51ºÚÁÏ

The fans were already dreaming about the following summer.

As the Blues’ season begins, a longtime, title-winning executive enters his final season, as his replacement works in the same office.

The fans already are dreaming about the following summer — as in, will Doug Armstrong will go out hoisting the Cup in June?

It’s an incredible juxtaposition separated by just 4,700 feet across Clark Avenue.

As John Mozeliak’s final season as the baseball boss is mercifully played out, Armstrong held his merry season-opening news conference Wednesday. Much of 51ºÚÁÏ is disheartened by Mo, who once took the Cards to an elite level — but leaves them in a maddening spot, closer to last place than first place, yet again, in the division standings. And Army has 51ºÚÁÏ excited — the Blues are seemingly through their own retool after cracking the playoffs in 2025.

In that 2024-25 season, the gambler Armstrong fired a perfectly fine coach in Drew Bannister to bring in a star coach in Jim Montgomery. And as Robert Thomas emerged into an on-ice star, Montgomery’s Blues went on a 12-game winning streak in the final month. Alas, I am obligated, from a storyteller standpoint, to bring up what happened next: The Blues lost in Game 7 of the first round to Winnipeg.

Armstrong still builds goodwill with the Blues faithful. In the summer of 2024, he stunned hockey with the offer-sheet heist of Edmonton’s Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who both blossomed for the Blues. And this summer, he made a risky deal with Montreal: Armstrong traded young goal scorer Zack Bolduc for young, heralded defenseman Logan Mailloux.

Bolduc scored 19 goals in 51 games with Montgomery as the coach. But as Montgomery shared with me in August: “Logan Mailloux is a manchild in a really good way. A lot of people are going see a baby (Colton) Parayko.�

Armstrong turns 61 next Wednesday. Former Blues great Alexander Steen will take over as general manager after the 2025-26 season. Army remains on the books as the club’s president of hockey operations through the 2028-29, but Steen will be calling the shots with the team.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time (reflecting) — I’m really excited about the year,� Armstrong said Wednesday, the day before camp starts. “One of the things that we want to make sure we focus on is this year. You know, Alex and I worked together hand in hand in hand last year. I don’t see anything being different this year.

“It is a little strange though, knowing that there is an expiration date. But that doesn’t affect this year’s team, and they expect us to do our best — and we’re going to do that.�

Baseball and hockey are not apples and apples. Hockey has a salary cap and more teams make the postseason. Important to preface with that. So when you look at the Cardinals — Chaim Bloom takes over this fall — the club is mired in what will be three straight seasons without a postseason.

The fans are mad.

Mad at how it got to this point. Mad that Mozeliak still got to be the boss in 2025. Mad at the team’s messaging.

Meanwhile, the Blues missed just two postseasons — 2023 and 2024 — though it took the amazing April run to get in during 2025. Still, any angst toward Armstrong at any point in this process was significantly less heated than what Mozeliak got and gets from the 51ºÚÁÏ fans. Again, an interesting juxtaposition.

Both executives, in decades to come, will be remembered for their championships. The Blues, though, could compete for one again this year. A lot will have to go right. But Armstrong has this team in a good position for both the present and the future.

Asked about his vital, final season, Armstrong said: “You stay grounded. You know the manager’s job is to look at this year, three years ahead, five years ahead. I don’t have to look five years ahead. But I’m excited about how quickly our players have responded to this (retool and resurgence). I’m excited about how some of our younger players took this as a challenge, whether it’s a Jake Neighbors or a (Joel) Hofer or a (Tyler) Tucker, and then you get Broberg and you get Holloway — they didn’t want to be part of a losing organization (upon arrival to 51ºÚÁÏ). They didn’t want that to become the norm. And then the veteran players allowing that to happen and taking it (by the reins).

“So I’m happy, excited, proud, maybe as an elder statesman of 60 years old working with these 20-year-olds. But I’m proud of them. I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished. And that’s the hard part of telling them how you’re proud of them, (because) that doesn’t mean anything tomorrow. We’ve got to do it again, and then after next year, they got to do it again. But there’s growth. And I’m excited about how quickly we’ve got back to the playoffs. Disappointed, immensely disappointed how that ended. Hopefully that’s a learning thing.

“But again, I’m not looking too far into the future and down memory lane yet. There’s enough work to do here, and I say that with all seriousness, like, these players don’t care about me and what I’m going to do next year. They just want to have a good year. They want to make money. They want to have a good season. They want to take (Steen) to the woodshed, contract-wise. And I want to help them do that.