BenFred: The Blues can make the playoffs this season, and it would be a big deal (2024)

Doug Armstrong already was dealing with some angry allergies — stuffy nose and watering eyes — when I mentioned something that really made him want to sneeze.

The Blues’ first game that counts doesn’t come until October. Playoffs? Achoo.

“We’re not even into training camp,” Armstrong said. “So I hate talking about the playoffs. We just have to look right in front of us, day-to-day.”

Here’s why I brought it up. It seems no one knows what to make of these Blues, and I think that’s a good thing. For this team at this time, the so-called hockey experts who are busy predicting who will thrive and who will underachieve this season are mostly staying away. The Blues aren’t being celebrated as a Stanley Cup threat. They’re not being clowned as a bottom feeder. They’ve become a bit of a mystery team.

Some would translate that as irrelevance. I’m not so sure. I think the hockey experts are avoiding calling the Blues’ ceiling because they don’t want to look wrong. It’s already happened once this offseason.

When many believed the Blues roster was mostly set entering this month’s training camp, Armstrong added two exciting additions via the rarely used offer sheet option. Maybe more pleasant surprises come this season. That’s not just summer optimism talking. There’s talent. There’s speed. There’s potential, untapped.

“We hoped to not have to go through seven, eight, nine years out of the playoffs,” Armstrong said. “We are trying to do something where we are staying competitive. Last year, we pushed until the end. Our goal is to get to the playoffs this year now. We have enough pieces. We have changed the outlook of our team. The internal competition is going to be great enough to drive us to a consistent style of play every night.”

I think the Blues can make the playoffs, and I think this team checking that box would be a pretty big deal. Sometimes just getting in is viewed as the equivalent of a lost season — especially if you borrowed from your future for win-now moves at the trade deadline to make it happen. But for this group of Blues, getting in would be about the future as much as the present, a teasing taste for what ownership and Armstrong hope becomes a voracious appetite for seasons to come.

“I do think we are a team that could benefit from playing meaningful hockey games into March, April and hopefully May,” Armstrong said.

I interpret the absence of outcomes predicted for the Blues as a positive, a sign they could be ready to begin exiting this rebuild phase, perhaps sooner than initially thought. Armstrong being willing to give up future draft picks for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway was an encouraging sign. It’s not something a GM only looking toward the future does. That future is now.

The wound created by Craig Berube’s firing has scarred over. Drew Bannister’s productive work with the team since then has helped expedite the healing. Fans haven’t loved missing the playoffs the last two seasons, and some were fairly steamed by Berube’s ouster, but they haven’t seemed to lose faith in Armstrong. If they had, they got some of it back when he announced a succession plan that has him handing power over gradually to GM in training Alexander Steen over the coming years. It was a move that reminded of Armstrong’s team-first vision. His offer-sheet addition of Broberg and Holloway reminded fans of his desire to win again before Steen starts calling the shots.

“You call it a transition because it takes a while,” Armstrong said. “If people thought we were going to transition and they were going to see 50 percent of the final product last year, it just doesn’t work that way. It’s like turning a freighter. You’ve got the wheel pointed in the right direction, but it takes a little bit of time to turn it. Each year we have a vision of how we want to play and what we want to look like. What we are trying to do with each decision we make is get closer to that.”

Considering how sideways the Cardinals and their fans have gotten during a down time, how the Blues have messaged their reset is commendable.

“We try to be honest,” Armstrong said. “We try not to pull the wool over their (fans) eyes, you know, in any way, shape or form. Sometimes we are too honest. But I think it’s easier. We understand who we work for. I get paid by Mr. (Tom) Stillman, but I work for the fans. Tom has said this on numerous occasions, that he is a steward for the franchise. That’s what we have to do. We understand we are very fortunate to have a fabulous fan base here. We need to continue to show our appreciation to them by being honest, by being the best we can be. You’re not going to make everybody happy all the time, but that’s part of the game. One thing in the Midwest and certainly here in St. Louis is that they appreciate an honest day’s work. If they believe the training staff, coaching staff, management staff and players are giving the best of their ability, then they can support it. That’s what we try to do.”

The Blues, pretty quickly, are crammed with players ages 26 and younger who should get the chance to perform together for a half-decade or more to come. They should be fun to watch. They should be faster than previous editions.

To make the playoffs, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and freshly paid Pavel Buchnevich must produce. Period.

“They’re core players,” Armstrong said. “This is the bell curve. Buchnevich, Kyrou and Thomas are at the top of their bell curve now. They’re at the primes of their careers. They have to be our leaders.”

Seasoned veterans should be capable of handling lesser roles. Legitimate chances abound for newcomers and up-and-comers to earn key spots. Goalies Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer return as one one of the league’s most overlooked tandems. Bannister no longer has to coach under the uncertainty of an interim title. You can find yourself optimistically daydreaming of the pleasant surprises that could emerge from a team littered with first-round picks from the past half-decade.

Armstrong, it should be noted, has never missed three consecutive playoffs since he joined the Blues. Maybe he never will. The good thing about resetting smartly is that sometimes a team that could be really good later gets pretty good earlier than expected And fans who feel looped in on the process tend to feel good pulling for it.