Vancouver Canucks Foe: Blues GM Armstrong On Boudreau, Tarasenko

The Vancouver Canucks next challenge while playing without Covid positive JT Miller, Conor Garland, Bo Horvat, Thatcher Demko, Jaroslav Halak and the team’s most recent starting goaltender Spencer Martin, is none other than the St. Louis Blues.

GM Doug Armstrong, Head Coach Craig Berube, Captain Ryan O’Reilly.

Not a bad bunch. And throw in Jordan Kyrou, probably the NHL’s break-out player of the year with 40 points in 36 games, and the Canucks have their hands full. The 23-year-old 2nd-year player had 35 points all of last season in 55 games.

The 2019 Stanley Cup Champions look pretty good, presently with a record of 24-11-and-5 for 53 points and 3rd place in the NHL’s Central Division. After some early season ripples about superstar sniper Vladimir Tarasenko waiting a trade out of Blues-land, the club kept him and then simply started rolling after some injuries in November.

They’re a heavy, hard, well balanced club taking on a Vancouver Canucks crew decimated by positive Covid tests. We talked to GM Armstrong about all of it, in a tidy four-minute package.

Jordan Kyrou and Ryan O’Reilly at St. Louis Blues morning skate.

Vancouver Canucks fans should keep in mind that the Blues were in a similar position in 2018 as the Canucks are now. They were the worst team in the NHL around the holidays and went from ‘worst to first’ by winning the Stanley Cup in the summer of 2019.

Other very recent on VHN:

Jim Rutherford and Wild GM Bill Guerin on Patrik Allvin and GM search.

Top agents, Pettersson’s and Boeser’s, talk trade psychology.

Bruce Boudreau coaching his 1,000th NHL Game.