Blues stay silent on Trade Deadline Day; Pavel Buchnevich biggest fish in rumor mill remains with team

The day came and went without a whimper for the St. Louis Blues.

The NHL Trade Deadline Day once again had a flurry of moves, including a number of former Blues that have been moved in the past three days, including Vladimir Tarasenko (Florida Panthers), Pat Maroon (Boston Bruins), Joel Edmundson (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jake Allen (New Jersey Devils), Klim Kostin (San Jose Sharks) and Erik Johnson (Philadelphia Flyers), but the Blues (32-28-3), who are six points out of the Western Conference wild card trailing the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, remained quiet.

"I thought there might be a little activity, but we were very quiet ... I wouldn't say the whole time, but I think our play in the last two weeks has put us in a situation where ... you're heavily scouted the last couple of weeks before the trade deadline (and) we haven't played very good," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said via Zoom. "It takes a little more fortitude for a pro scout to recommend someone, so this year, we were coming out of the All-Star break hoping to maybe add a piece at some point. We played two really good games, won two games and then quite honestly, the bottom fell out. So we were listening to potentially adding but weren't going to go too crazy and then the market for players, interest in our players wasn't there."

Forward Pavel Buchnevich isn't a pending unrestricted free agent, but the rumor mill has been filled with his name the past couple weeks, and Armstrong has actually indicated he's open to talking contract extension with Buchnevich beginning July 1 when he's eligible to do so. That left only defenseman Marco Scandella and forwards Sammy Blais, Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana, who's playing in the American Hockey League, as the lone UFA's that could potentially have been had at the deadline, which came and went on Friday at 2 p.m. (CT).

"I don't want to get into specific conversations, but there was just nothing that transpired today with any of our guys," Armstrong said.

So the Blues, who continue their road trip Saturday against the New York Rangers, will plod along with what they have in hopes they can stay relevant for the remaining 19 games and give themselves a chance.

"I haven't given up hope on this year," Armstrong said. "People probably think I'm crazy, but I learned that from (former Blues GM) Larry Pleau. I think it was my first year here (in 2010), we had lost a lot of guys and I think it might have been [Paul] Kariya that went out, we were in Washington and I was like, 'Wow, this might be a long year,' and that team wound up making the playoffs. Chris Mason came in, the goalie, the guys had a ton of fun together, they enjoyed winning and it went on and on.

"I hope our guys find a little bit of joy back in the game. Right now when you're around our group, there doesn't look like a lot of joy, there doesn't look like there's a lot of excitement to have this job. I understand that it is a job, but there's a point where in my mind ... you do all the work in June and July and August. You get up, you train early, you take care of yourselves, you say no to a party, you go home early from a party, you get up because you want to have fun in March and April, May and June. This is the time of year where I hope our players find it being the most enjoyable. You should come to the rink with a smile on your face, with the desire and excitement to compete. For whatever reason, we haven't had that desire and compete the last little while. I hope they can find it back because it should be a joyful time. As far as competing, we walked about what does a successful season look like. Part of it is wins and losses. No question that's a big part of it, but when you're going through a change, you want to see growth.

"... We're seeing some positives in some of our developing players. Right now with our roster the way it is, we will likely see another player or two get an opportunity from the American Hockey League this year. That's a positive part. After we have the full 82 games and whatever else may or may not come after that to evaluate on what we need to do next year, but we're going chart that, we're going to stay on that course that we've charted, we're going to live with the kidney blows and the punches and the hard days because we want to stay true to that vision that we have of building around and getting back to that competitive team. Not for a year but for a number of years."

The Blues did get one minor deal done when they traded Springfield goalie Malcolm Subban to the Columbus Blue Jackets for future considerations.

That trade was done two-fold. One, the emergence of Colten Ellis, and Vadim Zherenko is now healthy and Armstrong said he wanted to see the seventh-round pick in 2019 take the reigns and not have that veteran safety net (Subban) there. He wants to see Zherenko and Ellis tag-team and help lead the Thunderbirds in their push for the playoffs.