from Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Even some within the organization anticipated more sweeping movement once the decision was made to bring back Hitchcock for another season.

Surely Armstrong would like to find a landing spot for 27-year-old center Patrik Berglund. Unfortunately a three-year, $11.1 million contract with limited no-trade language makes Berglund an immovable object. Steve Ott is owed $2.6 million next season as a fourth-line instigator. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, 31, has four years and $22 million remaining on a deal that looked better before last season.

To be clear, the Blues are hardly an abject case, just a confounding one.

There will be those who again project them as preseason darlings poised to make an extended postseason run based on talent rather than recent history.

Perhaps nuance will finally take their side.

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