Steen introduced as Armstrong's successor as next era of Blues hockey begins

Earlier today, the next era of St. Louis Blues hockey began. In a press conference, chairman Tom Stillman introduced to the media and the thousands of fans watching on Youtube, the transition from Doug Armstrong to Alexander Steen.

What an event.

Here are some highlights from the press conference and the next steps going forward. Let's talk about it.

Smooth transition has been made

Going through a big change like this is going to have ripple effects throughout the organization. But this does not seem like the case. Armstrong hand-picked his successor in Steen, and that is the best-case scenario.

Steen walks into a job that he was selected for, and that is already a level of comfort. Also, this has been his home since 2008, when he wore the Blue Note on his chest for 12 seasons. This is about as smooth a transition as you can have, as there were no real external moves or pressures.

Everything was in-house, and purely a promotion from within.

Armstrong left this team in good hands

As we all saw at the NHL Draft, Armstrong walked up to the plate, choked up, and started hammering away at anything. With the movement of Jordan Kyrou to Washington, with Connor McMichael coming back over, and Mason McTavish from Anaheim completing the depth at center issue, it was nearly a perfect night without even drafting anyone.

Looking at the draft itself, it was a solid one. Tynan Lawrence and Maddox Dagenais are both going to be key parts of the next era of Blues hockey. Furthermore, looking at the goaltender they took in the fourth round, Vladimir Proskurin, it was a better pick than anticipated. The Russian prospect was just selected by Victoria of the QMJHL with the 27th pick of the CHL Import Draft. That is a big deal.

Armstrong did not leave any problems for Steen to endure in his first couple of days as GM. Free Agency starting on July 1 is going to be an interesting day, but fireworks are not expected to happen until the Fourth of July.

Players are buying into the new leadership

Robert Thomas was a teammate of Steen, as were Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington. These guys know him, respect him, and are not feeling some type of way about him now being their boss. This next generation of Blues hockey is going to be about loyalty and earning their stripes through enduring these hard times.

Not running from it.

The Blues have a very large influx of prospects that are itching to get some ice time next season, as well as some new faces from the trades mentioned above that need to find their way into the lineup. Training camp is going to be a competition, not prep for the season.

Steen has some large shoes to fill behind the incredible legacy that Armstrong left behind. But if he was hand-selected by the man himself, this is going to be as if it were business as usual. At least from the frontoffice.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow