NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the two-plus months that bridged the end of the Blues' season and the first round of the NHL draft on Wednesday night, speculation pinged around the league about what general manager Doug Armstrong would do with three first-round picks.
Would he be able to acquire help on the blue line with the draft capital? Would he be able to dump a contract with a late-first sweetener? His past playbook suggested that Armstrong would not go to the Bridgestone Arena stage three times on Wednesday.
But that's exactly what happened.
As the rest of the league fell silent — there were no trades at all during the first round on Wednesday night — the Blues held on to their cards to select Dalibor Dvorsky at No. 10, Otto Stenberg at No. 25 and Theo Lindstein at No. 29.
"It seemed like everything got quiet, got quiet around the league," Armstrong said after the first round. "We didn't see anything today. Usually, you see picks flying back and forth and everything. It was just a quiet night. I think 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 went for St. Louis the way we expected it to."
Earlier in the day, Armstrong said it was likely that the Blues would make all three picks.
In making all three selections, the Blues fortified their prospect pipeline and filled needs at center and defenseman. Most of the organization's top prospects play the wing, including Jake Neighbours, Zachary Bolduc and Jimmy Snuggerud.
St. Louis also may have solidified its NHL roster for the fall.
One day before the first round, the Blues added Kevin Hayes in a trade with Philadelphia, a move that filled out St. Louis' forward group. And without first-round picks to dangle for on-ice help or cap relief, the Blues have to be even more creative than anticipated in the trade market if they are going to make a move.
Asked after the first round what the Blues had left to accomplish with regards to their NHL roster, Armstrong responded: "We wanted a top-nine forward. We did. As I said earlier to you guys today, 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."
The reported trade with Philadelphia — sending Torey Krug out and brining in Travis Sanheim — would have changed the mix on the back end, but it also would have been a rare one in which a late-round pick was moved.
In the days leading up to the draft, only two first-round picks were moved. Philadelphia received one when they sold Ivan Provorov. Colorado got one when they shipped Alex Newhook to Montreal. Other than that, it was silent.
"There hasn't been a lot of movement in that area," Armstrong said in the afternoon. "That could change tonight. People have set their hooks and they've thrown it in there. First-round picks have value. Young players have value. Young players that you just drafted probably have more value than their pick."
Armstrong said that the Blues received an offer to trade the No. 10 pick, and it was apparent that Armstrong reviewed the possibility with assistant general manager Ryan Miller at the draft table.
"I had one Crazy Ivan as soon as the ninth pick was," Armstrong said. "As I said earlier, 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 as well."
In selecting the three first-round picks, the Blues might have further defined their window for contention, barring any trades, which could be a faulty assumption with an aggressive GM like Armstrong.
By the time Dvorsky, Stenberg and Lindstein are ready to help the Blues, the salary cap would have increased dramatically. The heavy contracts on the books will feel lighter. The current prospects in the system will be ready for bigger roles. And perhaps players like Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou become the stars that the Blues need them to be in order to be successful.
The Hayes acquisition helps bridge that gap gracefully, the Blues hope, but with a defensive corps completely intact, they'll be betting on internal improvement in the coming season.
"Our blue line has been a topic of discussion over the last year," Armstrong said. "It's the same blue line that had 109 points the year before. I think what we need to do is get our group back playing to the level, Craig and I talked about that with the new coaching staff that we have to be harder as a group of five on the ice in our zone and they have to get back to the level they've played at in the past.
"That's our focus now."
