Enterprise Center is the place to be for NHL scouts as Blues' trade rumors swirl - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The press box scene was surreal Thursday in between periods of the Blues-Devils game at Enterprise Center.

First off, there’s very little elbow room in there these days. The place is swarming with NHL scouts as general manager Doug Armstrong’s fire sale continues.

With half the league sending scouts to Enterprise – including two apiece by Anaheim, Edmonton and Tampa Bay – there was Armstrong and assistant general manager Ryan Miller mingling with them.

All that was missing was Armstrong walking around with a tray of hors d’oeuvres, handing out brochures on Ryan O’Reilly, Ivan Barbashev and Noel Acciari. Or Miller, the salary cap whiz in the front office, with a pocket calculator on hand providing financing options on the spot.

Were those “for sale” signs slapped on the helmets of O’Reily, Barbashev an Acciari instead of those BJC HealthCare ads?

All jokes aside, O’Reilly, Barbashev and to a lesser extent Acciari are drawing interest by contending teams as the March 3 trade deadline fast approaches.

The expectation is the Blues can get something in the neighborhood of a first-round draft pick plus a prospect for O’Reilly. And a second-round pick – maybe more – for Barbashev.

O’Reilly’s name has been out there for a while in trade speculation. Barbashev’s name emerged later in the process – with a bang. There have been reports that Armstrong informed Barbashev he was planning on trading him, in part because so many teams were interested in him.

Barbashev agent Dan Milstein has called those reports inaccurate.

As for Acciari, it’s been harder to get a read on him, but there definitely appears to be interest.

While all this swirls from – literally – above them in the Enterprise press box during this homestand, the players themselves seem oblivious, at least judging by their play on the ice.

O’Reilly has two goals, an assist and is plus-4 in the three games since the All-Star game/bye week break, including the game-winning goal in last Saturday’s 6-5 overtime win against Arizona.

Barbashev has one goal, three assists and is plus-4.

Acciari hasn’t been on the score sheet, but he’s played his usual hard-nosed game – hitting people, winning wall battles and generally being hard to play against.

In the midst of all this, the Blues are 3-0-0 since the break, moving back above .500 overall (26-25-3). At their best, the Blues have been nothing more than a tease this season, and they’re currently in full tease mode – hanging around on the edge of playoff contention.

Entering Friday’s NHL games, the Blues were six points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and eight points out of third place in the Central Division with 28 games left to play.

The overall look of the team feels right. They’re scoring goals, playing strong defense, minimizing mistakes. But is it sustainable?

“We have a lot of good players on this team, we all know that,” coach Craig Berube said. “But looking at the effort and the competitiveness of our team - you know, the attitude - it’s really good. And that’s a big thing. That’s what wins hockey games.”

Tweaks on the forecheck have led to better defense and more possession time on offense. It’s nothing too complicated. Defensemen are pinching in more, the high forward in the offensive zone – or F3 in hockey parlance – is guarding the back door. And it’s working.

“Yeah, we’re trying to be a little bit more aggressive as a group in defending,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “It’s a fast game, and if you sit back and you give teams time and space, they’re gonna make plays. It’s so skilled now.

“It’s always better to err on the side of aggression. I think that we’ve come to that realization as a group. Be aggressive. It’s better to work hard and get beat that way than just sit back and give something to a team.”

So for a week at least, it’s as if a cloud has lifted following the trade of Vladimir Tarasenko (and Niko Mikkola) to the New York Rangers. It has not been lost on some observers that the team is 12-4-0 without Tarasenko in the lineup this season, and 14-21-3 when he’s been out of the lineup.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors that go into whether a team wins or loses. But the Tarasenko trade situation was lingering through its second season. And unlike last season – the Blues weren’t playing at a 100-point level and Tarasenko wasn’t enjoying a career year before the trade.

Frustration and perhaps a touch of hopelessness seemed to be settling in during the five-game losing streak that preceded the trade. But the Blues have looked like a different team since the trade.

Berube said he had “no clue” how the trade may have affected the team’s mindset.

“I don’t go and ask players or anybody,” he said. “I don’t really dive into all that stuff - it’s not me. But whatever it is since we got back off the break, our players have been energized, excited, ready to go. Ready to make a push.”

All indications, from both outside and inside the organization, is that Armstrong already has made up his mind in terms of dealing O’Reilly and Barbashev. The cap situation is too pressing next season, the need to restock the organizational shelves with young talent too obvious.

It certainly will take more than three consecutive victories to change Armstrong’s course of action. Only seven games are left before the trade deadline, beginning with Saturday’s 1 p.m. matinee with the Colorado Avalanche.

As for the players: “Everybody understands every game is like elimination,” forward Alexey Toropchenko said. “We're just trying to focus on next game, and we need wins to make the playoffs.”

Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon take a break from pondering who could be traded next and when, and turn their attention toward a veteran Blues leader who is performing like you would hope a potential future captain would.

Ben Frederickson , Jeff Gordon , Gary Hairlson