3 St. Louis Blues Players GM Doug Armstrong Should Have Kept

Many will look at Armstrong’s poor contract and salary cap management since the 2020 offseason as the reason for the sudden downfall of the team’s performance. Fingers have been pointed in the direction of the 14-year president of hockey operations for the contracts handed out to the likes of Torey Krug and Justin Faulk, who each got six-year deals worth over six million dollars a year after the departure of captain Alex Pietrangelo. It is fair to say both players have been severely disappointing and have not played well consistently during their Blues tenure, but two players don’t make up an entire roster. Several veteran players on long-term contracts are underperforming, and the same man gave out those same contracts — Doug Armstrong. However, the bad contracts and extending of veteran players are not the only moves that have led to the Blues’ collapse in such a short time. 

When scanning across the league, several impact players on multiple contending playoff teams were once members of the Blues. These were players whom Armstrong seemingly didn’t retain or simply moved off of in favor of another player or asset that did not benefit the team’s performance. These moves ended up expediting the team’s collapse quicker than many anticipated. 

Armstrong has undoubtedly made many positive decisions and moves to help keep the Blues a competitive franchise for over a decade. However, every GM has moves and decisions that come back to haunt them, and Armstrong is no exception. Here are three players that Doug Armstrong should have retained and who could have helped prevent the Blues from falling into mediocrity. There were several players to choose from, with honorable mentions going to T.J Oshie, Jake Walman and Robby Fabbri.

Alex Pietrangelo

Let’s get the obvious move out of the way. This is the move that many fans and analysts look at as the start of the deterioration of the Blues’ roster and performance since the Cinderella Stanley Cup run. After the Blues were victorious in Boston during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, several tough decisions were hanging over Armstrong’s head, but the most pressing issue was the upcoming expiring contract of the star defenseman Pietrangelo. The captain had one season remaining with the team before he was to hit unrestricted free agency, but had yet to agree on an extension to return to St. Louis. 

Pietrangelo had another solid season in 2019-20 with 52 points in 70 games and did so without a deal in place. Free agency arrived, and the captain took his talents elsewhere, signing with the Vegas Golden Knights on a seven-year, $61.6-million deal worth $8.8 million per season through 2027. The fan favorite’s departure indeed divided Blues fans and set a massive target on Armstrong’s back, as the reason for his departure was Armstrong’s failure to give Pietrangelo the no-trade clause he requested and a longer term. Of course, all the details that came out after the departure are pure speculation, but one thing is certain: Armstrong dropped the ball on replacing Pietrangelo after he departed for Vegas. 

After losing their best defenseman, Armstrong had to decide the direction of the franchise and decided to continue trying to build a championship-caliber roster. He acquired Krug and Faulk and gave them identical contracts worth $6.5 million per season, with no-movement and no-trade clauses within those deals. The contracts confused Blues fans, as the thought behind Pietrangelo’s departure was that management’s was unwilling to give him a no-movement clause within his new deal.

Since leaving, Pietrangelo has continued to showcase his ability as one of the best defensemen in hockey. He has totalled 152 points in 244 games in four seasons with the Golden Knights. He has added a second Stanley Cup to his future Hall of Fame resume, has surpassed 1,000 career games, and has continued to be a vocal leader and voice in a locker room that has undergone numerous changes over the last several seasons. 

Meanwhile, the Blues have yet to reach a conference final game since bringing in Krug and Faulk, and both players have failed to meet the expectations set upon them by management and the fan base. Both contracts are considered some of the worst in the entire NHL, and their inconsistent play has frustrated many fans. 

Many look at Pietrangelo leaving to play elsewhere as the move that led to the Blues’ downward spiral. Not only was his play on the ice heavily missed, as the defense core has never been the same, but the locker room took a massive hit. Sure, Ryan O’Reilly and Brayden Schenn (two eventual team captains) still helped lead the young talent in the locker room, but losing the veteran defenseman was difficult for the team to swallow. Armstrong has let many players go and regretted it, but none had a more significant impact than losing the first captain to bring the team a Stanley Cup. 

Vince Dunn

When the Seattle Kraken came into existence with the 2021 Expansion Draft, each NHL team had a certain number of players they could protect. The Blues elected to protect seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goaltender as opposed to electing to go the eight-skater route that would’ve allowed the team to choose to protect more than three defensemen. Now, back in 2021, the team was very deep with loaded talent on both ends of the ice, so regardless of who Armstrong chose to protect, Seattle was going to get a good player from the Blues.

The Kraken ended up selecting left-handed defenseman Vince Dunn. At just 24 years old, Seattle viewed Dunn as a true building block of their franchise, and they were correct. In his three seasons with the Kraken, he has amassed 144 points in 211 games and has emerged as a true top-pairing talent with excellent playmaking prowess and an ability to create offense from anywhere on the ice. Hindsight is 20/20, and if Armstrong were to do it all over again, there is reason to believe Dunn would have been protected, but in the spot the team was in at the time of the expansion draft, he seemed expendable. 

