us out of this too.”
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Alden Gonzalez
Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington will remain on medical leave for the rest of the season, the team announced Friday.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery will manage the team for what remains of 2025. Ryan Goins will serve as his bench coach going forward.
Washington, the oldest manager in the major leagues at 73, was placed on leave last Friday because of an undisclosed medical issue. He experienced shortness of breath and appeared fatigued toward the end of a four-game series at the New York Yankees that ended on June 19. Washington flew back to Southern California, underwent a series of tests and was placed on medical leave.
A longtime third-base coach and well-regarded infield instructor, Washington served as the Texas Rangers‘ manager from 2007 to 2014.
He was in his second year managing the Angels.
The Angels were 40-40 entering Friday night’s game against the visiting Washington Nationals, winning three straight under Montgomery and seven of 10 overall. Los Angeles has played better than most expected from a team with major league-worst streaks of nine straight losing seasons and 10 straight non-playoff seasons.
The 55-year-old Montgomery is getting his first job as a major league manager. The native of New York’s Westchester County is a former Houston Astros outfielder who served as the scouting director for Arizona and Milwaukee before joining the Angels as their director of player personnel for the 2020 season.
Montgomery became Los Angeles’ bench coach in 2021 after general manager Perry Minasian took over the front office, and he stayed with the Angels while Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin and Washington managed the club.
Goins played eight seasons in the major leagues before Washington hired him as the Angels’ infield coach before the 2024 season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Rachel Doerrie
The 2025 NHL draft is taking place on Friday (Round 1) and Saturday (Rounds 2-7) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
This page will be your home for the entire event, as each pick is added below, including scouting notes and team fit analysis for the first-rounders.
More: Prospect rankings
Draft week buzz
Late-round gems
Needs for all 32 teams
Round 1
Team: Erie (OHL)
DOB: 09/05/2007 | Ht: 6-1.75 | Wt: 183 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 17 | G: 7 | A: 15 | P: 22
Scouting notes: Schaefer is projected to become a true No. 1 cornerstone for years to come. A dynamic presence at both ends of the ice, he skates with ease and elite mobility to shut down opponents in all situations, while creating offense with quality transition play.
Executives and scouts view him as a future elite NHL defenseman and a foundational piece for a championship-caliber roster. Schaefer’s ability to control play from the blue line, play tough matchups, and run a power play — combined with the belief in his character and leadership — result in many believing that Schaefer has the tools to become a top-10 defender in the league, while wearing a letter as part of a team’s leadership group.
How he fits: After trading Noah Dobson earlier in the day, the Islanders drafted their franchise cornerstone defender. Schaefer does everything well, and is a dynamic skater with elite mobility. He will take on the toughest matchups, help the Islanders exit the zone with smooth passes and carry outs, and drive offense from the back end. He’s a future No. 1 defenseman who will log 25-28 minutes per night and run the power play.
Schaefer’s ability to dictate play from the back end is franchise-changing for the Isles. Schaefer will attend development camp next week, and it is highly likely he starts the season in the NHL lineup. Don’t be surprised if Schaefer is running the power play and logging major minutes by November.
A very emotional Schaefer hugged his family and pulled on the Isles jersey for the first time, with a cancer patch. Through tears, he shared his excitement and emotion, and gained the hearts of a lot more than just Isles fans.
Team: Saginaw (OHL)
DOB: 02/16/2007 | Ht: 6-0.75 | Wt: 184 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 65 | G: 62 | A: 72 | P: 134
Scouting notes: Granted exceptional status in the OHL in 2022, Misa delivered one of the most remarkable goal-scoring seasons in recent memory in 2024-25, netting 62 goals in just 65 games. He projects to be a top-line forward capable of consistently exceeding 90 points per season in the NHL.
Misa’s offensive instincts are elite. He processes the game at a high level and executes at top speed. Scouts believe he is NHL-ready and has the potential to become an elite top-line center. Away from the puck, Misa excels at finding soft areas in coverage and has a flair for delivering in clutch moments. His combination of high-end playmaking and goal-scoring ability makes him a constant dual threat in the offensive zone.
How he fits: The Sharks kept everyone guessing until the very last moment, but ultimately selected Misa. He is a special talent and adds a second elite two-way center to the organization. He projects as a first-line star, with dual-threat playmaking and scoring ability — notching 62 goals in 65 OHL games.
If Misa’s two-way game continues to improve, there’s a real chance the Sharks will have two centers capable of dominating play in all three zones with 2024 No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini already in place. On the power play, Misa can facilitate, be a shooting threat and carry the puck on entries. Because of his dual-threat capabilities, he can play the bumper, the flank or down low. With this selection, the Sharks have the potential to feature the best one-two punch down the middle for years to come.
