OverDrive - Armstrong on the Hockey Canada camp overview, the look of the roster and gearing up for the Winter Olympics

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

St. Louis Blues and Hockey Canada General Manager Doug Armstrong joined OverDrive to discuss the Hockey Canada orientation camp, the structure of the roster going into the Winter Olympics, emerging from the 4 Nations Face-Off, the leadership group of the team, how the team will built on the journey to win, the Blues' expectations for the season and more.

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or next weekend, actually. So really, really excited to chat with him. He's on the line right now. Joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline, Doug Armstrong. How's it going, Doug? I'm good. How are you? We're doing fantastic. And before we get into the Hockey Canada stuff, so you guys made a move yesterday, bringing in Milan Lucci, in on a PTO? Are the phones finally starting to buzz a little bit more in the hockey offices?

Yeah, it's the time of year now where everyone's got their vacations behind them. We have a GM meeting, coaches meeting coming up on the first week of September, which will really kick things off. But the guys are getting back to work now and trying to finalize their camp rosters

and prepare for the season. You guys were the center of attention last year in St. Louis. because of the offer sheets to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. And I think with the cap going up, a lot of people maybe expected GMs with a little more money to play with. We're going to spend a lot. And, you know, coming out of free agency, I don't know, you tell me, but it felt like other general managers were very aware that they shouldn't put themselves into cap trouble

and just spend because they had more money available to them. Is that how things went based on your knowledge with other general managers? Yeah, I think last year was a perfect storm for, you know, for St. Louis. But I also looked last year, you look at Detroit and Boston, they had top-level free agents and restrictive free agents, and they both left, I think, 10 and 20 million. And I think with the cap going up and the offer sheet working, it made everyone aware again to run their business maybe a little differently. and I personally not sure we'll see an offer sheet for a while

just because I think you only do it if you think you have an opportunity to get the player and if you create enough cap space for your own team that likelihood is not there. With Doug Armstrong, GM of the Blues and GM of Hockey Canada and next week, Hockey Canada, the Olympic orientation camp will get underway. What are the details of what the day-to-day is going to look like for you guys? You know, it's a lot of housekeeping, quite honestly, We're going to be the men's and women team put, the pair team are going to get together.

We're going to do some joint events as we're prepared to be part of the whole team, Canada, not just the hockey part of it and the whole Olympic environment. And there's a lot of paperwork that the players have to go through a lot of fitting, a lot of discussions about what to expect when we get there. And then we're going to do some individual team things. The men team will get together for some dinners and build relationships. and the coaches will have some time with the players, but it's more of a information gathering for the players

and to get a lot of the paperwork done. So, you know, when we do select our 25 players, they have a lot of that work behind them. When your orientation camp roster came out, I think there was a few things that jumped off the page to a lot of people. The first thing, I think, was the three goaltenders that were on the Four Nations team. They're the same three goaltenders that are attending camp.

So no one else, not that they're not in the mix, but no one else getting the invite, is that, you know, is that something that is going to remain fairly consistent for you and your evaluation group this year, that those are three guys, or is there still, you know, enough evaluation time this season before you decide who's coming to Italy? Yeah, it's actually the opposite of that. You know, there's so many, and I've talked to, I've talked to a lot of, you know, probably six goalies that weren't those three and said that that's probably our most competitive part, our most open spots.

But, you know, it just didn't feel right bringing that large number of goalies to the camp. So we just went with the three, but I've talked to the other goalies and told them that it was an open competition to play well and make our decisions hard in January. But, yeah, no, it's open competition for that spot for that goal-tending position. With Doug Armstrong, when you're looking to build the roster for the Olympics this year, is there anything that you can apply from what you learned in the four nations roster building experiment there from last year? Oh, for sure.

I think the four teams that participate in that certainly have a leg up on the other nations just because we're, you know, one year away from probably, I'd say a lot of those teams are going to have a minimum 70, maybe a more higher percentage of those players performing both and they've built some synergy. I think John Cooper and his staff have been able to tweak players and lines in that event.

They know what work, what may not work, and gives us a real leg up on preparing for this next event. So there's a lot that we learned, but again, we don't want to think that that last event is going to be like the next one. Obviously, the rules are going to be different. We had

a spirited start to one game that it won't happen in the Olympics. But, you know, we learned a lot about our competition, and they learned a lot about us. And right now, our job is just to prepare the best we can. And I'm excited for our management staff. We will be out a lot in the first three months of the season watching. And this event allows us, as of today, it allows us another month longer of scouting, which is going to be very beneficial to us and to the players to put their best foot forward.

