Blues GM Doug Armstrong explains reasoning behind trading Ryan O'Reilly

The St. Louis Blues made some noise late on Friday night as they traded captain Ryan O'Reilly, as well as Noel Acciari, to the Toronto Maple Leafs, just over a week after shipping Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers.

When meeting with the media on Saturday, Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong explained why he traded Ryan O'Reilly and that everyone needs to be held accountable, from himself to the coaching staff and the players.

Armstrong went on to say how that the list was quite small on teams who were willing to part with a first-round pick for O'Reilly.

More change is expected over the next 13 days leading up to March 3rd's trade deadline and the next name that will likely be on his way out of St. Louis is forward Ivan Barbashev, who like Tarasenko and O'Reilly, is an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

The Blues are in a bit of a pickle when it comes to where to go from here. A full-on rebuild is unlikely, especially with the contracts Doug Armstrong has doled out, some of which would be hard to move. But they do have a solid core to build around going forward, with the likes of Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Jake Neighbours, among others.

St. Louis currently sits sixth in the Central Division with a record of 26-25-3 (55 points) through 54 games, which has them, as of Saturday afternoon, eight points back of the Minnesota Wild for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. With the likelihood of making the playoffs almost non-existent at this point, the Blues will turn their attention to the draft, where they'll have three first-round picks, which will certainly help form the future of the franchise.

Armstrong: "There's going to be a natural disappointment from veteran players... I reacted to how we played. There certainly is a ton of accountability with myself, then it goes to the coaches, then to the players. We all have to be held accountable to why players aren't here."— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 18, 2023

St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong on Ryan O'Reilly trade: «Not every team is willing to give a first-round pick no matter how good the player is. So, the list of teams that were in this was quite small."— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) February 18, 2023

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