St. Louis able to land defenseman Philip Broberg, forward Dylan Holloway as part of plan of adding 20-something players for when 40-year-old takes reigns of team in 2026
ST. LOUIS -- There will come a time when Doug Armstrong will relinquish his role as general manager of the St. Louis Blues.
It's already been determined that Armstrong, who has been president of hockey operations and GM since 2010, will step aside from the GM duties in 2026 when Alexander Steen, who is on board as a special advisor to the GM for the next two seasons, will be handed the keys to running the Blues' management team.
That's why in the meantime, Armstrong will try and do his best to equip the 40-year-old Steen the way he was equipped in 2008, when he eventually took over for former GM Larry Pleau and president of hockey ops John Davidson.
It was viewed as a bold maneuver at the time, and still is in terms of ways to acquire players in the NHL by double offer-sheeting Edmonton Oilers players Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway; each signing two-year deals (Broberg for $9.16 million and Holloway for $4.58 million), but it was a way of trying to accelerate the process of making the Blues a more competitive team again. And what could be more valuable for a first-time GM in waiting than seeing this process, knowing how to go about it should Steen be put in that situation, and vice versa, seeing how it's handled should he be on the opposite end if a Blues player(s) gets targeted with an offer sheet?
Armstrong knew the Oilers would have trouble from a cap perspective signing at least one, if not both, so he took a swing for the fences.
"When you just look at the math part of it, I thought they would have to make some decisions with what contracts and the great players they have coming forward that need to be signed," Armstrong said, referring to stars Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard. "It’s a little bit of a crapshoot. You hope to get both. We did this because we want to improve St. Louis Blues. That’s the bottom line. There’s no other ulterior motive to this. My job is to do what’s best for the St. Louis fan base, the St. Louis ownership group and the organization as a whole. I thought this was an opportunity that doesn’t come around all the time. We had the picks, we had the cap space, they fit into a plan that we have that Mr. [Tom] Stillman and his partners have signed off on, of trying to build something sustainable.
"It reminds me when I came here in 2008. There were a lot of young players here and we had to build a team and right now, with all those first-round picks, I think we have a lot of pieces. Now we have to build a puzzle and I’m excited to have Alex Steen help me do that for a couple of years, like I helped John and Larry for a couple of years and then they turned the reins over to me. I’m looking to get this set up for Alex and then turn the reins over to him."
Setting it up was up in the air at the time, however.
Most of the time, offer sheets are often matched. It's pretty rare that the team that offers executes its plan, but in this case, the Blues were able to not only able to get one but two players they hope can be important pieces moving forward.
"Stan [Bowman] and I had had some conversations," Armstrong said. "I don’t know, it’s the way I’m wired. We can’t control it, so I didn’t really spend a lot of time worrying about (whether the Oilers would match). They had access to our second-round pick, they had access to our third-round pick, they access to Holloway and they access to Broberg and we had access to none of it. What Stan was doing behind the scenes was his business. I just knew that we were going to find out (Aug. 20) at 8:30 (a.m.). He and I did talk, as our goal was to get the players, Stan said we’d have to add a piece or two. He and I went to work and we were able to get that done. I give Stan a lot of credit. He had a lot of balls in the air and I thought he did a great job."
Armstrong, who had to work with the Pittsburgh Penguins to re-acquire the second-round pick in 2025 they sent along with Kevin Hayes in a separate trade, would include Steen, among others, in the process, more so to have the former Blues skater learn if he should ever bein the same situation.
"I would say it was more of a learning experience for him," Armstrong said. "Tim Taylor, Ryan Miller, Alex and I, when we discussed this plan, I kept them involved in every aspect of it so they can learn on thought process, what might work, what might not work, how we go about doing it. I asked Alex’s opinion on it. I think right now, in situations like this, it’s all new to him. He used it as a great learning experience."
