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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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Cindric wins at Talladega, dons victory wreath

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Cindric wins at Talladega, dons victory wreath

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric celebrated his first win of the season by wearing Talladega’s Superspeedway traditional victory wreath all around the track.

A wreath like he just won the Indianapolis 500.

He thought so, too.

“Feels like I just won the Indy 500,” he said of Sunday’s NASCAR race. “I’m trying to walk on the plane with this.”

Cindric wasn’t even concerned how such a gesture might be received by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who raged on his radio after the second stage when Cindric didn’t push him and it allowed Bubba Wallace in a Toyota to win the segment and its valuable bonus points.

“Way to go Austin,” seethed Logano, who used multiple expletives in his anger over his Penske radio. “You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go … put that in the book.”

Cindric was unconcerned by the idea Logano might take issue with the wreath on the Penske plane.

“I think that would be very immature,” Cindric said. “I don’t see him doing that. We’ll see.”

It was a celebratory day for Cindric, who gave Team Penske its first NASCAR victory of the season by holding off a huge pack of challengers over the closing lap in a rare drama-free day at Talladega Superspeedway.

“Rock on, guys,” Cindric said over his radio. “Rock and roll. Let’s go!”

Ford drivers went 1-2, with Ryan Preece finishing second. But Preece and Logano were disqualified following postrace inspections because of spoiler infractions. Logano had crossed the finish line in fifth.

After the DQ’s, Kyle Larson moved up to second and William Byron third for Hendrick Motorsports. The two Chevrolet drivers pushed Cindric and Preece from the second row rather than pull out of line on the final lap and make a third lane in an attempt to win.

It was Larson’s best career finish at Talladega, where drafting and pack racing is required and neither suits his style. He said he wanted to make a move to try to take the win from Cindric but there was never any room.

“I wanted to take it but I felt like the gap was too big,” Larson said. “I was just stuck inside and just doing everything I could to advance our lane and maybe open it up to where I then could get to the outside. But we were all just pushing so equally that it kept the lanes jammed up.”

Noah Gragson ended up fourth in a Ford, while Hendrick driver Chase Elliott was fifth – two spots ahead of teammate Alex Bowman, with Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports sandwiched in between them. Wallace was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in eighth.

Cindric led five times but for only seven of the 188 laps in an unusually calm race for chaotic Talladega. The track last fall recorded the largest crash in the NASCAR history when 28 cars were collected in a demolition derby with four laps remaining.

On Sunday, there were only four cautions — two for stage breaks — totaling 22 laps. It was the fourth consecutive Talladega race with only four cautions, the two for stage breaks and the two for natural cautions.

But, Sunday featured season-highs in lead changes (67) among different drivers (23). Only five cars failed to finish from the 40-car field, and a whopping 30 drivers finished on the lead lap.

Cindric marked the 10th consecutive different winner at Talladega, extending the track record of no repeat winners. And, by the time it was over, Logano seemed to have calmed down.

“About time one of us wins these things,” Logano said of the Penske trio. “When you think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general, just haven’t been able to close. To see a couple of Fords on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me, in a selfish way. But it’s good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off.”

Larson sets NASCAR record for stage wins

When he won the first stage at Talladega, it was the 67th of Larson’s career and made him NASCAR’s all-time stage winner. He broke a tie with Martin Truex Jr. with the stage win.

Stages were introduced in 2017 as a way to ensure natural breaks during races that allowed fans to rush to the bathroom or concession stand without missing any action. Cars typically make a pit stop during a stage break.

Teammate-on-teammate collision

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, who combined to win five of the first nine races this season, had a collision on a restart that ensured Bell would not win his fourth race of the season.

It happened in the first stage of the race with Bell on the front row next to Chris Buescher on his inside, and with Hamlin behind him. As the cars revved to get up to speed at the green flag, Hamlin ran into the back of Bell, which caused him to turn into Buescher and create the second caution of the race.

Bell went to the garage, where he joined Ryan Blaney, Buescher and Brad Keselowski, all betting favorites who were done for the day before the end of the first stage.

