In essence, the players always tell him which way to go by their play.

After a highly disappointing 3-4-0 homestand, the Blues have spoken clearly to Armstrong: sell.

Also back on Jan. 2, Armstrong said he prefers to look at the glass as half full. That if the team went on a “massive heater” — or hot streak — and picked up 10 games on .500 that he might change direction on trade deadline tactics.

Right now, however, it doesn’t look like the glass is half-full. Or half-empty. It looks like the glass has spilled.

The Blues are 6-5-0 since Jan. 2. They have gained one game on .500. And instead of gaining any ground in the standings, they’ve actually lost a little.

On Jan. 2, they were 17-17-3, stood 10th in the Western Conference, and were five points out of playoff position.

Fast forward to the present, the Blues are 23-22-3 for 11th in the Western Conference and six points out of a playoff position entering Wednesday’s slate of games.

Which does not qualify as a hot streak. Or a statement from the players of: “You must keep this team together.”

It’s just the opposite. Through their play, they’re telling Armstrong: “It’s not going to work with this roster.”

Sure, the Blues have 34 games to make up those six points and get into the playoffs. While daunting, that task certainly isn’t impossible.

But the time frame to do so — at least using the current roster — is much shorter. Starting with a three-game trip to Arizona (Thursday), Colorado (Saturday) and Winnipeg (Monday), only 13 games remain between now and the March 3 trade deadline.

The team is going to have to go on a really massive “heater” to reach 10 games above .500 by then — something like 11-2-0. And they have done little over the past several weeks, or over the course of the season, to show they’re capable of such a streak.

So while the concrete isn’t dry on this season — it sure looks like it has been poured. Granted, it takes two teams to make a trade, easier said than done with so many teams strapped in terms of salary cap space. But it certainly looks like changes will be afoot.

The situation looks bleak, for sure, but as a coach, Craig Berube can’t afford to think that way. He’s got to think there’s a way out.

“We always do,” Berube said. “We always try to fight and crawl your way back, win the next game and go from there. That’s our mindset.”

Had the Blues defeated Chicago and Buffalo, they would’ve closed out the just-completed homestand 5-2-0, boosted their record to 8-3-0 in the New Year, and been just two points out of a virtual tie for both the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and third place in the Central Division.

Instead, they fell behind Chicago 3-0, fell behind Buffalo 4-0, and couldn’t quite close the gap in a pair of 5-3 losses.

“It’s frustrating for sure,” Berube said. “It’s frustrating with the starts more than anything, the mistakes.”

Berube demoted Colton Parayko, whose turnover led to the Sabres’ fourth goal, to the third pairing with rookie Tyler Tucker during Tuesday’s game. Elaborating somewhat on his postgame comments, Berube said Wednesday that Parayko must regain his confidence and aggressiveness.

“Probably thinking too much instead of just being aggressive,” Berube said. “When he’s aggressive — he gets in people’s way, and breaks plays up, and skates pucks. Right now, he’s not playing very confident.”

In goal, after pulling Jordan Binnington against Chicago — when he yielded four goals on just seven shots — all eyes shifted to backup Thomas Greiss’ spot on the bench when Buffalo scored midway through the first period to make it a 3-0 game.

Did Berube think about pulling Binnington for the second game in a row?

“No. Not really,” Berube said. “I knew we were going to get a goal or two and come back and could make it a game.”

Which is what happened. But in the big picture, even factoring in poor support in front of him for much of the year, the numbers are not good this season for Binnington. He ranks 60th in goals-against average (3.28) and 72nd in save percentage (.891) among the 86 goalies who have played in the NHL this season.

Berube agreed that Binnington has to play better, even under these less-than-ideal circumstances.

“Well, of course,” Berube said. “Everybody’s gotta play better. It’s not good enough the last two games against opponents that we can beat and we should beat at home.

“Definitely it’s not on one guy or two guys. It’s on everybody. It’s not good enough — both games — getting scored on early in the games and getting behind at home. It shouldn’t happen.”

But it did. So here they are, on the outside looking in, and with the season starting to wind down.

It will take something bordering on the extraordinary to make it otherwise prior to the deadline.

Even over the remainder of the regular season — 34 games — a 23-11-0 record is needed to reach 95 points — which might get you in the postseason.

Over the first 3 ½ months of the season, this team hasn’t shown it’s capable of winning two out of three over an extended period.

“We gotta play with more desperation,” said defenseman Torey Krug, who returned to the lineup against Buffalo after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury. “The way things are going right now, you gotta be desperate, play desperate hockey in order to collect points.

“Desperation starts in the first battles at both ends of the ice and in front of the net and you gotta do the job. Otherwise, it’s too hard at this time of the year to come back.”

It may already be too late, and it will take tons of desperation to prove otherwise.