Armstrong gets extension to remain as president of hockey operations, Steen to become GM of Blues

Current Blues GM, president of hockey operations will remain in dual role before transitioning to one role in 2026; former player signs five-year contract to be special assistant to GM before transitioning to GM in two years

ST. LOUIS -- It will be a changing of the guard for the St. Louis Blues ... eventually.

The Blues announced on Thursday a major change in their hockey operations department when owner Tom Stillman disclosed that current president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong signed a three-year contract extension to continue leading the Blues as president of hockey operations through the 2028-29 season. The club has also named Alexander Steen as special assistant to the general manager through the 2025-26 season, and then he will be appointed as the 12th general manager in franchise history.

The club also announced that Tim Taylor has been promoted to join Ryan Miller as an assistant general manager with the club.

This is a major transition in the hockey ops department, one in which has seen Armstrong at the helm since 2010. He will continue his dual role for the next two seasons before shifting to solely as the president of hockey operations for the three years ending in 2029, and Steen, who had a 15-year NHL career spanning 1,018 regular-season games, including 765 with the Blues, will transition to be the GM beginning in 2026.

"I believe we have the best general manager in the league so the idea of let's change and get a different one, at first, I was resistant to that," Stillman said, "but we just talked and talked over time and I just came to see the value in bringing in a new voice and a new approach, a new face, a new way of doing things at some point. It also helped we had what we consider an outstanding person (in Steen) to do it. It's just coming around to that view."

Armstrong has guided the Blues since 2010 when he succeeded John Davidson, and although he indicated that he could continue in role as a GM for "another 10 years," he felt this was the best time to transition and allow for what he thought was someone who had GM qualities in him and someone who has been passionate about the Blues since joining the club in 2008 take the reigns.

"It started as a player," Armstrong said. "There's certain guys you gravitate to and ask questions about your team and about what they're doing. As players get older, they do reflect more differently on what they want out of the game. So I've always had a lot of respect for 'Steener.'

"We've had some hard conversations. He's given hard feedback to me too. It always just wasn't one way. When I started working with him last year, the questions that he'd ask, the passion he had, it just started to as my mind started to wonder what was best for the team, it's sort of like a coach, you start out with a lot of candidates and I just kept coming back to him, coming back to him. When I brought it up to Mr. Stillman, he said, 'He doesn't have any experience.' If you take someone you truly believe in, the experience will come. Let's not lose the right person for the wrong reason. So being able to have him for the next two years work with me, work with Ryan Miller and all those other guys is going to set him up. We're not going to throw him into the deep end in two years. We're going to be here to support him, but I just think he has all of the qualities that you need. He has a lot of Bob Gainey in him: measure twice, cut once and always do what's best for the franchise. When you start with that, it's a good start."

Steen, who retired following the 2019-20 season after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, has been the European player development consultant for the past year, but it was becoming evidently clear that he was ascending up the management ladder and when multiple candidates were considered, he was the one for the job, and it was a job he looked forward to.

"I spent a lot of time on this," Steen said. "This isn't just something that was just a quick or snap decision from my part. This is something that my wife and I have spoken about for a long time. She knows my personality and who I am and where my passions lie. It's just kind of grown and then obviously having worked and having as close of a relationship with Doug over such a long time, we've had conversations. The opportunity has kind of grown, but the interest has always kind of been there for me obviously."

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Steen's first line of duty in his new role will be at the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas June 28-29, something Steen is looking forward to.

"Yeah, a lot," Steen said. "You need to gain experience and there's only one draft a year. I'm looking forward to this. This is going to be fun."

Steen will become the second Swedish GM in the NHL along with Patrik Allvin of the Vancouver Canucks.