Blues on the Way Up
May 28th, 2008 by Jason ChenOut of nowhere, the Blues won the Doug Armstrong sweepstakes, hiring the former Dallas GM to some sort of front office position that allows him to work under/with current GM Larry Pleau.
This is a great move on the Blues’ part. Armstrong will serve under Pleau for another two years until he retires, and it speaks volumes about the Blues’ and John Davidson’s commitment to winning when they can woo someone like Armstrong into their organization and tell him that he won’t have complete control for another two years. Armstrong would be a good GM for any organization, and his willingness to take a backseat for two years means that trusts the organization enough to guarantee him the position in two years while building a solid core of talent. There are tons of vacant GM positions available, but instead Armstrong chose the Blues.
Two things that are excellent about this move:
1) The lack of a transition period. When Dave Nonis was unexpectedly fired last month, a flurry of rumours shrouded the Canucks until Mike Gillis was hired, and up until now it remains to be seen which direction the Canucks will be heading. Under Pleau, Armstrong will have an excellent idea of what sort of team the Blues want to build and the ins-and-outs of the organization. Once Pleau retires, there won’t be any speed bumps in the transition period.
2) Two minds are better than one. Armstrong is highly regarded, and so is Pleau. Much like in Detroit, the Blues are hoping to build a GM committee, in the hopes that the more hockey minds put in one room means the better the decision-making. Ken Holland, considered one of the brightest minds in hockey, is no less aided by the very resourceful Jim Nill, and the very talented scout Hakan Andersson, not to mention Steve Yzerman and Scotty Bowman. These days, it’s not so much about finding the right man, but finding the right men.
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