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St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong: The Good And The Bad

By Austin Oakes

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With multiple recent playoff exits from the St. Louis Blues, questions regarding players and personnel are being thrown around.

While Ken Hitchcock’s abilities as a coach and David Backes’ competency as captain are the topics that are being discussed the most, one of the more interesting questions is whether or not Doug Armstrong has been efficient as the General Manager of the club.

Bleedin’ Blue discussed whether this could be the end for Doug Armstrong earlier this month.

In 2008, the St. Louis Blues brought on Armstrong as the new Director of Player Personnel with a 2-year contract. The deal stated that at the end of the 2 years, Larry Pleau, the General Manager at the time, would retire and Armstrong would take over. Armstrong’s first deal was acquiring Jaroslav Halak from Montreal in exchange for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

This trade ended up being above average for the St. Louis Blues. While Eller has been a decent bottom six player for the Canadiens, Schultz has yet to play a single game in the NHL.

On the other side of the trade, Halak managed to see a decent amount of success with the Blues. Generally splitting the starting role with goaltender Brian Elliott, Halak kept an average save percentage with the team, generally finishing the regular season with a SV% between.910-.920%.

Eventually, though, Halak ended up being traded to the Buffalo Sabres along with Chris Stewart, William Carrier and a 2015 first-round pick in exchange for goaltender Ryan Miller and forward Steve Ott. This trade, also facilitated by Armstrong, ended up being one of the worst trades of his career. Miller fizzled out behind a frustrated and softer Blues defensive core, and was not re-signed after the team failed to make it past the first-round in the 2013-2014 playoffs.

Halak was then traded to the Washington Capitals, and then to the New York Islanders, where he has seen reasonable success, similar to what he had in St. Louis. Miller signed with the Vancouver Canucks– again, to reasonable success. The only remnant of the trade for the Blues was Steve Ott, who has been a permanent 4th liner for the St. Louis Blues and a point of controversy on the roster.

Other blockbuster trades made by Armstrong include in 2013, when the St. Louis Blues acquired defenseman Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary in exchange for Mark Cundari, Reto Berra, and a first-round pick in the 2013 draft (Émile Poirier).

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This trade ended up being an overall success for Armstrong. Bouwmeester, with the exception of a small slump in the latter parts of the 2014-2015 season, has been exceptional for the Blues. His long strides and strong puck-moving abilities has made him a key component for the St. Louis Blues defensive core. He played for Team Canada in the 2014 Winter Olympics, and, above all else, he is consistent.

For Calgary, Cundari ended up achieving little success in the NHL, now on a two-way contract with the San Jose Sharks. Berra has been a reserve goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche, and Poirier has yet to play enough games with the Flames to be judged properly. This trade can most definitely be listed as a win for Armstrong, as it was made between a team undergoing a rebuild and a team that was (and still is) in a “win now” mode.

Armstrong was also the person that ended up hiring head coach Ken Hitchcock, a move that has seen great success despite Hitchcock’s unfortunate CV in the playoffs. In just four years, Hitchcock and the St. Louis Blues have earned two Central Division Championships. While the team has yet to convert that regular season success to the playoffs, no one can argue that Hithcock doesn’t know how to win.

In the 2010-2011 season, Armstrong traded first-overall pick Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and a 2011 first-round pick (Duncan Siemens) to the Colorado Avalanche for Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart, and a 2011 second-round pick (Ty Rattie).

This move seemed a bit strange at the time, but ended up making much more sense as time went on. No one can deny that Shattenkirk has been exceptional for the Blues, and even though Stewart ended up being a tad bit streaky, he still brought some great offense to the team. Rattie, a phenomenal player in the AHL, has commonly played on the Blues’ roster, and looks to make a full break into the NHL this coming season.

On the other hand, Johnson has been pretty great for Colorado, showing the strong defensive play that caused him to be projected so high in the draft. McClement is currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes, showing average offensive prowess, and Siemens only debuted with Colorado very recently, playing in the last game of 2014-2015 regular season.

Overall, the trade seems rather even, with a bit of an edge for the St. Louis Blues. Johnson has seen more success with Colorado, and Shattenkirk has seen more success with the Blues. The only deciding factor here is Rattie over Siemens.

Also in the 2010-11 season, Armstrong traded captain Eric Brewer to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 2011 third-round pick (Jordan Binnington) and the rights to Brock Beukeboom. Since that trade, Binnington has been the number one goaltender for the Chicago Wolves, and has played a minimal amount of games in the NHL. However, his projected ceiling is very high, and he is a very essential piece in the St. Louis Blues’ Goaltender depth.

The main focus of that trade was to remove Brewer from the team to begin building a new core for the team. It worked, and the Blues have been playoffs mainstays ever since. This was a great trade, as it killed two birds with one stone.

In 2013, Armstrong traded David Perron to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Magnus Paajarvi and a 2014 second round pick (Ivan Barvashev). Perron was not working out as hoped for the St. Louis Blues, and, in a similar way to the Brewer trade, Armstrong got rid of him to bring in new blood.

We’ll have to see, but so far this trade looks to be OK. Paajarvi has not worked out in St. Louis too well yet, but there’s still time. Perron, on the other hand, was recently shipped out of Edmonton to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he has seen mild success. The really good thing about this trade for the St. Louis Blues was being able to get Barbashev.

Barbashev has proven to be one of the Blues’ better prospects in the system, playing a solid physical and displaying some amazing offensive ability. He played for Russia in the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, and he impressed many. One has to wonder how the Blues got so lucky to grab him in the second round.

Other moves include trading Ian Cole to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Robert Bortuzzo, and trading Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay to acquire second round pick Tommy Vannelli, both of which have been lukewarm.

The Bishop trade looks bad on paper, but fans have to keep in mind Bishop’s play before his trade, as he was clearly the odd man out between him, Brian Elliott, and Jake Allen. The Bortuzzo trade has proven to be another good “get rid of the old core” trade, and Bortuzzo has earned the respect of many fans.

Other than larger trades, Armstrong has made some great signings. Elliott, Paul Stastny, and Jori Lehtera were fresh signings that Armstrong made, and all of the players are current staples of the roster. Poor signings such as Brenden Morrow and Derek Roy have impacted his reputation a bit, but it would be unreasonable to say that Armstrong doesn’t know how to negotiate with free agents.

Overall, Armstrong has been good for the St. Louis Blues. He isn’t afraid to make huge, blockbuster trades to shake up the roster and make a post-season push, and he has a great understanding of free agents and their potential. He’s also proven to be very efficient at signing vital players for the team onto fair contracts, as evidenced by the recent contract extension of Vladimir Tarasenko.

It hasn’t all been great, though. Poor foresight and knee-jerk reactions has led to the loss of valuable players and the acquisition of poor assets. Armstrong can definitely be a bit flippant on these, as he can sometimes acquire very good players without offering up too much, yet he can also go too far and land the Blues on the losing end of a trade.

One thing is for sure, the St. Louis Blues would not be where they are if it wasn’t for him, for better or worse.

Next: St. Louis Blues Rumors: Shattenkirk To Penguins

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