OverDrive - Armstrong on the Blues' exceptional run, the offer sheet vantage point and the mentality of the roster

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

St. Louis Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the team's massive winning streak down the stretch, the foundation of the roster, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway making their mark, the direction of the team during the season and more.

All new, all Canadian, the best of our great nation, one song at a time. This is Justin Bieber. Hi, this is Terry Clark. We are Nickelback. Made in Canada, on iHeartRadio. Rock, pop, hip-hop, and when it comes to country, it's the true north all the way. Loud and proud. An all new digital radio station from coast to coast.

Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca. It's gonna get loud. The GM of the team and the man that's been there for a long, long time joins us now back on overdrive. Here is Doug Armstrong. How you doing, Doug? Gentlemen, I'm good, how are you guys?

We're doing very well. This must be a lot of fun, I would think think for you to put your feet up and watch your team win 10 in a row. Yeah, it certainly beats the alternative, that's for sure. Doug, how did you see through this? Sometimes we've been critical of GMs in the past for falling in love with ideas that clearly weren't going to work, but is this what you saw and and how did you see this type of team play in these results when they weren't there is that the most difficult thing being a GM of knowing it

and seeing it and it's just not happening well I would say that when we started a couple years ago we we had a really nice nice run for better part of a decade but that that group had matured and and we had a really nice run for a better part of a decade, but that group had matured and we had to go on to that next group and we bought some younger players in and we knew we were going to go through some difficult times. But as we were doing that, I think as an organization, we just tried to build a foundation that when we got up and running, it could be sustainable. And we're getting started on that, starting that I think obviously bringing Montgomery in certainly helped us you know what I like

about what Jim has done you look at our younger players I'll take a player like Bull Duke who's playing his best hockey of his young career but then a player like Shen who's been here in the NHL for a long time is playing his best so I'm fortunate enough to work with a coach now that is getting, if that's the goalpost, your youngest and oldest players and they're both playing great. I assume the guys in the middle are doing well too. So, uh, Monty's done a really good job, but I give the players a ton of credit. They, they understand that where we are as an organization, our belief is that

we, we have to have a team mentality, a pack mentality. And when we do that, we can overcome injuries like we are right now with Franco and that's helpful. But I think really what we're trying to do is just build something of a foundation that we can grow on over the next decade and have these younger players come into something that they can believe in. Doug, did you, you know, you were bold. You made obviously every headline.

We've talked to you about it before, but you make the offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway and they're both fantastic players. I don't think anybody would argue about that, but did you see this much success this early from these two young players? No. No, no. You know, we were excited about their potential and they had been really brought along at a proper pace, quite honestly. Young players get thrust in the league and they were able to hone their skill in the American Hockey League and they were at a good point for us. And we were able to give them the platform to play and play all the time and play through ups and downs and they both played fantastic and we hope that this is

just the starting blocks of what are going to be really good careers. They're both in their 22, 23, 23, 24 in that range and so they're just not even entering but they're just about entering the prime of their career. So hopefully they can build off this and continue to grow with people like Neighbors and Bull Duke and Hofer and Tucker. And we have a bunch of younger players, Thomas and Kai Rue, that are right in their mid-20s too. So it's a good group and hopefully a group that can skin their knees together and learn together and then grow together and win together.

For whatever reason, offer sheets have just not really been a part of the program in the NHL for the last 20 years or so, but now that you've gone through what you've gone through, offer sheeting those two players, getting both players and then performing the way they're playing do you think we could be witnessing a new era here would you anticipate more offer sheets in the future in the nl now i have to go to the huckabee i'd just think that uh... you know we needed a perfect storm we needed a stagnant cap

you know which which had been there for a while. And, uh, right now we, we, the, the NHL P and the league announced the cap growth over the next three years, it's going to be, uh, large. And so I think, you know, and this is my belief, I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone puts an offer sheet in to, to harm a team, they put it in if they think they can get the player. And I think as, as the cap continues to grow and there's new money in the system, the ability to match these is going to be greater and greater.

