Confirmed with Link: Doug Armstrong extension, 4 years

[Blanick]

I was extremely low on Army going into this last off season. He made some moves that has earned back some of my respect. He completely botched the Oshie and Shatty trades but killed it with Schenn and at the drafts. Time will ultimately tell on if this is a good move or not.

 

[TruBlu]

I was very low on Army a year and a half ago, but he's regained a decent portion of my confidence. He's good at some things (forward and winger depth except for this year, d-core quality and depth) and questionable at others (goalie decisions, acquiring centers outside of Schenn). He did great by letting Backes and Brouwer walk and for trading Elliott and Shatty (although Shatty maybe should have been moved earlier), but he counteracts those moves by signing Steen to a questionable deal and Berglund to a completely pointless, damaging one. I'll give him credit for bringing in Bill Armstrong and for finally drafting some centers, but he can easily lose my confidence again.

Berglund's contract is in no way damaging. He's on track to land about the same place he did last year in points, and most of those points are actual goals and not assists. He's not a superstar, but he pulls his weight on both ends of the ice, is versatile, and hard as hell to knock off the puck.

 

[542365]

Fine with this. He’s far from perfect, but we could do MUCH, MUCH worse. He’s earned it.

 

[simon IC]

Berglund's contract is in no way damaging. He's on track to land about the same place he did last year in points, and most of those points are actual goals and not assists. He's not a superstar, but he pulls his weight on both ends of the ice, is versatile, and hard as hell to knock off the puck.

I knew there would be some hyperbole about Berglund's contract in this thread. I think it's a couple of years too long, but he's not overpaid for what he provides. I'm certainly glad he's on the team right now! Armstrong has made a couple of blunders, (the Miller trade, the Michalek trade, Lehtera, etc), but the good moves outweigh the bad.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

Given how many bad GMs there are in the league, I'm okay with keeping Armstrong.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I was very low on Army a year and a half ago, but he's regained a decent portion of my confidence. He's good at some things (forward and winger depth except for this year, d-core quality and depth) and questionable at others (goalie decisions, acquiring centers outside of Schenn). He did great by letting Backes and Brouwer walk and for trading Elliott and Shatty (although Shatty maybe should have been moved earlier), but he counteracts those moves by signing Steen to a questionable deal and Berglund to a completely pointless, damaging one. I'll give him credit for bringing in Bill Armstrong and for finally drafting some centers, but he can easily lose my confidence again.

Think you listed the wrong one as a questionable and which one is damaging.

The Steen contract is probably the worst thing he’s done.

 

[simon IC]

Think you listed the wrong one as a questionable and which one is damaging.

The Steen contract is probably the worst thing he’s done.

In all fairness though, who knew Steen was going to fall off a cliff? Armstrong could not have predicted Steen struggling to the extent that he has.

 

[Majorityof1]

Any word on how much the contract is for? I'd assume it is 7 figures per year, but not sure if that is high, mid or low 7. I don't want to complain one way or another, I am just curious how much a hockey GM makes, and where DA falls on the spectrum.

 

[Stealth JD]

Wonder if/how this impacts Marty Brodeur. Congrats, Army. Well deserved.

 

[David Dennison]

If you bring up the bad ones, you gotta bring up the good ones. Our two best players,Tara and Petro, are on good numbers for being top 10 guys at their position. Schwartz, Parayko, Sobotka, Allen are all on good numbers. He hasnt gotten burned too bad in free agency either.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Armstrong did a lot at the draft to recoup value lost due to his mishandling of the Shattenkirk situation. He’s been solid enough on contracts that there’s no negative value players. Not many teams can say that.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

In all fairness though, who knew Steen was going to fall off a cliff? Armstrong could not have predicted Steen struggling to the extent that he has.

Eh.

Health has always been an issue for Steen. For as much as people harped on not re-signing Backes because of how he would likely break down, the truth is that Backes was far more durable during his time here than Steen.

I don’t think the situations were the same but Backes would have been the better player to keep if all things were equal (and they weren’t I admit).

