MANALAPAN, Fla. \u2014 Doug Armstrong feels it\u2019s time for someone else to have a crack at running Team Canada.<\/p>\n
The general manager of the Canadian men\u2019s Olympic team has informed Hockey Canada that he\u2019s stepping down from the role, which he\u2019s had dating back to a championship win at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.<\/p>\n
His decision to vacate the position has nothing to do with falling short in the gold medal game in Milan. He was going to step down, win or lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for a change,\u201d Armstrong told The Athletic on Monday. \u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed every aspect of it. Obviously, you wish you could go out on top. But it would be selfish to want to do it again. It\u2019s such a great experience, and I think more people should enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three IIHF World Championship gold medals, two silver medals, plus being part of Steve Yzerman\u2019s management staff for Olympic championships in 2010 and 2014 \u2014 there\u2019s been a lot of Hockey Canada in Armstrong\u2019s life. All of it he cherishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed Team Canada since 2002 when Bob Nicholson gave me an opportunity to work under Lanny McDonald at the World Championship, which was a thrill of a lifetime because of who Lanny is,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cIt just kind of snowballed from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s time to pass on the baton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll support them any way I can moving forward,\u201d Armstrong said of Team Canada.<\/p>\n
The tournament in Milan was a blast despite Canada coming up as silver medalists. The sport as a whole came out on top.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change anything except the outcome,\u201d Armstrong said with a smile. \u201cGetting to know the coaches that I got to meet and work with and watch operate, the training staff, the best of the best that Canada has to offer, the medical team and the equipment staff and the rest of the management group \u2014 I really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think hockey is better because of the Olympics. I\u2019m excited that we\u2019re looking to have a consistent flow through that (best-on-best) for a while that they can build off of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The overtime loss to Team USA is still hard to digest, but Armstrong said it\u2019s easier to accept in some ways because Team Canada played so well \u2014 outplaying the U.S. for long stretches but running into a red-hot Connor Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Canada didn\u2019t leave much on the table in that game,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cWe played as good of a game as we probably could. I think the expected goals were five and a half to one and a half. I mean, some nights the hockey gods have a different desire for the outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if we had played poorly or felt that we didn\u2019t give our best, it would be harder to sleep at night. It\u2019s not easy to sleep, but I thought the players gave everything they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be interesting to see who Hockey Canada turns to next as GM. There\u2019s a World Cup of Hockey coming up in February 2028 and the next Winter Games in southern France in 2030.<\/p>\n
Depending on how long he plays, Armstrong sees \u201cfuture Team Canada GM\u201d potential in Sidney Crosby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so fortunate to come into things in 2010 (Vancouver Olympics) and how he\u2019s carried the flag for Canada for 16 years, and he does it with such dignity and grace,\u201d Armstrong said of Canada\u2019s longtime international captain. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to say that when you win all the time. But the dignity and grace he showed in Milan is something that I\u2019m never going to forget. And that\u2019s not easy to do. We all try to do it. We try to act professional and classy. But he takes it to a different level.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yes, I hope one day that he manages (Team Canada). He\u2019s got great hockey knowledge. He\u2019s got experience. He\u2019s got passion. He\u2019s got drive. There\u2019s a purpose to everything that he does. And, quite honestly, I see a lot of that in Connor McDavid, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Armstrong closes a chapter on the international front after 24-plus years of involvement with Hockey Canada, he is also closing a chapter in his NHL day job.<\/p>\n
Armstrong recently presided over his last trade deadline as Blues GM, something he couldn\u2019t help but think about as it was playing out.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it was an interesting feeling,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cIt\u2019s been interesting all year, quite honestly. Having the Olympic preparation certainly was a nice distraction. But the disappointment of the season \u2014 we went in with expectations of being competitive for a playoff spot and competitive with a certain level of team, and we haven\u2019t reached that. So, that made was supposed to be hopefully a quiet year into a loud year.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is perhaps not the ideal way to hand the GM keys over to Alex Steen, who officially takes over as Blues GM on July 1, but that\u2019s the business of the game sometimes. The Blues announced this succession plan two years ago. It\u2019s rare in NHL circles to do it that way. Armstrong credits owner Tom Stillman for seeing that path.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the ownership group at the time that I love to manage, I enjoy the process, but I think there\u2019s a shelf life for everything,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cHaving the same voice leading the franchise, for me, it had run its course. It wasn\u2019t just the players, but it\u2019s the trainers, the coaches, the marketing department, the finance department. The rhythms needed to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in St. Louis 18 years, 16 as a manager. It just felt the time was right to have a new voice come in. When I told Mr. Stillman my feelings, he then talked about what\u2019s next. And I was a big Alex Steen fan.\u201d<\/p>\n
