Well, they’ve gone 6-4 since that point.

The Blues aren’t going to win the Stanley Cup in 2023. So they need to put themselves in the best position to win it in 2024. And that’s with assets. Acquire assets at this trade deadline you can flip this summer — when more players are available across the league — in moves to bolster the 2023-24 team. Or, at worst, keep some of the acquired draft picks to collect prospects for the future. But maximize assets.

And so, of course, that means trading Vladimir Tarasenko by the March 3 deadline. And if you can’t work out a reasonable but respectful contract extension with Ryan O’Reilly, then perhaps ship the captain. You could also get something for Ivan Barbashev if you don’t think you can re-sign him. Heck, maybe there is something to get for Niko Mikkola, with his big body, his lefty shot and his seemingly implausible positive plus-minus number for this Blues team.

As for the famous No. 91, this isn’t to say trade Vladi today. If anything, the plan is to play Vladi today — Tarasenko could return from injury (ahead of schedule, too) in Tuesday’s game against Buffalo.

“He’s excited, we’re excited, hopefully he’s back, we’ll see, we don’t know,” coach Craig Berube said Monday after practice. “But we’re all excited.”

But the return of Tarasenko is more to gauge the returns on Tarasenko.

Yes, yes, there’s a no-trade clause. The Tarasenko camp and the Blues will have to be in concert to figure out a destination. But if you’re Tarasenko, why not have your cake and eat it, too — get traded to a contender, try to win another Cup and then use the summer to find a suitor as a free agent?

Incidentally, all of this is quite sad, right? St. Louis trading Tarasenko? And O’Reilly? Local legends, both. But that’s the business of this. To win another Stanley Cup, you might need to trade some guys who won you the first one.

And after all, if you don’t, they might leave you this summer — and leave you with nothing for them.

Some might argue to see this year through with Nos. 90 and 91. And yes, if the Blues suddenly go on what general manager Doug Armstrong calls “a heater,” then maybe you kept the core for March and April. But so much good would have to happen in such a short period of time, leading up to March 3. The Blues have 14 games — nine are against likely playoff teams.

Heck, as seen recently, Blues fans should be more wary of the other five. Saturday’s loss to lowly Chicago was inexcusable. How do you not even get a point out of that matchup?

“At times, I think you get demoralized,” Berube said Monday, seemingly speaking for a whole city. “I mean, that’s a big game against Chicago and we lose that game. We win that, obviously we’re in a better spot. But I think that the guys have been pretty good, though. They understand the situation we’re in, and they’ve been pretty positive about it all — fighting back, clawing back, clawing your way back into it and giving yourself a chance down the stretch. So I’ve been pretty pleased with the attitude about it all, but it is tough, you know? It’s hard — you got to get on a roll, right? That’s the biggest thing. We need to get on a roll.”

Needed to.

That’s the thing. It all just seems too late.

The good news is, the Blues aren’t that far off from being contenders in future years, says this optimist. Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich are splendid players. That’s quite a core.

And we’ve seen Armstrong in action in this similar scenario. In 2017-18, the Blues were average, so he traded Paul Stastny at the deadline. Those Blues missed the playoffs. The next year’s Blues won the championship.

And who knows, maybe this season will play out more like 2016-17. If you recall, Armstrong traded Kevin Shattenkirk at the deadline. He was a key defenseman, but the Blues still found a way to make the playoffs. They even won the first-round series against Cup-thirsty Minnesota, providing much heartache in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Maybe this year’s bunch can still make the playoffs and make some hay.

But this sure doesn’t seem like a group, as is, that can win four playoff rounds.

“Every year the trade deadline comes in and it’s noise, right?” said the valiant Brayden Schenn, one of the Blues’ hardest-working players — and possible captain if O’Reilly is dealt. “It’s noise, and you have to find a way to just focus on your game, focus on the team, focus on getting wins. Whatever the manager wants to do or the organization wants to do, you have no control over it.”

Well, they had some control over how they played for three-plus months. But here they are, likely at the end of an era, but also possibly on the cusp of a new one, depending on how Armstrong gathers assets and makes moves in the next nine months.