Except my point was addressing Armstrong making a comment alluding to preconceptions about the city hampering bids on UFA's, which I still don't really believe. If you have a good offer from the Blues on the table then you pick up your phone and call someone that has played for the Blues. I know some find it difficult to believe, but as an organisation and place to live they are always viewed very favourably. I think it was Pierre McGuire who was going on about how much ex-players loved St. Louis during a broadcast earlier this season.
Which is why it is easier to get some of the older players to come to St. Louis. They're hoping for one last run and they typically have a family where the St. Louis area will at least interest them.
Legions of former players talking about how great the St. Louis area/team is great and all, but that only really intrigues a player if they plan to stay with the Blues to the end of their contract.
If you want to list reasons why a player might not find St. Louis as the best destination for him then great. They are all correct (except the young player one really, players are typically in their late 20's/early 30's and have families by the time they hit UFA).
Some of them do, some of them do not. Many may be married but not yet blessed with children. For some it would not matter, they still appreciate the night life.
Or they look for a more cosmopolitan metro than St. Louis.
My point on this was St. Louis is pretty much the definition of a fly-over. As such a player has to be convinced by the strength of the offer and the team, the other inherent advantages do not show up until a player is later in his career.
Now to its credit, St. Louis also lacks some of the disadvantages some of the other cities have as well. Examples: Lack of focus and pressure seen in Canadian cities, The climate is not too warm or too cold, etc.
The problem with that is you can make that list with every team in the League. No team can appeal to every player,
Toronto does, just ask their fans.
and it is probably rare that a team ticks every box on a players list... that doesn't mean that it is difficult to attract players.
Look, in a previous lifetime I often had to get more premier talent to work in the St. Louis area. I noticed right away that the younger crowd (which becomes increasingly older each year, but not the point) was a much harder sell to come to St. Louis than other areas. Essentially I always had to out-bid, which fortunately the company understood. There were no discounts since there were no visible inherent advantages.
Now, once the prospective employee I needed for the department had children (in particular just before school-age) then it was an easier sell.
Point is St. Louis is not an easy sell, it is rather difficult in a variety of arenas and I would suspect there is very little change when it comes to the St. Louis Blues attempting to attain talented individuals. I would suspect the St. Louis Rams have a very similar issue.
I am not saying St. Louis is a hard sell, I am saying that St. Louis has no inherent advantages to supplement the contract price and/or current team.
