Fast forward to last season when St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong was named the NHL’s General Manager of the Year, and rightly so.  Everyone in St. Louis was waiting for the news that Armstong would get his contract extended and that news finally came last name after the Blues scrimmage.

The contract is a five-year extension that will last through the 2017-18 season with the St. Louis Blues. As of now, the financial details of Armstrong’s contract have yet to be released, but I imagine that he earned himself a pretty decent raise.

According to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, “The Blues are expected to announce the deal at a press conference today at Scottrade Center. The news was first reported at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on STLtoday.com, the Post-Dispatch’s website…  The finalization of the deal between the Blues and Armstrong could create more momentum for the team heading into the season. Voted in June as the league’s GM of the year by his peers, Armstrong could have been an attractive addition for a team such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, who recently fired GM Brian Burke.”

Rutherford goes on to say that his sources told him that Armstrong never entertained the idea of moving to another franchise when his deal expired and that this deal would have been done a lot sooner if not for the lockout.

This signifies the strong ties between new owner Tom Stillman and the Blues front office.  Stillman has seen over the past several seasons that Armstrong has built a solid club through the Blues own system.  Having signed long term deals with guys like David Backes, T.J. Oshie, and David Perron, Armstrong has shown that his vision for the St. Louis Blues is to develop from within and grow the team.  Armstrong is also responsible for drafting some incredible players including the pair of first round picks in 2010 of Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko.  In the coming offseason Armstrong will have his hands full as plenty of other young players will be due for new contracts including Alex Pietrangelo.

That is all for now Blues fans, as always, LET’S GO BLUES!