So maybe Army isn't a bad GM after all? The complaints here get pretty annoying at times, as if he has passed up easy chances to improve the team. Last year, experts had him ranked in the top 3rd of NHL GMs (I will re-post the link if I must, but I looked it up before), and his stock is probably higher now. Hopefully people will lay off Army a bit after this offseason's moves, because the whole "fans who think they know more than NHL GMs" thing is pretty played out.
A couple things: 1) This is a discussion forum. If you don't like fans discussing or even complaining about a team's moves, this place isn't for you. No GM is perfect. They make mistakes, and fans call them on it. Sometimes they don't make mistakes and fans call them on it. That's just the nature of the beast. More often its not because fans think they "know more than the GM", it's fans having a different vision for the team. Sometimes that vision is better, sometimes its not. There are some fans that would make a better GM than the actual GM though, and sometimes the fan is just right on one particular move. Just because someone has a job doing something, doesn't mean they are perfect at it, or even good at it.
Also, an outsider's perspective can be more valuable than an insider. As an example, I am terrible at proof-reading what I write. I read what I meant to type, not what's actually there. With a GM they may see the move they meant to make, not the move that actually happened. As an example, Armstrong expects Lehtera to help elevate Tarasenko's game, and this is confirmed in his mind when Tarasenko did elevate his game. He expected to see it, so he saw it. He gave Lehtera a big raise. Some people questioned the GM saying it was too soon to sign him, for too much money. Turns out, Tarasenko elevated his own game and Lehtera was just brought along for the ride. The contract ended up being bad, and those that called out Armstrong did, in fact, no more than the GM on that particular deal.
2) Armstrong was never a bad GM, he was just struggling to get the team over the hump to a true contender. Thus many felt it was time to go. However, Armstrong has gotten better at the whole GMing thing. He made some notable mistakes in Dallas and left them in a bad spot for years. In chasing their cup, which they did get, he traded too many futures for vets. It worked there and they got the cup but they struggled for years trying to get back to relevancy (and may still be struggling). Fans in STL were justifiably afraid. What if he leaves us like Dallas, only we never do win the cup? Well, he has changed, and has evolved his methods. He recognizes the importance of futures and stocked our cupboard. Were he to quit tomorrow, our future would still be relatively bright. He realized he can't solve the team's problems in one move, and started focusing multiple moves ahead. Its like the difference between a checkers player and a good chess player. He trades our first for Schenn knowing he can trade Reaves and a 2nd to get it back and still grab the player he wants. He signs "meh" middle 6 players because they will be an upgrade when he moves worse 3rd line players for a legit top 6 upgrade. Those "meh" players become exciting replacements for the players we shipped out. That is thinking moves ahead and it has really worked well the past 2 off-seasons. But it is a drastic change from what he has done before. It's something fans here have been calling for him to do for awhile. So once again, fans did know more.
3) Amstrong still holds on to his old biases. They just aren't as costly He still wants big, gritty, veteran locker-room guys. Its why we have Thorburn and why we are in on Maroon. He can't seem to leave it behind although he is clearly trying to with most his moves.