More Armstrong to Leafs talk: There’s much more in the article itself than what I copied below
https://theathletic.com/4542290/2023/05 ... ed_article
That brings us to Doug Armstrong. The Leafs’ GM search was about five minutes old this past weekend when people began to mention Armstrong’s name as a possible candidate.
The Blues GM certainly checks all the boxes as far as experience and a Cup ring — not to mention the kind of confidence and wherewithal to withstand the pressure-packed demands of the Toronto market.
For starters, I do not believe Armstrong has an actual “out” in his contract with the Blues. He signed a five-year extension in September 2021 that runs through the 2025-26 season.
But I also think Armstrong has the kind of strong relationship with Blues owner Tom Stillman that if the Maple Leafs approached Stillman about it, maybe he would be OK with it if it’s something that Armstrong really wanted. Maybe, maybe not. Pretty hard to know exactly how Stillman would react.
Would Shanahan see that as too many hoops to go through? It’s pretty unusual for a GM to get pried away when still under contract for multiple years.
But Armstrong might be worth the hassle. Again, I have no idea at this point whether Shanahan would go down that road. Or whether Armstrong would, though maybe there has been a hint of it.
During a sit-down interview with Armstrong I did back in October 2019, a few months after the Blues won the Cup, I remember asking Armstrong whether being a GM in Canada was something he aspired to before his career was over. His close friend Ken Holland had been hired in Edmonton five months earlier. And the reason I asked the question at the time was also that Armstrong has had such a long history of Team Canada involvement, from being GM of the World Cup-winning team in September 2016 to being part of Steve Yzerman’s management staff for the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. He’s GM of Canada’s team at the World Championship right now and, of course, was slated to be Canada’s GM at the Beijing Olympics last year had the NHL not pulled out.