They talked about maybe doing it the more traditional way, where they just wait two years before announcing a new GM. But they agreed on the succession plan being announced instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Stillman looked at it not only from an NHL perspective but also a business perspective, and he said, \u2018There\u2019s not many companies that don\u2019t have succession plans at senior management levels,’\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cHe felt it would be the smoothest thing for the Blues organization, and I obviously agreed with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong now has to start thinking about how to approach being a full-time president of hockey operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really the time where I\u2019m starting to focus in on that,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s going to reach out to guys like Brendan Shanahan and Cam Neely, who have had that job for many years, for advice on how to handle his new gig. He\u2019ll also reach out to the likes of Jeff Gorton, Jim Rutherford and George McPhee, who were GMs and transitioned to president of hockey ops. All three worked with first-time GMs, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to try to pick their brains on what they did,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThis is a little different because it\u2019s the same organization. It\u2019s going to be important for me to support Alex, but I think from a distance at the start so he can build his own relationships from the GM job.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be Steen\u2019s turn to be at these GM meetings next year. The tough part for Armstrong is leaving behind the day-to-day relationships he\u2019s forged with so many GMs over the past couple of decades. They\u2019ll remain friends, of course, but those GM-to-GM conversations will dissipate as Armstrong wants to make sure Steen handles that part of it.<\/p>\n
For example, Armstrong is a senior member of the GMs\u2019 executive committee, a group that met with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Sunday night to go over the agenda. That\u2019s another role that will no longer be part of Armstrong\u2019s life. He\u2019s ready for this change but has mixed feelings because he\u2019s has been an influential voice at these meetings over the years as one of the game\u2019s caretakers, helping forge new rules and tweaks in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk as managers in different ways, and I\u2019m going to miss those talks,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about trades. It\u2019s about running the business of hockey. We try to support each other. We all want to win. But there\u2019s nuances to this job that only 31 other people experience and are going through. We try to share those. That\u2019s the part I\u2019m going to miss: the camaraderie. That\u2019s all I\u2019ve really known for the last 23 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong has more than 1,600 regular-season NHL games under his belt as a GM \u2014 15th all-time among NHL GMs. His 882 wins are ninth all-time, and his .609 winning percentage is fourth among GMs with more than 1,000 regular-season games under their belts.<\/p>\n
The two-time Stanley Cup champion executive has a body of work that will beckon a call from the Hockey Hall of Fame one day, just as it did for David Poile, Lou Lamoriello and Ken Holland.<\/p>\n
But for now, it\u2019s not goodbye. There\u2019s plenty of track left for the 61-year-old, who remains energetic and hungry to work \u2014 but now in a different role.<\/p>\n
What Armstrong can\u2019t control or predict is whether another NHL team will come knocking at the door this offseason, asking him about his interest in running their franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited about working with Alex,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a job there for me. It\u2019s not going to be an honorary job. There\u2019s work I can do to help him. But I do love a lot of the things that managers do \u2014 the building of a staff, the crossing with different parts of an organization to behold something that\u2019s sustainable, to working with the athletes, to working with the coaches. But it did run its course (in St. Louis).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not applying for other NHL jobs. Right now, I don\u2019t have any focus on that. But I do have a contract and the Blues have treated me unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if another team calls, he probably would at least listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 61. I\u2019m not sure how you\u2019re supposed to feel at 61, but I don\u2019t feel ancient, I don\u2019t feel out of touch,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel out of energy. Just out of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed as he delivered that last line. He\u2019s not out of job but he is an outgoing GM. And there\u2019s some nostalgia with that.<\/p>\n
I get the feeling, though, that he may not be done being an NHL GM. A team is going to come calling at some point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANALAPAN, Fla. \u2014 Doug Armstrong feels it\u2019s time for someone else to have a crack at running Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,54125,4,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-507768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-st-louis-blues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116244653536848965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}