Snapshots: Blues, Orlov, Senyshyn

The St. Louis Blues are not technically out of the playoff race, sitting 26-26-3 after today’s loss, but the front office decided that this wasn’t their year weeks ago. General manager Doug Armstrong spoke with Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about his recent selling spree, moving Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Ryan O’Reilly, and Noel Acciari over the last ten days.

As we have suggested in the past, the Blues aren’t guaranteed to use the draft picks they’ve landed this month. Instead, they could flip them for established NHL talents to try and reload this offseason. Armstrong admitted as much, explaining that the team needs to “retrench with players 25, 26, and under that have term on their contracts.”

• The Washington Capitals are trying to work out an extension with Dmitry Orlov, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writes that “term is a significant issue” in the negotiations. Orlov, 31, has a lot of miles on his body, with more than 750 NHL games (regular season and playoffs) in an 11-year career, and is probably looking for one more big payday as he nears unrestricted free agency. Coming off a six-year, $30.6MM deal, he is playing nearly 23 a night for Washington, who have been without John Carlson for a big chunk of the year.
• Zachary Senyshyn has been traded again, this time in the minor leagues. The former Boston Bruins prospect was traded from the Utica Comets to the Chicago Wolves in exchange for future considerations. Ben Birnell of the Daily Sentinal gives some context on the deal, explaining that the Comets have had to sit a player all season, because of the rule that limits the number of minor league veterans that can be in the lineup at any one time. Senyshyn, 25, is approaching 300 regular season games in the AHL.