“What in the hell? Man, apologies if that’s on me,” Hamlin radioed. “We weren’t even up to speed yet. I don’t know why that would have wrecked him. When he shot down to the bottom, I wasn’t even sure I was actually on him.”

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NASCAR races next week at Texas Motor Speedway, where Elliott scored his only win of the 2024 season last April.

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Fan ejected after taunting Red Sox OF Duran

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Fan ejected after taunting Red Sox OF Duran

CLEVELAND — Jarren Duran has found plenty of support from his Boston Red Sox teammates and others since he revealed in a Netflix documentary that he attempted suicide three years ago.

However, Duran said Sunday that a fan in the front row near the Red Sox dugout in Cleveland said “something inappropriate” to him after the All-Star left fielder flied out in the seventh inning of a 13-3 victory over the Guardians.

Duran stayed on the top step of the dugout and glared at the fan as the inning played out. During the seventh-inning stretch, before the singing of “God Bless America,” Red Sox teammates and coaches kept Duran away from the area as umpires and Progressive Field security personnel gathered to handle the situation.

The fan tried to run up the aisle but was caught by security and taken out of the stadium.

“The fan just said something inappropriate. I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it and they took care of it for me,” Duran said.

After the game, the Guardians released a statement apologizing to the Red Sox and Duran. The team said it had identified the fan and was working with Major League Baseball on next steps.

Duran said it was the first time he was taunted by a fan about his suicide attempt and mental health struggles since the Netflix series “The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox” was released April 8.

“When you open yourself up like that, you also open yourself up to the enemies. But I have a good support staff around me, teammates, coaches. There were fans that were supporting me, so that was awesome,” he said.

Boston manager Alex Cora was in the opposite corner of the Red Sox dugout but lauded security for how the incident was handled.

Cora was even prouder of Duran’s restraint. Duran was suspended for two games last season when he directed an anti-gay slur at a heckling fan at Fenway Park when the fan shouted that Duran needed a tennis racket to hit.

“There’s a two-way street. That’s something I said last year. We made a mistake last year, and we learned from it. We grew up, you know, as an individual and as a group,” Cora said.

Sunday’s incident dampened what had been a solid game and series for Duran. He went 4-for-6 with an RBI and had at least three hits in consecutive games for the second time in his career.

In Saturday’s doubleheader nightcap, Duran had Boston’s first straight steal of home plate in 16 years.

Duran went 7-for-15 with three RBIs as Boston took two of three games in the weekend series. Six of his hits in the series came against lefties after Duran was just 3-for-31 against southpaws coming into the weekend.

“I’ve been getting some good swings on lefties lately, just hitting it right at guys. I’m trying to stay with my process, and it just happened to work good for me this series. So, I’m just going to keep at it,” said Duran, who has hit safely in 13 of his past 14 games and is batting .323 (20-for-62) with eight extra-base hits, including a home run, and six RBIs during that span.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sources: Tkachuk dodges discipline, will play G4

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Sources: Tkachuk dodges discipline, will play G4

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk will not receive supplemental discipline for his hit on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Geuntzel in Game 3, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

Tkachuk’s hit, in the third period of his team’s 5-1 loss, received a five-minute major. According to sources, the NHL Department of Player Safety determined that was enough, considering Guentzel had recently touched the puck and Tkachuk didn’t make contact with Guentzel’s head.

The department also believed that the force in which Tkachuk hit Guentzel was far lesser than the hit Tampa’s Brandon Hagel made on Florida captain Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, which earned Hagel a one game suspension.

The plays led both coaches to trade jabs in the media. After Barkov went down in Game 2, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said: “The only players we hit are the one with pucks.”

Barkov missed the end of the third period, but played in Game 3. Game 4 is Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.

At his postgame press conference, following Tkachuk’s hit on Guentzel, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper deadpanned the exact same line as Maurice.

Tkachuk leads the series in scoring with three goals and an assist through three games. Guentzel has two goals and two assists for Tampa Bay.

The Battle of Florida is living up to the billing as one of the most contentious rivalries in hockey; either Tampa or Florida has made it to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last five seasons.

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