Doug Armstrong on roster moves, team struggles

St. Louis President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong meets with the media to discuss the trade of Scott Perunovich, placing Brandon Saad on waivers and the team's recent struggles following practice on Jan. 28.

[@ralphjenkins6392]

I like this move by Armstrong letting Brandon Saad go. Sending a message to the players that there is a standard with the Blues of making the playoffs. A standard that was set before you guys even started playing hockey. Like Armstrong said this nucleus of Schenn, Thomas, Kyrou Buchnevich have to look in the mirror. You guys are partly responsible for two head coaches being fired. Jim Montgomery isn't going anywhere. Figure it out are I'm confident that Doug Armstrong and Alexander Steen will figure it out for you. You are some of the most highly financially compensated players in the NHL. I fully support whoever is released, traded, put on waivers are whatever the organization decides to do.

[@desmondblake931]

This team wasn't making the playoffs at the start of the season. I'm not really sure how placing Saad on waivers is going to fix that. The team is flat out mediocre. They have been for years.

[@ralphjenkins6392]

@desmondblake931 Do you not know that the Blues finished 10 games over 500 last season. With the same team this year and with Dylan Holloway and Broberg. How is it that they are under 500 this late into the season? Having for the most part been completed healthy this entire season. And Doug Armstrong added a great coach in Jim Montgomery. Man please!

[@desmondblake931]

@@ralphjenkins6392 And how did being 10 games over .500 help them in the playoff race? The way I see it, there's no difference between them then and them now. Missing the playoffs but still in a 10-16 overall pick in the draft. This team is going absolutely nowhere anytime soon.

[@whaleoilbeefhooked3892]

It's a business that provides extremely high salaries in return for 'RESULTS'. Doug Armstrong puts the "ART" in Heart.

[@tomjudge7920]

We are fine its not the end of the world.. gotta live blues fans

[@matt2d7088]

The straight forward communication is great, much better than the Birds down the street.

[@sdsmt99]

Those birds down the street have given us decades of excellence.

[@jeffthrow6892]

@@sdsmt99 Certainly NOT lately, though....

[@re1gnr1ps]

@@sdsmt99 oh how the mighty have fallen

[@anthonyholmes3411]

I know this isn’t a popular opinion but since winning the cup Army has been terrible. The very following year he guts the biggest most physical defense that won you the cup. You replace them with undersized, overpaid players like Faulk and Krug. This forces you to let Petro walk. You overpay Parayko. And in my opinion you may have overpaid your top 2 star players that should have gotten a bridge deal first. Sure they could be worth it. But We just hadn’t seen that level of consistency yet. So now you’re locked into this overpaid defense, one of which has played like 5 games a season. All of these ridiculously talented stars are about to become available. It’s Mathew Tkachuk all over again. This is all army. Just terrible!

[@BrentBrewington]

Someone really needs to subtitle these videos w/ the reporters’ questions

[@paulrosemann5432]

If we can’t get out of the mushy middle I think we are at the point of rebuilding and not “retooling”. Central is very competitive and the writing is on the wall that we only make it in as a WC and not a 1-3 spot. Set Monty, Steen and the team up for success vs treading water.

[@everydaycarry1328]

It's a crappy position, you don't make the playoffs and you don't get a top pick Either sh!t or get off the pot. I would do the the same thing we did with O'Reilly and Tarasenko , trade the older guys for assets Schenn Leddy Faulk Krug Faksa Fowler Suter On the other hand your probably not getting much for this bunch

[@ConnorJ-g2f]

We aren’t at the point of rebuilding with Thomas and Kyrou signed to 8.125x8’s. Especially with Holloway and Broberg now on the team with tons of talent coming up, we need to improve the teams culture and guys need to buy into the program.

[@NullXCrossbones]

You're an idiot. We're waiting for dvorsky and Snug to get here. You sound like one of those idiots who expect a cup every year. We're developing youth and then we'll have another 5 year window open. Grow up and learn to look past today.

[@johnp4082]

It's not just Saad. A few other players who are making a ton of money aren't performing. Keep cleaning house.

[@llamapenNHL]

Did that comment at the very end seem kind of odd? Is he implying that the coach didn’t want to play Texier but Army wanted him to? And having less options on the roster forces the coaches hand?

[@philiphof2141]

I like it. It's been driving me crazy that they keep scratching him.

[@jert33]

Could be that or maybe he is just exhausted with trying to get Saad going at the espense of texier.

[@RobertGoodwin-j1i]

This team is missing a big physical power forward who is willing to pay the price in front. This team is also missing a lot of heart. Especially at home.

[@fallenjonathang12]

The only line who shows any heart is the wtf like.

[@JimboJones27]

Dvorsky is waiting in the wings at Springfield He is leading the team in scoring in his first year

[@RobertGoodwin-j1i]

@@JimboJones27 he’s going to be a helluva player but he’s not what I’m thinking of when it comes to big physical power forward.

