Blues Assistant General Manager Bill Armstrong offered job as new Coyotes GM

Bill Armstrong has been with the St. Louis Blues in some capacity since 2004. You could say he helped bring the Stanley Cup to St. Louis, but that would be an understatement. He’s currently the Blues assistant general manager and director of scouting, and started his tenure as a scout. In 2010, he was promoted to director of amateur scouting, and with Martin Brodeur’s resignation in 2018, Armstrong was promoted to his current position within the team.

As an amateur scout and director of amateur scouting, Armstrong helped draft the following members of the 2019 Stanley Cup winning team:

• David Perron
• Alex Pietrangelo
• Jake Allen
• Jaden Schwartz
• Vladimir Tarasenko
• Joel Edmundson
• Jordan Binnington
• Mackenzie MacEachern
• Colton Parayko
• Ivan Barbashev
• Sammy Blais
• Vince Dunn
• Robert Thomas

Other draft picks include T.J. Oshie, Ben Bishop, Ryan Reaves, Erik Johnson, Patrik Berglund, Lars Eller, Ian Cole, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ty Rattie, Robby Fabbri, Ville Husso, Tage Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Klim Kostin, Dominik Bokk, and Hobey Baker winner Scott Perunovich.

His draft picks of Berglund and Thompson were, of course, packaged with Vladimir Sobotka to land the Blues Ryan O’Reilly in the 2018 offseason.

Obviously, Armstrong has transcended success in drafting with the Blues. That’s why it was both disappointing and happy news to see that he’s been offered the position of new general manager of the Arizona Coyotes.

The Coyotes are trying to recover from their former GM, John Chayka, who abruptly resigned on July 25th. The Coyotes were about to begin play in the play-in round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it was assumed that this off-season would be filled with difficult decisions regarding UFA Taylor Hall. The Coyotes were less than thrilled with Chayka’s decision, saying that they were “disappointed in his actions and his timing as the Coyotes prepare to enter the NHL’s hub city of Edmonton, where the team will begin post-season play for the first time since 2012. Chayka has chosen to quit on a strong and competitive team, a dedicated staff, and the Arizona Coyotes fans, the greatest fans in the NHL.”

It worked out in the end for Arizona, though. By offering Armstrong the job, they’re getting a proven Stanley Cup champion builder. The Coyotes’ foundation is already strong with Clayton Keller to build around. They should be a force in the Pacific Division soon enough.

Update: He’s been hired; the announcement is coming tomorrow.