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St. Louis Blues Armstrong Not Considered For GM of the Year

By Kate Cimini

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The three finalists for General Manager of the Year award were announced today and St. Louis Blues Doug Armstrong did not make the list.

Below is the announcement as was featured on NHL.com:

"Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks, Glen Sather of the New York Rangers and Steve Yzerman of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the three finalists for the 2014-15 NHL General Manager of the Year Award, the National Hockey League announced today.Voting for this award was conducted among the 30 club general managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the Second Round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 24, during the 2015 NHL Awards from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas."

A former GM of the Year award winner for leading the Blues to their first Conference Finals since 2000, Armstrong could certainly have been a contender this year. He’s brought Jack Adams award-winning coach Ken Hitchcock to the organization, extended contracts of core players such as David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Alexander Steen, and Patrik Berglund.

He drafted Dmitrij Jaskin, Jaden Schwartz, the goal-scoring wonder of Vladimir Tarasenko, and, of course, the newest first-round pick additions to Blues hopefuls, Robert Fabbri and Ian Barbashev. While neither have played up on the Blues’ roster as of yet, fans are eagerly awaiting their first call-ups.

And last, but certainly not least, Armstrong added Shattenkirk, Bouwmeester, Elliott and Stastny to the roster. He envisioned a talented, deep roster and the moves he made allowed him to build one.

Not to mention bringing future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur to St. Louis, first in net, and now on the managerial side of things. Brodeur signed a contract on Wednesday to extend his stay in the St. Louis front office for three more years, and took on more responsibilities regarding reviewing prospects and learning how to build a team. It doesn’t get more interesting than this.

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The Blues certainly run close to the cap ceiling, but always have more than enough in the bank to add a new player come deadline. He’s not an unwise spender, either, often relying on call-ups from the Chicago Wolves for some added muscle or points, depending on the need. The Blues were able to push through February and much of March without superlative defender Kevin Shattenkirk due to Armstrong’s moves; they have loads of talent spread throughout the roster.

So why was he ignored this year?

The answer likely lies within the Blues’ performance this season.

There is no doubt that the three finalists more than deserved the award, but the fact that all three are still in the playoffs cannot be ignored. Let’s not forget: Armstrong won his title the year he helped push the Blues to the Western Conference Finals.

But that’s likely not the only thing holding him back.

Arguably the largest measure of success an NHL club experiences is how many Cups they have in their back pocket as well as how far they make it in the postseason every year.

Between them, the three teams the Yzerman, Sather and Murray manage have their clubs engraved on the Cup six times while the Blues have seen exactly none. And two of the GMs listed have their names on Lord Stanley under their current clubs.

If the Blues ever make it to the Conference Finals again we may likely see Armstrong’s name top the list of those under consideration for GM of the Year. But without a Cup and without a strong playoffs effort, that looks far less likely to occur.

Next: Blues Free Agent Frenzy: Rangers FA Could Boost PK

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