[@JimboJones27]

@@RobertGoodwin-j1i Fair enough. If you are talking about a true power forward I agree I'd love to see us acquire a player like that. It just seems like those type of players are rarer in today's In NHL

[@anthonyholmes3411]

You mean like Mathew Tkachuk who wanted to come here but we weren’t in a position to make a real offer because army decided to stock the team with overpaid undersized defenseman? One of which has played 5 games a season in Tori Krug? Can’t believe army wasn’t fired a year ago. Smh

[@zachschneider922]

He was a -33 last year, and on the number 1 power play... Faulk and krug have been horrible for the blues

[@CrowT]

I mean is anyone really shocked at the team and their lack of consistency? This has been their issue for a while now. We knew this going into the season they were gonna be another .500 club. They are just not any good🤷‍♂️

[@jacobrayman7238]

This is very Saad.

[@vashthestampededragon9824]

Dad joke of the day winner 😂

[@joshd3043]

I hate I laughed so hard

[@Bluke723]

the zoom in at 1:10 💀

[@goodwilj]

I have been watching this frustrating team for over 50 years since their inception. Playing consistently well with the exception of the 2nd half of the season in 2019 has been their BIGGEST problem. They just cant do that well. Also can we get players for God's sake who can HOLD THE POINT!!! Why do we have so many Left-handed players. Ever notice that?

[@Yadickhead]

We will miss general zod but the guys who are coming are just more superior we bleed blue

[@goodwilj]

It's good to see Schenn FINALLY produce. If not he may have joined Saad and the team could save another $9 million a year.

[@Loopholez91]

We should of traded for Trouba.

[@zachschneider922]

GET RID OF FAULK AND KRUG!!!!!

[@re1gnr1ps]

krug has been injured and on the IR since before the season began...

[@JimboJones27]

The team just cant seem to build any momentum this year One thing that needs to improve is that we are 11 - 13 at home Why do we have so many flat performances at home?

[@robertsanford-yl4te]

There is someone chatting or upset about his playing time or thinking he is better than they are

[@toyfruit8065]

When Schen and Miller fought the other night i bet his chirp was just "you might get traded to the Blues" 😅

[@dmomintz]

Doug's boys are taking games off and have a serious problem with their work-ethic. This is not Blues hockey.

[@Gawdrek]

Our teams "Super Star" rank's 57th in the league in points and 27th in Goals. The Blues have to score more point's than their opponents. Jim M was the one brightside. Blues and Cardinals front office's are making fools of the fans.

[@Bluenote05]

Disappointing to hear Army saying I don't know why players are saying energy is low, and body language is negative. Isn't part of his job figuring this out?

[@darrellc8613]

Armstrong sounds lost.

[@PoloJgro]

Saad wasn’t the main problem

[@miltonwildermann6670]

If you look at Perunovichs statistics hes a plus player. Only plus one but a plus player never the less. He never really got a good chance to play. Injuries etc. But they stayed with the other guys for years. And I surely wouldn't count on Texier. They may have to bring up some of those guys in the AHL whether they want to or not. So you look at Perunovichs statistics. There not great but neither is Tucker or Kessel. Perunovich has the most potential. Saad may have seen his better days but it's Buchnevich that gets me. He was a point per game player player but he's under forming quite badly. I think when they give these guys these massive millions of dollars contracts subconsciously they don't put forth the effort cause they already got what they wanted so have a flat salary and give incentives in money that the better they play and perform the more they money and perks they will get!

[@D-Fens_1632]

After watching the last few games, I feel saadomized.

[@daleschwartz3795]

Consistency!

[@jeffnossan1083]

Stop playing the Budweiser theme song, it's bringing the whole team down.

[@Daisheng-76]

Why Army resigned Buch is beyond me! I like Army & Buch seems like a cool dude but they shoulda traded his ass when they had the chance

[@Tegan4114]

God nothing must have been out there for Brandon Saad.

[@rickbeyer3424]

It's funny he created this mess by awarding contracts to underperforming players. I think the Blues could be well served by chipping away at the management.

[@schwaghappy2284]

Thank you Blues for letting Saad go. What a waste of space. A decent player when he actually tries the problem is he only tries one game out of every 5 they play.

[@Cram_pie]

Trade Buch and saad for JT Miller or Peterson.

[@PoloJgro]

Maybe you should be in those rooms Armstrong.. how can you fix what you do not know? Not a a good answer

[@NullXCrossbones]

St Louis fans are spoiled homers. Every year isn't a cup year. If you expect this you're an idiot and don't understand the eb's and flows of modern sports. Our winning window doesn't open again until Snug and Dvorsky are here and producing and that's probably 2-3 years away still. Right now the focus is and should be getting the young guys ice time and experience and figuring out what you have in them especially Halloway, Broburg, Tucker, Perunovich, and Walker and if these are core pieces of moving forward. Which they just did decide on Perunovich. We'll get there again but to expect a deep playoff run every year is asinine and if you do it you're not an actual fan you're just a homer.

[@billmitchell2080]

Perunovich? Total bust.

[@NullXCrossbones]

@ Which is why he's gone, try to keep up

[@ACErob-me9ss]

I agree 💯 we're not going to a cup every year. Yes, we're all hungry for playoffs, and it will happen. Give time for the players to grow it's a big learning curve, let them grow and grow up

[@billmitchell2080]

@Aerobane I am caught up. With Peronovich gone he can't quite be a core piece, now can he?