Team: Djurgarden (SWEDEN-2)
DOB: 05/07/2007 | Ht: 6-1 | Wt: 198 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 29 | G: 11 | A: 14 | P: 25
Scouting notes: Frondell is a versatile two-way forward that plays both center and right wing. His flexibility is attractive to teams, although many believe he is most likely to reach his potential as a winger in the NHL.
Frondell is coming off one of the most productive seasons by an under-18 player in Allsvenskan history, giving him a confident projection as a first-line NHL forward. He’s a cerebral player, who picks apart defenders in one-on-one situations and defensive coverage in offensive zone play. The details of Frondell’s game are translatable, including excellent forechecking ability, willingness to attack the middle of the ice and high-end anticipation on both sides of the puck.
He has shown play-driving capabilities against men in the Allsvenskan, which has translated to the NHL for other prospects in the past. He’s projected to produce between 75-85 points per season. His style of play translates well and has executives excited about his ability to step in the league in the next 18 months.
How he fits: It was no secret that Chicago wanted to add some size up front, and Frondell is exactly that. He can play center or the wing, and brings an excellent two-way game. He confidently projects as a first-line forward that beats defenders one-on-one, drives play on both sides of the puck, and should score nearly a point per game.
He plays on the inside of the ice and has the ability to score 30-plus goals in the NHL because of his excellent shot. Frondell is a year away from playing in the NHL, and probably two or three from hitting his potential as a top-line forward who drives play. Chicago can play him behind Connor Bedard up the middle, or on Bedard’s line to capitalize on the versatility he brings.
Team: Moncton (QMJHL)
DOB: 04/11/2007 | Ht: 6-1.5 | Wt: 178 | Shot: L
2024-25 stats: GP: 56 | G: 35 | A: 49 | P: 84
Scouting notes: Described as a “coach’s dream” because of his ability to take an offensive or checking assignment and execute consistently. He makes smart, simple plays, provides a physical presence on the forecheck and generally agitates and makes life difficult on defenders.
He projects to be a quality second-line center with a decent chance of becoming a first-line player. He’s cerebral, with quick hands and playmaking ability. He’s not flashy, but he’s consistently effective and makes intelligent plays with the puck. As one scouting director described “he’s the type of player you win with.” Some have quietly compared him to Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews, who are lofty comparisons, to say the very least.
How he fits: The Mammoth kept everyone guessing, would they trade or keep the pick. Ultimately, they kept the pick and selected Desnoyers. He can play in any situation as one of the best two-way players available. He’s a serial winner who plays whatever style of game required to win. If he needs to produce offense, he does. If he needs to shut down the opponent’s best, he does that too.
Utah needed some size and two-way capability to mesh with Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther, and Caleb Desnoyers is exactly that. He’ll be NHL-ready a lot sooner than people think because his professional details are top-notch. He projects as a play-driving, two-way, second line center that the Mammoth will turn to in key situations. As noted above, there’s a lot of Jonathan Toews in Desnoyers’ game, which will excite Mammoth fans, management and coaches.
Team: Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
DOB: 03/16/2007 | Ht: 6-0 | Wt: 178 | Shot: R
2024-25 stats: GP: 57 | G: 33 | A: 39 | P: 72
Scouting notes: A Swiss Army knife type of player who will be most effective on the wing because of his strong wall play, Martin projects as a middle-six forward capable of scoring 20 goals routinely, with upside as a second-line forward.
He’s a wrecking ball that will bring value in all three zones, on and off the puck. Martin has scouts raving about him after an excellent performance at the IIHF under-18 championship, with many opining that he could go very early in the first round. He’s a workhorse without an off switch, who brings a blend of physicality and hard skill. He’s a nightmare to contain with his brute strength, and forces defenders into precarious positions with good speed and willingness to make “winning” plays.
Several teams mentioned how impressive Martin was during interviews at the combine. Combine an attractive personality with the hard-nosed style, and it forms a rare combination that is valuable to many scouts who believe he’s the type of player teams need to win in the playoffs. Surely, his mention of Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett as a role model grabbed attention.
6. Philadelphia Flyers
7. Boston Bruins
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Buffalo Sabres
10. Anaheim Ducks
11. Pittsburgh Penguins
12. Pittsburgh Penguins (from NYR)
13. Detroit Red Wings
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
15. Vancouver Canucks
16. New York Islanders (from CGY via MTL)
17. New York Islanders (from MTL)
18. Calgary Flames (from NJ)
19. St. Louis Blues
20. Columbus Blue Jackets (from MIN)
21. Ottawa Senators
22. Philadelphia Flyers (from COL)
23. Nashville Predators (from TB)
24. Los Angeles Kings
25. Chicago Blackhawks (from TOR)
26. Nashville Predators (from VGK via SJ)
27. Washington Capitals
28. Winnipeg Jets
29. Carolina Hurricanes
30. San Jose Sharks (from DAL)
31. Philadelphia Flyers (from EDM)
32. Calgary Flames (from FLA)
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