Blues keep GM Doug Armstrong around

The St. Louis Blues and general manager Doug Armstrong have agreed to a five-year extension, Armstrong's deal had been set to expire on June 30, 2013. The new deal will keep Armstrong with the Blues through the 2017-2018 season. Last season, Armstrong won the General Manager of the Year award for the 2011-2012 season, after the Blues went 49-22-11. The Blues finished with 109 points in the Western Conference (second best record in the conference), and that won the Central Division for the Blues for the first time since 1999-2000.

On July 1, 2010 Doug Armstrong became the Blues 11th GM in franchise history, after Larry Pleau retired as the general manager. Armstrong had first joined the Blues in 2008 and served as the vice president of player personnel. He came from the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars organization after spending seventeen years with the Stars. Armstrong was the Stars general manager from January 25, 2002 until the 2007-2008 season. Under Armstrong as GM, the Stars had the third most regular season point total (427), they also collected the third-most wins (190), and they were second for home the most home victories (110) and points (240) in the entire NHL (Nationals Hockey League). The Stars also won the Pacific Division two times under Armstrong in the 2002-003 season, and the 2005-2006 season. In his first year as the Blues general manager, they went 38-33-11 with 87 points.

As GM of the Blues Doug Armstrong's record under them is 87-55-22 with a total of 196 points. Armstrong has pulled off two big trades since becoming the general manager for the Blues. He traded center Lars Eller and right-winger Ian Schultz to the Montreal Canadiens for goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Armstrong would follow that trade by trading defenseman Erik Johnson and center Jay McClement to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and right-winger Chris Stewart. Both of those moves, as well as a few other moves would help the Blues posts 109 points last season, which is their second most in team history (most points for the Blues during a season is 114 back in 1999-2000).

The Blues would end up making the playoffs for their first time since the 2008-2009 season, which included a first-round series win over the San Jose Sharks, that was the Blues first time past the first-round since 2002 (that season they beat the Chicago Blackhawks, and then lost to the Detroit Redwings in the second round). The Los Angeles Kings would knock the Blues out of the playoffs last season in the second round by sweeping them in four games, the Kings would later go onto the the Stanley Cup.

It's great to see Blues owner Tom Stillman keep Doug Armstrong around, Armstrong has proven that he knows how to build teams. And that he knows how to build winning teams in the NHL. So, everyone should look for more success coming from the Blues under Armstrong and company. The Blues also had one of the NHL's lowest payrolls last season. Coming up Armstrong will have some players to choose to keep around and try to get signed to long-term deals those players include: defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, right-winger Chris Stewart, and center Patrik Berglund. Stewart is an interesting player, he has the talent to be a good goal scorer in the NHL, but seems to fall off after starting off well or get into slumps, other than that he has the potential to be a good player, and he's still young.