5 questions with Doug Armstrong

Because this season hasn't gone as well as he hoped, General Manager Doug Armstrong has had to begin re-tooling the St. Louis Blues' roster sooner than he anticipated.
As the NHL Trade Deadline approached, Armstrong made a handful of franchise-altering moves, sending Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers, flipping captain Ryan O'Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and dealing Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In exchange, Armstrong acquired a handful of draft picks, players and prospects. He also plucked Kasperi Kapanen from the Pittsburgh Penguins off waivers and made a deadline-day deal to get Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings, giving the Blues two players hungry to prove themselves the rest of this season and the next.
So make no mistake - the St. Louis Blues are re-tooling, and Armstrong has promised he doesn't want this process to take 8-10 years to get the team back to being a regular Stanley Cup contender.

"What we want to try and do is we want to build our team back up," Armstrong said. "It's going to be a process, we understand that… (but) we're going to be competitive next year. When you add in Kapanen and Vrana, we probably have seven legitimate Top-9 forwards that have been Top-9 forwards for the last five years in the League. We're hoping Jake Neighbours can be the eighth, and we'll find a ninth. I think we're going to be competitive as we wait for the (Zachary) Bolducs and (Jimmy) Snuggeruds to mature and get into the NHL."
With the deadline behind him, Armstrong sat down with Bally Sports Midwest's Andy Strickland to discuss trading away key franchise pieces, the upcoming NHL Draft, how active the team might be in free agency, the acquisition of Vrana and what he expects from the team moving forward.
Here is what he had to say:

Now that the Trade Deadline is behind you, what do you want to see from the team moving forward the rest of this season?
"A determined effort. I know they've been through a lot the last few weeks, on and off the ice. We didn't handle it on or off the ice very well quite honestly as an organization, but now that's behind us. I think the last couple of games, they showed their character. Obviously we want to defend well, we want to play good in front of our goaltender, but I just think there's going to be a collective exhale right now that everyone is going to feel better about where they're at. They understand. I think hopefully when you bring in Kapanen and Vrana, they are two players that show the veteran players that the organization isn't not trying to have success. These guys can come in and give us some talented players. What the coaches and the players can do with that talent, I'm looking forward to seeing. But I really do believe that we're going to play competitive hockey and we're going to be in games and we're going to surprise some people."
How difficult was it to move key pieces such as Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O'Reilly, two players who helped you win a Stanley Cup in 2019?
"For Vladi, on the positive side he went to a very good organization, a team that's focused on winning right now and he'll fit well in there. O'Ry, we haven't had him here quite as long, but we had our greatest success with him here. He's someone I have a lot of respect for. Obviously we gave him the 'C,' I thought he did a very good job for us here… (I'm) glad that these (trades) worked out in areas where I think the players are happy."
What can you tell us about the decision to add Vrana before the Trade Deadline?
"It's the one-year (remaining on his contract) and a player to (that needs to) prove something. Obviously he's coming out of the Player Assistance Program, and we did our due diligence on where he's at and we're comfortable that we can provide him the support he needs to continue to be a very important piece on the ice, but even a better piece off the ice. The world is about second chances, and I love the opportunity to give him a second chance. Now (it's about) what he does with that and the opportunity that we can provide him to make it the best fit. When you look at his skill and talent-wise, he's a Top-6 player, Top-9 player at worst all day long. Now we just have to give him that opportunity to show that."
Do you expect to be active in the free agent market this summer?
"I don't see us being active in this year's free agent market. It doesn't seem to be the class that would generate our interest, and also the timing isn't correct. That's why we brought in Kapanen and Vrana, two players that are very hungry on one-year deals. They're going to want to maximize their summer and their next season, and we can be the benefactors of that."
As of now, you have three picks in the first-round at the upcoming NHL Draft, including one that could be in Top 10. How do you approach that?
"We'll sit down with our amateur staff. We have our list now, we do know we have our picks now and they're going to be here. I'll sit down with (Director of Amateur Scouting) Tony Feltrin and we'll obviously really hone in on our list of people in the Top 10, which is where we're picking now, and then I'll go over different areas of where we might be able to move up. Obviously I've already looked at a number of teams that have multiple second-round picks if we take one of those first (round picks) and move back. There's a lot of different variables. Our Top-10 pick is the one we're going to focus in on. In my career as a manager, I've never had a Top-10 pick. It's interesting to have - not something you want to have a lot of. But we are there this year and we have to really do our work to make sure we get good players. What excites me is the success we've had in the Draft over the last number of years, so the faith I have in our staff is off the charts."