And the 32 owners, they could all, you know, there's not a number you can say that they can't write a check for and sign. So it's not about having the money or not wanting to spend the money, it's about having the cap space. And I think the cap space is going to continue to grow, which is going to make offer sheets maybe a little more difficult to see a vision and where you're going to get the player. With Doug Armstrong, the GM of the Blues and around the trade deadline,

there were some players on your team that were out there and on grapevine so to speak and we were buzzing about them up here in Toronto. I don't know how truthful it was or not, you would know that answer, but as you look back on it now, was it ever close to you saying, you know what, I got to move in a different direction here or as I asked you a few moments ago, was there always that belief that if you kept the core together and the veteran players in particular, that with Montgomery you guys could pop here and I guess as you look back on it, you don't have any regrets based on how you handled the trade deadline. Yeah, there's belief.

There's not blind belief. And really when we came out of the, at least this is how the blues operate, you have a plan. We came out of the four nations. We were honest with ourselves and to the teams around the league that if we don't start winning games, players will be available because that's just what, I'm a big believer, players tell you what to do at the trade deadline more than you tell players what to do. And we came out of that break, we started to win some games and as we won games, we

were honest with our, with our people we were talking to that it's less likely we're going to move current players for future players because they're, they're earning the right. And then they went on that heater. And then at the end, probably the last three or four days, we were pretty consistent that, that any, any deal we would make will have to be a hockey trade, meaning we're going to get an NHL player back, um, that, that can help us. And, uh, I'm obviously, I'm happy that nothing, nothing did, did, uh, that we didn't make any trades, but going into into it you always have to be have a

plan but be flexible to other things that might open up and I give the players a ton of credit. They understood where we're at and they did their job and they won a lot of hockey games and they continue to do that and you know we're still not in a playoff spot yet we still got to earn or we're not have that X by our name we got to earn that but we're pushing towards in a playoff spot yet. We still got to earn or we're not having that X by our name. We got to earn that, but we're pushing towards it. And I give the guys a ton of credit. Armin, you think Benner after the four nations kind of got a little shot of adrenaline to kind of freshen his game up and kind of have some renewed confidence?

I do. I think that he's a big stage player. And I do believe that if we can, we talk about it internally, let's supply him a team that's good enough and see what he does. And usually when we supply him that team, he doesn't let us down. I think we saw that at the Four Nations. That was a great event and, you know, he gets the accolades obviously go for what he did against the U.S. in the in the final game. But if you go back to that Sweden game, he made some great saves in the overtime there.

If we don't win that game in overtime, we don't get to the finals. So, you know, I've seen him perform like that. It was great for him. And I just think going into that event, we're not naive. We knew that goaltending was a topic around our team, and I think it allows him now to breathe the rest of the summer and enjoy it, winning that event. And I'm happy for him. I'm happy for the country to have a guy like that, that was able to do that when the lights were the brightest. With Doug Armstrong, GM of the Blues, they've won 10 games in a row. Are you getting 2019 flashbacks? There's a big difference, I think. We're excited about our winning streak right now, but if

you look back at that 2019 team, we had been on the better part of six or seven years of always competing, believing we were cup competitors and not getting to the finals. We'd been to the semis a couple years before that. That year we sort of pushed a lot of our chips into the middle. We traded for Ryan O'Reilly. We brought in Perron and Bozak and Pat Maroon. So that was a mature team that was trying to take the next step. This is not a, this isn't built like that.

This is a younger team. A lot of guys in their early 20s going through this for the first time. So there are similarities when you look at where we've come from to our record, but the way the team was constructed and the expectations of the team Going into year were much different I always believe that that team in 2010 was a good hockey team that had a really bad start Where this team is more maturing and growing and we're learning how to become a good team. It's been an incredible run

Congrats on the recent success. Good luck getting that X behind your name or beside your name and we'll do it again down the road. Thank you, Doug. Always enjoy Canada with you guys. Take care. You got it, Doug Armstrong, the GM of the blues. All new, all Canadian, the best of our great nation, one song at a time. This is Justin Bieber.

Hi, this is Terry Clark. We are Nickelback. Made in Canada on iHeartRadio. Rock, pop, hip hop, and when it comes to country, it's the true north all the way. Loud and proud. An all-new digital radio station from coast to coast. Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca.

It's gonna get loud.