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Doug Armstrong - the Right GM for the Blues?

Army came in to St. Louis on May 29, 2008. Since then, the guy has made some big moves for the Note but the fans as of late continue to gripe about him. I jotted down some of the bigger moves for the GM.

The good:

Meh Trades

  • 2011-2012 - To Montreal: Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. To StL: Jaro Halak.
  • 2011-2012 - To Ottowa: Ben Bishop. To StL: a 2nd round pick in 2013. I don't know who this one was...but Ben wasn't getting the time he needed to develop as an elite goalie. This move had to be done, I just wish the Blues could have gotten a better return.
  • 2012-2013 - To Calgary: Reto Berra and a first rounder. To StL: Jay Bouwmeester. At the time of this trade, I was fucking jacked. I still remember Armstrong jumping on the broadcast with Panger and JK announcing the trade. Don't lie, you were excited too. And maybe this was an alright trade, Jay has been a great defenseman for the Blues and has probably helped shape our young blueliners.
  • 2013-2014 - To StL: Ryan Miller and Steve Ott. To Buffalo: Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, a 2015 1st rounder and a 2016 3rd rounder. It's so easy to look back on this trade and say what the fuck was he thinking, but at the time this was a bold move. The type of deadline move that could light a spark in your team heading to playoffs. It didn't work out, but it showed the fans that Army was willing to take risks.
I'm sure I am missing some moves, but the point is that the better moves definitely outweigh the bad. And since he joined the Blues in 2008, the team is competitive again. Our picks have been great - look at everyone around the league right now. Every team in the league besides Nashville needs help on the blueline, Armstrong's blueline is stacked. He is going to reap the benefits of that come the trade deadline where we can deal a guy like Gunnarrson for a bigger return than what he is worth. Am I missing something? Should he still be on the hot seat?

IMO, on paper the Blues roster is fantastic. I disagree that it's the coaches fault for not getting the boys to play a full 60 minutes - we've all seen how good this team plays when they are "reckless." I think it's time for the leaders to be dealt. I don't think David Backes should come back, and that means dealing him at the deadline since he's a UFA. Give the C to Petro (or Shatty) and help use the saved cash to keep Schwartz. If you can't get your team to play the coaches system for a full game, you shouldn't be in charge of motivating them. David motherfucking Backes was a great example of a classic Blue, but as of late the team has moved from that hard hitting team to a more skilled team and I think the captain should represent that.

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