Armstrong signs 5-year deal with Blues

Doug Armstrong will serve as the St. Louis Blues' President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the foreseeable future after signing a five-year deal on Saturday.
The contract makes Armstrong - who was originally named general manager of the Blues in July 2010 - the longest-tenured general manager in franchise history.

"I got here in 2008, the first couple of years as (Vice President) of Player Personnel," Armstrong told stlouisblues.com. "As manager, you never know how long you'll last in these jobs, sometimes they're a little fickle. It's been an honor to have been the manager for the Blues for this long and I look forward to continuing that."
Under Armstrong, the Blues have qualified for the postseason in nine of the last 10 seasons, won three division titles, and claimed the first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2019. Since taking over the general manager duties in 2010, Armstrong has recorded the highest regular-season point total in the Western Conference.
"It starts and stops with the players," Armstrong said of his success in St. Louis. "We've been fortunate to have a lot of great players here that take a lot of pride in wearing the Blue Note. We've had great coaches, a great support staff. It's an organization that quietly goes about their business year in and year out, understanding and working hard to put a product on the ice that our fan base can be proud of and we've done that the last decade. We need to continue to do that moving forward."

During his tenure, Armstrong has acquired players such as Ryan O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Jay Bouwmeester, Pavel Buchnevich and Oskar Sundqvist via trade, signed free agents David Perron, Brandon Saad and Torey Krug, and acquired key draft picks such as Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Ivan Barbashev, Klim Kostin and Jake Walman.
Prior to joining the Blues, Armstrong spent six seasons as the general manager of the Dallas Stars, where he led the team to two Presidents' Trophies, two Western Conference titles and a Stanley Cup championship in 1999.
Armstrong is also set to serve as Hockey Canada's general manager for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. He was earned five gold medals for Hockey Canada, including at the 2018 World Cup of Hockey, the 2007 and 2016 IIHF World Championships at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

As a new season approaches, Armstrong's team looks quite different from the one that won the Stanley Cup in 2019. Only 11 players currenlty on the training camp roster played in the Stanley Cup Final that year.
With a retooled roster, Armstrong says he's excited about what the future holds.
"I like our group," Armstrong said. "I really like our forward group, it's the most depth I think we've had up front right now. There are different looks with new players coming in, big players, good skaters. (Brandon) Saad and (Pavel) Buchnevich bring us a different look. I'm excited about the youth on the backend. I think (Jake) Walman and (Niko) Mikkola have really put their time in and it's time now for them to get a great opportunity. It's a good group because there are going to be a lot of things that will be interesting to monitor."