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The Blues won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2019, and followed it up with the best record in the Western Conference during the 2019-20 regular season. But then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the league, forced the postseason into Canadian bubbles, and the Blues were bounced in the first round by the Canucks.

In the 2021 season, the Blues were in the West Division, playing the same seven teams in a 56-game regular season that also culminated in a first-round exit.

“This was the first year I really felt disappointed with COVID,” Armstrong said last month. “I saw Florida have a chance to defend their title. The COVID years, there was a Cup given out, but it wasn’t the same grind. One year, it was in a bubble. The other year, you played seven teams the whole year. Even the year after that, it was sort of a semi-COVID year.

“The last two with Florida, those are real championships. Those are full buildings, hard travel schedule, long playoffs. You didn’t need luck on a COVID test to say whether your best player could play or not. They were all playing.”

The Lightning won the Stanley Cup both in 2020 in the bubble, and in 2021 after the shortened season. Colorado (2022) and Vegas (2023) also won before the Panthers claimed the last two Cups.

In the Edmonton bubble in 2020, the Blues lost all three round robin games and then fell in six games to Vancouver. In 2021, they were swept by the Avalanche in the first round.

The pandemic marked a transition for the Blues as a franchise. Alex Pietrangelo signed with Vegas after the bubble playoffs. Alexander Steen’s career ended due to a back injury, and Jay Bouwmeester’s due to a heart condition.

When the 2022-23 season opened without COVID-19 protocols in place around the league, only eight ӣ����Ƶ Cup winners were in the Opening Night lineup.

“It never really bothered me until, quite honestly, I saw them repeat,” Armstrong said. “I wish we had that opportunity. I don’t know if we could have, but it starts to feel disappointing that we didn’t have that chance. It’s probably like the teams that won the year before lockouts. You’re coming back and you’re ready to go, and you’re playing half a season against half the teams. Doesn’t have the same (feeling).

“I could be the only one that thinks like that, but that’s how I felt watching Florida win. To win the way they won with no (adjustments). It was just 82 games, grind, grind. Even the Finals that they won, too, were a grind, and the year they lost in. I tip my hat to the Panthers because that’s an incredible run that they’re in right now.”

In each of the last four seasons, the Panthers have collected serious hardware, including the Presidents’ Trophy in 2022 and the Eastern Conference championship in 2023. They’ve won their Cups with a bullying brand of hockey heavy on physicality and forechecking, but skilled enough to employ a deep lineup of scorers.

“I think we’ve looked at our teams building them that way,” Armstrong said. “You need skill to get in. You need grit to win. They have a combination of both skill and grit. … But your style of play, it’s showing what doesn’t change in a seven-game series is high-character physical players are usually standing at the end of that.”

The 2019 Blues team was built in a similar fashion, with hard-nosed players populating the lineup, and a forecheck that pummeled opposing defenses. The Blues (Ryan O’Reilly) and Panthers (Aleksander Barkov) each boasted a Selke Trophy winner and a long, diverse set of defensemen to match up well against any team they might face.

When the Blues hosted development camp two weeks ago, they welcomed back a familiar face from the 2019 champions: Robert Bortuzzo. Bortuzzo spoke to the group of prospects about playing in the NHL, fresh off his 14-year NHL career that finished in Utah last season.

Bortuzzo was one of a handful of speakers the Blues had speak at development camp, Armstrong said. Bobby Gassoff Jr. talked about his post-hockey career as a Navy SEAL. Peter and Paul Stastny shared wisdom from more than 2,000 combined NHL games.

Armstrong was asked whether Bortuzzo had joined the Blues in any capacaity.

“He’s not part of the group yet, but I think he’s moving back here,” Armstrong said. “I would love to get a tie to some of those guys in ’19 that won here. I think it’s time for that group to take a bigger role in our history.”