Of all the defensemen who were protected, Colton Parayko was the obvious one. At the time, he was viewed as the team’s next franchise stalwart defenseman, and although it took him a season or two to live up to that billing, he has emerged as a team leader and defensive backbone. Both Krug and Faulk were also protected in the draft, and they were coming off pretty decent seasons, so Armstrong had every right to want to protect them. However, since then, both players have declined and fans are adamant that their contracts must be moved. 

When looking at the holes on the current Blues roster, there is a lack of a true top-pairing left-side defenseman to paly alongside Paryako. Dunn quickly could have filled that void, helped stabilize and balance out the back end, and helped the team’s poor power-play performance. Armstrong may have made the easy call by choosing to protect the veteran defensemen over the young up-and-comer, but looking back, Dunn has emerged as the top-pair playmaker the Blues have been searching for since Pietrangelo’s departure. 

David Perron

When talking about players who embody the entire franchise and truly live and breathe St. Louis sports, David Perron is near the top of that list, regardless of which franchise is being discussed. So when Armstrong decided to let Perron leave in free agency back in 2022, fans were rightfully devastated. Perron was a locker room leader, the face of the city, and an elite goal scorer for the club during his several stints in the organization. 

Perron leaving and going elsewhere is not something Blues fans are unaccustomed to seeing. He has been traded, claimed by an expansion team, and signed in free agency from other clubs before, but his latest departure for the Detroit Red Wings seemed to hit the hardest because it was avoidable.

Much like Pietrangelo, Perron wanted to stay with the team and was willing to make specific accommodations to his contract to make this a reality. However, Armstrong had other plans and reportedly low-balled the veteran sniper, which ultimately led to his signing elsewhere. From the organization’s perspective, it made sense to avoid bringing back 34-year-old whose production would likely decline as he got older. That being said, his departure has been incredibly noticeable, especially on the power play.

Not only was Perron a powerful locker room voice, leader, and embodiment of the city, but he was also the team’s best power-play goal scorer with an elite one-timer shot that rivalled the best in the entire league. The lack of his goal-scoring prowess has been highly noticeable over the last two seasons as the Blues have failed to show any consistent goal-scoring ability, regardless of being at even strength or the man advantage.

From a long-term perspective, signing Perron to an expensive contract with term could have backfired on Armstrong and put the team further into mediocrity while adding strain to a club already up against the salary cap. However, the organization continued investing in veteran players such as Kevin Hayes and Brandon Saad, neither of whom have produced at the clip Perron has over the last few seasons. Since leaving, Perron’s production has not slowed down, as he averages a half-point-per-game pace in Detroit while being a driving veteran force on a young Red Wings team in prime position to make the postseason. It’s the exact role he would have had on a Blues team currently turning the corner from an older group to the youngsters. 

Keeping the veteran around would also have relieved some pressure from young star Jordan Kyrou, who was thrust into a top power-play role and has shown inconsistencies in producing in the spot Perron held for so many years in St. Louis. The 25-year-old has shown incredible flashes of excellent offensive skill and goal-scoring ability but has sometimes disappeared for several games in a row. Learning from a player such as Perron for a few extra seasons would have benefited Kyrou and other young players such as Jimmy Snuggerud and Zachary Bolduc. 

Out of the three names listed, Perron probably would have had least-significant impact on the roster and the team’s long-term on-ice performance. The team has several young players in its pipeline who will play the role he did for several seasons, and his age was no doubt a significant factor in Armstrong’s decision not to retain him. Still, the lack of his leadership has undoubtedly impacted the team’s performance. 

“What Ifs” Are Interesting, but Blues Must Keep Moving Forward in Reality They’ve Created

Would keeping these players have changed the Blues’ current situation? There is no guarantee that it would have, but having these three on the roster would make them a better team on paper. Replacing Krug and Faulk with Pietrangelo and Dunn strengthens the defense, especially with Matthew Kessel’s emergence. Retaining both players also likely prevents the Nick Leddy trade from taking place, meaning Jake Walman is never traded and is still on the roster. Having a defense core of Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn, Walman, Kessel, and adding in the young Scott Perunovich or veteran Marco Scandella on the bottom pair makes a more well-rounded and balanced core than the current one. However, with Pietrangelo and Dunn making well over $7 million per season, the cap situation would be direr than it already is, cerating another obstacle for the organization to try and navigate. 

Furthermore, if Perron were retained, the team probably would not have looked to add a player of Snuggerud’s caliber in the draft, changing the perception of the prospects in the organization. Everything happens for a reason, and the organization must take the good with the bad. If Armstrong can find a way out of some of these bad contracts this summer and turn this team around, all will be forgiven. However, there is no doubt that if all three of these players had been on the roster for the last two seasons, the Blues would be in a playoff spot and chasing a Stanley Cup instead of stuck in the middle of the standings with no clear direction.