A Long Road To Success

The NHL  officially announced their list of finalists for the annual awards shown October 5th which included the top management awards for the finalists, which included current Blues GM Doug Armstrong, who was born in Sarnia September 24th, 1964.

He is the current GM of the St. Louis Blues and is rightfully deserving to be nominated as one of this year’s finalist for the NHL General Manager of the year the 2020 season.

Prior to being with the Blues he was the GM of the Dallas Stars and prior to that was in the Dallas front office for 17 years and the final six as their General Manager.

He led the Stars to a respectable third  with the most regular season in points (427) and the third most wins in that span totaling 190 and the second most home ice victories with 110, with a point total of 240 in the entire NHL

 Winning two Pacific Division Championships 2002-03 and 2005-06 qualifying for the post season four times over that period is the 11th GM in the Blues history, that saw him have a hand in 2011-12 with the club’s first Central Division Title in 12 years earning him the GM of the year. 

During his tenure he brought in key people to the Blues organization including coach Ken Hitchcock who won the Jack Adams Award in 2012 including key players like Brian Elliott, David Backes, Patrik Berglund, and T.J. Oshie worked out trades for other important players like Jay Bouwmeester, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny and Dimitri Jaskin, as well as Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

He has been an integral part of the Stars organization since the relocation of the club to Dallas in 1993 and from there he played a key role for the franchise with two President Cup win’s as well as two Western Conference titles, including the controversial 1999 Stanley Cup Championship.

Prior to being named teams 7th general manager under Bob Gainey as an assistant worked out the contract negotiations and scheduling as well as the day to day of the hockey dept.

 Armstrong was a part of the Stars’ organization since the club moved to Dallas in 1993 and helped lead the franchise to two Presidents’ Trophies, two Western Conference titles and the 1999 Stanley Cup championship.

Prior to being named the team’s seventh General Manager, Armstrong served nine years as the Assistant General Manager under Bob Gainey.

As Gainey’s assistant, Armstrong worked on contract negotiations and season scheduling, and handled the day-to-day operations of the hockey department.

On the international stage Armstrong was Associate Director of player personal for team Canada in 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver and served as the GM for team Canada when they won silver at the IIHF world championships in Switzerland.

As well was the assistant GM for Canada at the 2002 and 2008 World championships where they won a silver medal and he served as special advisor to Steve Yzerman at the 2007 World Championship in Moscow as the Canadian went 9-0 during the tournament for the first in 70 years when the world championships were held in London, England. 

Armstrong and Yzerman are the only two General Managers in the National Hockey League as members of the triple gold club having been part of staff with the Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold Medal and World Championships gold medal.

A native of Sarnia, Ontario, Armstrong is the son of NHL Hall of Fame linesman Neil Armstrong who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.

Armstrong and his wife Kelly, son Blake, and daughter Kayla, live in Creve

, Missouri.

What a great recognition for such a humble individual.