That said, no GM is perfect. I wouldn’t have not extended Army just because of that one extension.

 

[Celtic Note]

In all fairness though, who knew Steen was going to fall off a cliff? Armstrong could not have predicted Steen struggling to the extent that he has.

I have to disagree. Steen was already trending down and has an injury history that isn’t exactly comforting.

His age also tend to point in a downward direction as well.

 

[Celtic Note]

I haven’t been the biggest Army fan, but he has shown a (needed) change in direction/philosophy. That is a big positive I didn’t expect. The Schenn trade was a boon and ultimately gave him these next four years. Hopefully he can continue in that direction.

 

[Dbrownss]

I was extremely low on Army going into this last off season. He made some moves that has earned back some of my respect. He completely botched the Oshie and Shatty trades but killed it with Schenn and at the drafts. Time will ultimately tell on if this is a good move or not.

The Oshie trade was garbage but hows the Shattenkirk trade botched? Its all hindsight now but it was obvious Shatty drove that bus. We were never going to get more then rental value for him.


Now if we could only go back in time and trade Oshie and Shattenkirk for Seguin.

 

[Kreegz2]

My biggest gripe with Army's tenure up to now was paying Steve Ott the money that rightfully belonged to Soboka and driving him away to Russia for three years in the process. We really could have used a guy like Sobotka in that 2015 Minnesota series. Other than that he's been excellent IMO.

 

[Blanick]

The Oshie trade was garbage but hows the Shattenkirk trade botched? Its all hindsight now but it was obvious Shatty drove that bus. We were never going to get more then rental value for him.


Now if we could only go back in time and trade Oshie and Shattenkirk for Seguin.

Shattenkirk should have been traded the year before at the draft. Army held on to him for far too long and drove the value down to what we ended up with. Yes, I am well aware that pick helped get us Schenn but we should have gotten that pick plus a blue chip prospect. I like Sanford but honestly don't see him being anything more than a depth piece. Also, we gave back Copley basically for free. Now I never thought that Copley was going to be big piece for our organization but Armstrong did, which says something about his evaluation of talent. I clearly remember after the Oshie trade going down reading in several articles that Copley was "significant" piece of the deal for Armstrong. However, going back to the Shattenkirk deal I feel if that deal was made the summer before the Blues walk with 1st + an actual blue chip prospect. Army played a waiting game and lost, plain and simple.

 

[Dbrownss]

Shattenkirk should have been traded the year before at the draft. Army held on to him for far too long and drove the value down to what we ended up with. Yes, I am well aware that pick helped get us Schenn but we should have gotten that pick plus a blue chip prospect. I like Sanford but honestly don't see him being anything more than a depth piece. Also, we gave back Copley basically for free. Now I never thought that Copley was going to be big piece for our organization but Armstrong did, which says something about his evaluation of talent. I clearly remember after the Oshie trade going down reading in several articles that Copley was "significant" piece of the deal for Armstrong. However, going back to the Shattenkirk deal I feel if that deal was made the summer before the Blues walk with 1st + an actual blue chip prospect. Army played a waiting game and lost, plain and simple.

Armstong openly said that the offers in the offseason for Shattenkirk were no better then what he got. His value rode on his extention, which wasn't happening with anyone besides the Rangers

 

[Tryblot]

I remember when LA made those trades to put them above and helped them win the Cup that St. Louis could do that as well. I felt like he wasted a lot of assets on trades that doesn't work and he failed with the last core. He has a core now that is capable of winning the Cup so if St. Louis doesn't win in his time year he has failed IMO.

 

[BlueOil]

army has grown on us with several good drafts and a good trade. he's a decent gm and the team is in good shape because of it. good to see him adapt and earn the contract.

 

[Ranksu]

4-years I guess Tarasenko, Pietro, Allen and Schwartz have wasted their prime years in Blues. Then re-build and solve out what went wrong. We had great core, but GM didn't find solution to take last step/jump.

 

[Blanick]

Armstong openly said that the offers in the offseason for Shattenkirk were no better then what he got. His value rode on his extention, which wasn't happening with anyone besides the Rangers

Yeah I remember him saying that horse shit after the trade and all the fallout. Fans were livid online calling for his head and journalist were questioning the value that the Blues got back. He came out and said that to try and placate the fans and calm them down. If not for the teams solid run down the stretch I think Army would have been fired at the end of year and someone else would have been in charge at the last draft.

That being said he still was around at the draft and had a very solid day. As I said in my initial post we will have to see with this contract extension. He has overall been very good with drafting, contracts (outside of Lehtera) and minor deals. However, he has been very poor at the bigger moves whether they be team shakeups or final piece moves (Oshie, Shattenkirk, Miller)

 

[Dbrownss]

Yeah I remember him saying that horse **** after the trade and all the fallout. Fans were livid online calling for his head and journalist were questioning the value that the Blues got back. He came out and said that to try and placate the fans and calm them down. If not for the teams solid run down the stretch I think Army would have been fired at the end of year and someone else would have been in charge at the last draft.

That being said he still was around at the draft and had a very solid day. As I said in my initial post we will have to see with this contract extension. He has overall been very good with drafting, contracts (outside of Lehtera) and minor deals. However, he has been very poor at the bigger moves whether they be team shakeups or final piece moves (Oshie, Shattenkirk, Miller)

Unless someone comes out says otherwise, I see no reason not to take him at his word. He doesn't have to respond to fan pressure. We had a rumor of what Boston offered from a reputable source on here at that draft and it wasn't good.

 

[Bluesguru]

Are you honestly this clueless? Not a single GM in the league runs the franchise 100% on their own. It's their management group that gets the job done at the direction of the GM. With out DA we may not have the same drafting department, we may not have Zimmerman either. He's turned the business side of the franchise around big time. You keep the GM and you most likely keep the GROUP that makes the franchise successful.

Edit: as for taking credit for everything...I can't think of an instance where he hasn't eferred credit to his guys.

We are in what is most likely our 7th straight playoff appearance this year. In a cap era, where we should be trending down due to several years of drafting in the bottom 1/3rd of the first round, we are actually trending up. BA deserves credit, but DA's vision for this team is what took us from a team whose window probably would have closed last year, had he given in to Backes, Brouwer, etc., to now being at the beginning of a new window with a very young team going into their prime. He's done a good job here.

Why is passing on Backes good for the future when he gave Backes money to Steen who is the lesser player IMO? So Backes is gone and it's good for the future yet Steen has the same money and length but the future is wide open? Geez..............And everyone buys the sell job that last year was a transition year when in fact he royally misallocated the cap money and retained Steen, brought in Perron & Yakupov and wasted his time holding on to Shatty all year. Blues had a legit shot at a repeat trip to the Conf Finals last year but DA took the wrong route but somehow he's applauded for it.............Blues could of traded Steen for assets and kept Backes which is what this team still needs. It needs more toughness, needs a swing guy who can play C & RW, it needs a net front presence and he'd help a struggling PP here. Backes would of came in handy big time against Nashville last year and he'd come in handy right now. And the people in Boston are very pleased with his return this year and how he's playing. They missed him when he was out of the lineup & the tough play he brings and the Blues could use him right now more than Steen. This is just 1 wrong decision of a few that were made last year but whatever.

 

[PiggySmalls]

4-years I guess Tarasenko, Pietro, Allen and Schwartz have wasted their prime years in Blues. Then re-build and solve out what went wrong. We had great core, but GM didn't find solution to take last step/jump.

DA is far from perfect, but at the end of the day he is the most successful GM in Blues history, no one should be surprised to see him extended. Whether we agree or not with the extension. Ron Caron is and will be my favorite Blues GM of all time. He brought in so many HOF players, yet how many cups did that bring? At the end of the day, there are just too many variables out there to factor in before one can objectively say our current core is going to waste their prime years in STL.