[@NullXCrossbones]

@@billmitchell2080 You really can't read can you, the post literally says "which they just did". He was one of the pieces to figure out THIS SEASON. And they did. Try actually reading.

[@cdjarrett2]

Kyrou &Thomas are making Army look dumb

[@goodwilj]

I wish we would have kept Tage Thompson. He is a much a better player than Thomas is who seems to be on the ice EVERY TIME we are scored against.

[@michaelelking6992]

don’t pin this on thomas look to his left and his right ur puck knowledge is dog shit

[@JimboJones27]

We traded Thompson to get Ryan O'reilly We don't win the cup without O'reilly

[@Ryangr7]

It’s a tough spot this team is in.

[@Dj_Blue15]

O’Reilly Perron Vlady (I’ll let that one slide since he wanted out) Jake Allen Bortuzzo Marron Fabbri Pietrangelo And now Saad And so many of our good players and Stanley cup team are gone for just picks or shitty players. you are by far one of the worst Gms the blues have had to deal with, Mike will always be hated but your going down that path. You were good for 1 year then you were shit for the rest, can’t wait for steen to finally end our suffering🙏

[@Zw2008]

Do you watch hockey? Fabbri was injury riddled and it was a GREAT thing we got rid of him because he was hurt the next two seasons after we traded him. Bortuzzo we kept until he was so old he wasn’t contributing much. Same thing with Perron, he wasn’t worth the contract the wings gave him. Same with Saad, he’s not worth 4.5M. Yes we shouldn’t have let petro go but the rest all were solid decisions for the teams future. Allen was the most inconsistent goalie we ever had 😂😂 why would he even be on this list? Did you just decide to rage post even though you haven’t watched since 2019?

[@Dj_Blue15]

I watch all games, getting rid of our star players are a horrible idea. And Allen I’ll agree with, also with Bortuzzo, but O’Reilly, Perron, Petro, and so many of our Stanley cup team is gone. He hasn’t made any good decisions since 2019. Plus no one likes army. Only making the blues worse. Saad wasn’t our problem. Army is

[@polarisoutdoors3105]

Please trade kyrou! 8M/year is ridiculous

[@NullXCrossbones]

Found another bandwagoner who doesn't actually watch games, he's been our best 200 ft player this year. Learn what actual hockey is.

[@polarisoutdoors3105]

@Aerobane 😆 okay bud. Stop drinking what's under the sink. You're obviously stunned

[@JayRoberts244]

@@polarisoutdoors3105 He’s actually correct

[@DavidFernandezBass]

58.9% on ice xG% at 5 on 5. 43.2% when off the ice. It's not too late to delete this.

[@ACErob-me9ss]

Ridiculous to even say trade kyrou imo

[@bigdaddymakingbank2260]

Would love to see Kyrou get dealt. He’s improved as a player since Monty has arrived BUT he doesn’t play blues hockey. Very passive, not aggressive on defense. The one thing he’s good at is scoring goals and we have guys like halloway who make millions less scoring at similar pace. Not to mention halloway plays an amazing 2 way hockey, something that Kyrou can’t master after multiple years in the blues organization. Another player I’m not impressed by is buchnevich. I like him but he’s underperforming dramatically this year. He got his big pay day and hasn’t played according to his salary. Strapping us up 16 million for years to come with insufficient play. It’s going to be a rough decade to come if these guys stick around.

[@NullXCrossbones]

You're cluess and don't watch the games.

[@Tylrp]

Yeah lets trade our top goal scorer who is on pace for a back to back 30 goal season. Fucking genius. Saying he's not aggressive on defense is just lies. He's not the Kyrou of the 22-23 season. He has greatly improved and is an all around great player right now. If you dont see that, then you're blind. For someone who is all about "Blues Hockey" you would think you would at least learn how to spell Holloway's last name.

[@JayRoberts244]

I dont know how you can watch this team and think he’s the problem

[@ACErob-me9ss]

No, do not trade kyrou he's young and good. You coach him he will only get better

[@NullXCrossbones]

@@JayRoberts244 they don't watch the games, that's how lol. Look at the dudes photo and name, they don't scream intelligence.

[@billmitchell2080]

You should put yourself on waivers.

[@NullXCrossbones]

Some internet nothing said to a top 3 gm in Hockey.....

[@billmitchell2080]

Top 3? At what?

[@billmitchell2080]

Letting a Stanley cup team dissolve into a team that can't make the playoffs two years later is not a number three general manager.

[@NullXCrossbones]

@@billmitchell2080 He's literally picked to be the gm for Canada for the 4 nations and the olympics....You're fucking cluless go bandwagon hate on the cardinals where you belong. Hockey isn't your sport kid.

[@JayRoberts244]

People around the league see him as one of the best GMs but I suppose you know better.

[@Casual_Violence]

Brady Tkachuk.

[@dizeestl]

This guy should have been fired 2 years ago.

[@NullXCrossbones]

Said the mcdonalds employee

[@JustinThomas-qt9hv]

Pipe down.