ST. LOUIS — With the trade deadline right around the corner and the St. Louis Blues in the thick of the race to the Stanley Cup, Doug Armstrong is about to become one of the most talked-about people in town, again.
In his 12 years at the helm of the Blues, Armstrong built the first-ever Stanley Cup winner for the franchise, executed numerous impressive deals and recently became the first GM in franchise history to get to 500 wins.
So, has he ever been nervous for his job?
"I don't want to sound arrogant, but not really. I've always felt that you have to put the work in," Armstrong told 5 On Your Side's Frank Cusumano during an interview for Sports Plus. "I remember saying to Mr. Stillman (Blues owner Tom Stillman) one time when we weren't going good, 'I'm not looking to get terminated by any stretch, but if you're the only guy that would hire me you've probably answered your question.' Tom's always been a great supporter of myself and our management team. We haven't had a lot of tough times but I think every loss is a tough time if you're competitive like we all are. We've been very fortunate for a number of years to be as competitive as we've been."
While most of Armstrong's moves have worked out, that doesn't mean they haven't been tough.
The toughest was a move he made at head coach, letting his long-time friend Ken Hitchcock go in the 2016-2017 season
"Oh, not even close. For sure that was the hardest thing. Because when I was in Dallas I learned so much from Ken as an assistant manager watching him take a quality group of players and make them a championship team. Not only that, but going to the finals again the next year... And then having the opportunity to work with him as a manager, bringing him in here and having him grow that group and taking them to the semifinals. It was difficult, but Ken and I had talked about it before and after. We all understand that's our jobs and there's no hard feeling. Obviously, for a little while, we didn't have a whole lot of contact. But it wasn't that either of us were angry, we just understood that that was part of the job. Now he's back working with us and helping Craig and it's been a great fit again," Armstrong said.
When you've been in the business as long as Armstrong has, though, you learn how to deal with the emotion around tough decisions.
"They basically would say that when trading a player becomes second-nature, you should probably get out of it. They're people and there are emotions to it. But at the end of the day you have to do what's best for you. But uprooting someone's life shouldn't be your first choice, it should be your last choice. And I've always thought of that. But at the end of the day my job is a steward to the St. Louis Blues, to the ownership group but more importantly to the fan base to do what we think is correct for the fans not only for today but for tomorrow."
So, how about this year's Blues team down the stretch?
One thing is for sure. They have the right man leading the team on the bench. Armstrong said there are two things that really stand out about why Craig Berube is so effective.
"His honesty and his ability to get to honesty quickly. He's not rude or obnoxious by any stretch, but he doesn't have to go through a lot to deliver bad news. And I think players respect that. They're men and they want to know the truth," Armstrong said. "Sometimes they don't want to hear it, but they want to know it. And the other thing that Craig is great at, after delivering that truth he gives them an opportunity to correct it."
One of the biggest storylines for the Blues this year revolved around their long-time star Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko and his representation had requested a trade out of St. Louis ahead of the season, but a trade that made sense failed to materialize.
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Since then, Tarasenko has been looking like his old self. He leads the Blues in points and goals.
Here's how Armstrong saw the situation.
"Quite honestly there was a lot of white noise around that. I talked to Vladi and I talked to his representative and we all know what the request was, but we were all very clear that we're not in the giveaway business here. It's professional sports and he's a professional athlete and he has a job to do. He gave me his word, and I didn't need his word, I know the man, that he was going to come in ready to go and make the best of it if it didn't work out trade-wise," Armstrong said. "And he did that and as the season started to progress things were going very well. So I didn't get caught up in the sky is falling part of it. I just felt that if he did his job and we did our job, if it didn't work out here and he was playing well, he'd surely be a valuable asset. Right now he's playing great and there's no concerns."
So, is there still a Tarasenko trade request out there?
"Those are things we handle behind closed doors. But I would say he seems relatively happy right now and we all seem happy," Armstrong said.
Just about every Blues team going forward will be compared to the Stanley Cup-winning squad of 2019.
But what differences does Armstrong see in this year's team compared to that one?
"It's different because there's younger players involved. That roster there was not many young players if you look back on it. There was a Thomas, but he didn't have the same effect," Armstrong said.