51ºÚÁÏ

Blues president of hockey operations Doug Armstrong knows that day continues to creep closer. After more than a decade and a half of watching over, shaping, guiding and influencing the daily life of the 51ºÚÁÏ Blues, Armstrong has become a proud papa nearing the day he’ll drop his child off at college for the first time.

In this case, the child is a hockey organization, and Armstrong isn’t handing the daily care, mentorship and safety over to a college or university. He’s turning over the reins, the title of general manager and the quest for a Stanley Cup to former Blues forward Alexander Steen.

There’s one hugely important thing that Armstrong didn’t do before he turned things over to Steen: Armstrong didn’t jettison one of the club’s core players and most dangerous offensive weapons, Jordon Kyrou, as he enters his prime.

Entering last week, the rumors were plentiful. They painted Kyrou, 27, as a hot commodity set to move on the trade market before his full no-trade clause kicked in on July 1.

Instead, Kyrou stayed put. His no-trade clause intact, the Blues held on to their winger and the club’s leading goal scorer in each of the past three seasons.

Arguably, the move Armstrong didn’t make — the decision he didn’t take out of the hands of Steen before he slid into the big chair — might prove the best decision this offseason.

That’s crazy talk. Right?

Somehow, Armstrong didn’t see the path to getting 5% better this offseason by trading away a 36-goal scorer who registered an average of 71 points the past four seasons.

Go figure.

It’s as if Armstrong abided by a Hippocratic oath for hockey executives. He’s living up to a pledge to do no harm to his team’s future.

And yes, I realize the offensive firepower Kyrou provides the Blues is the exact reason he’d be a great trade chip.

Clubs would surely have interest in acquiring him and his goal-scoring ability. That contract extension that’ll pay him an average annual value of $8.125 million per season through 2030-31 will only look even better as the NHL’s salary cap continues to rise in coming years.

And that’s also why the Blues couldn’t and shouldn’t part ways with him unless something unforeseen dropped in their lap.

That’s not an exaggeration of Kyrou’s ability or impact. Nobody’s saying the Blues have got Alexander Ovechkin roaming around the ice at Enterprise Center.

But let’s also not pretend the Blues were some sort of an offensive powerhouse last season. They were 13th in the NHL in goals scored, which puts them among the middle third of the teams in the league.

However, there’s statistical evidence that they overachieved to reach that point offensively.

Take the metric expected goals as one example. The Blues expected goals in five-on-five play ranked 26th in the NHL. The difference between their actual goals scored and expected goals for in five-on-five play was the third-highest gap of any team last season, according to the website .

And that gap worked greatly in their favor.

OK, let’s say you somehow convince yourself that the reason they outperformed their expected scoring was because they’re just so rugged and dogged when it comes to getting to the front of the net and creating dangerous scoring opportunities and rebounds.

Well, that’s a cute and partially delusional thought.

The data sinks that theory. The Blues ranked 23rd in the NHL in high-danger shots, 26th in medium-danger shots and 21st in the percentage of their goals scored from rebounds, per .

It’s probably a good bet that’s part of the reason head coach Jim Montgomery talked about a need to be “harder� to play against offensively next season.

“It’s habits and details,� Montgomery said when asked to expound on that comment. “Speed at the blue line. Attacking middle ice. Having a middle-lane drive. You have to attack the hard areas. The puck doesn’t have to be there, but bodies got to be there. Then the puck can get there. Then the other part is being as committed as we were to the forecheck.�

In case you missed it, he cited a need to attack middle ice and a need to attack hard areas.

Couple that with Armstrong’s declaration that he’d look to add a 200-foot player to their forward group, and the Blues basically told you that their offensive production wasn’t at a place where they could just run it back.

Now, Kyrou isn’t the guy who excels in the mucky areas. But he does produce goals on a consistent basis. When you’re a club with an offense that isn’t abundant, you can’t take that for granted.

If you retort that Jimmy Snuggerud can step in and take over the Kyrou production, then you should get out of that summer heat immediately because it’s frying your brain.

Snuggerud’s going to pick up that scoring burden? Based on what? Fourteen total games in the NHL between the regular season and playoffs.

The 21-year-old former first-round pick has got potential. He’s also got to get himself a few protein shakes and several hearty sandwiches. That 186-pound frame of Snuggerud’s could certainly stand to add man strength.

Oh, and maybe we can see if he makes it through the better part of a full season of the professional hockey schedule before we pencil him in for 70 points per season.

If you want to make the case Snuggerud could outplace the production Zachary Bolduc gave you as a rookie last season (19 goals, 17 assists in 72 games), now that’s a realistic discussion.

With Bolduc traded away to Montreal, Snuggerud replacing Bolduc’s production is a trade-off the already-overachieving Blues offense can afford to bet on next season.

The reason the Blues can ease Snuggerud in as a rookie is because they still have proven offensive players like Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway, Jake Neighbours and, of course, Kyrou.