Feeling it’s ‘important to have continuity,’ st louis blues GM Doug Armstrong to extension
NS. LOUIS The st Louis blues signed former hockey department chairman and general manager Doug Armstrong on Saturday to extend his five-year contract.
Armstrong, 57, was named the organization’s eleventh general manager after the 200910 seasons and joined the Blues in 2008 as an assistant general manager.
“When I look back on my career in Minnesota, we moved to Dallas with two organizations,” Armstrong said. “I’m not that interested in change, so it’s exciting to be here for another five years.”
The Blues have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs in nine of Armstrong’s eleven seasons at the top, winning three mid-level titles, winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2019, and beating the Boston Bruins in a series of seven games.
“I think it’s important to have continuity,” Armstrong said. “In an industry where change is inevitable, the decision has to be made, but they are all based on trying to do it professionally so that the players accept and understand it. I think continuity is the basis for that.”
The Blues struggled for parts of the shortened 202021 season but rallied to reach the postseason and lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
“You don’t want to switch horses and change strategies too often,” said Blues owner Tom Stillman. “You bring a new person, a different point of view, maybe we should go in that direction.
So all the things you’ve done to build what you have and get it going for the future, it might not work that well. I think it’s a great advantage. “
Armstrong was the general manager of the Dallas Stars from 2002 to 2008. He previously served as Assistant General Manager for the Stars for nine seasons and was under General Manager Bob Gainey when Dallas won the 1999 Stanley Cup.
The Blues also announced the acquisition of forwarding Logan Brown and an undisclosed conditional draft pick from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forwarding Zach Sanford.
“It was done out of necessity, not desire,” Armstrong said. “It is just as important to stay on top and we wanted to bring back a player that we saw in a positive light.”
Brown, 23, is from St. Louis and the son of former Blues star defense attorney Jeff Brown. He has one goal and eight assists in 30 games in his NHL career. In the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Ottawa picked him 11th overall.
Sanford, 26, has scored 71 points with 36 goals and 35 assists in 183 regular-season games with St. Louis since he replaced Washington in 2017 and scored the Blues against the Bruins in Game 7 of the final of the Stanley Cup.
Of course, commercial speculation continues to buzz around the blues for a more well-known player, Vladimir Tarasenko. The star winger is on the club’s training ground and has stated that he doesn’t want to be a distraction despite an ongoing trade request since the offseason.
The Blues opened the preseason on Saturday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