So I think you do take away things from the four nations, but it's not just a continuation of that. This is a different event. And being fortunate enough to be part of the 10 and 14 team working for Steve Eisenman. This is one event where we go into it. And when you, NHL organizations, when they play, they're the alpha male in the event that night. We're just a small part of a much bigger team.

And that's the bigger team of Team Canada's Olympic program. And so we're excited to get there and to be part of something much bigger than us. And I'm looking forward to sharing those experiences. And having really, you know, Drew Dowdy and Sidney-Crosby will be with us in August. And they've been at two Olympics. They can share those things. And Ryan Getzoff will have a very big spot on our staff sharing his experiences. And I think that, you know, it's something a lot of these players have never been part of,

of not being the alpha male in their event. And we want to make sure that we respect and relish. the opportunity to be part of something that's much bigger than us and understand that there's a lot of sports that don't get the accolades but these people have worked four years for one event at this time and we want to make sure we can support them and treat them with the respect that they always treat the hockey players with. You mentioned Sidney Crosby who had an unbelievable tournament at the Four Nations.

As a guy who's watched him from afar, what did you learn about him? in terms of what he can do off the ice, the leadership capabilities of what makes Sidney Crosby, Sidney Crosby. Yeah, well, as I said, I go back to 2010 when we had Scott Niedemeyer leading our team, and then in 14, it was Sid,

and then again, in 16 at the world. And he's a, at that point, he was in the prime of his career. He was the best leader, the best player, and he's still a, what I think he showed there was his hockey skills are still at the top end of the NHL, but his leadership, his ability to draw players in, his ability to share experiences, and his work ethic is second to none, and his preparation is second to nine. And I think him just being at this August camp, talking to players,

there's going to be not just, you know, the 23 that we had there, but there's going to be 40 plus players there. My message is to be to watch what what Sid does, watch what Connor does, watch how they prepare. and you know that's how that's how the best of the best prepare and there's other countries that have players like that but sydney crosbie he's a he's a not even a generational you don't get a player like that every generation he's a he's a first battle hall of fame or you know mount rushmore of hockey he's very very special a couple young guys um get invited to this

orientation camp and that's another thing that kind of jumps off the page when you see guys like connor baddard and macklin salabrini who both have very very bright right futures, but they still have, I guess, not a ways to go, but they're not 25, 26, 27-year-old season vets. Going into this season, what would you need to see from one or both of those guys to really consider putting them on this team? Well, they're going to have to play very, very good hockey, obviously. They understand the competition. I'll share a story with you. So I went to introduce myself to Salabrini before he played us in St. Louis and told him about the four nations. He wasn't going to be a consideration for that.

But, you know, to have a good season and that we would consider him for the world championships and then the potential of the Olympics. And I told him that about 10 in the morning. He had four or five points that night. And so I said I should have talked to him after the game. But he's a dynamic player. He's a special player. He was at the world. He carries himself light, like Bredard.

They carry themselves differently than people. Their reigns are much, they've been under the spotlight for a long time, and they just have to do what Connectney has to do, and all these other different players, they have to perform. We're going to take the players that are performing the best that John Cooper and our staff with our management staff feel can give us the best chance, but there's not an age requirement to make this team. There's going to be a skill requirement.

and a requirement that you can help us be competitive for a gold medal. You talked about how you have a little more runway here as far as picking the team in comparison to the Four Nations faceoff where that roster needed to be named a little earlier. How much do you think that extra month will affect how this team is selected? And maybe even with the Four Nations, you know, if you had that extra month, would the team have looked any different? it's hard to say because we didn't Yeah you won

And we didn't have that extra month But I do know as soon as we named that team The scouting still continues Because you never know what injuries You know you're hoping that the guys you select will make it But you have to be you know We believe that we had to be out scouting And continuing to keep a close eye on the players for their health

But I think that extra month is going to benefit is going to benefit everybody. I look at a player in my organization, Robert Thomas, who got hurt early. And then by the time he got back was the end of November, early December, and he had no chance to make that team. He didn't. But, you know, so any player that's injured in the first month of the season

is going to have two months to put their best foot forward. So I just think time is an ally, and we're looking to use all of it. Was there someone that really impressed you that, you know, obviously, you know, was good enough to make the team, but maybe kind of came out and had a heck of a tournament where you said, wow, he turned out to be even better

and more important than I thought and is going to be a real consideration for the Olympic team this year. Yeah, some of the younger players, you know, that did like connect me, I thought, was excellent. I really thought that Point had a very good tournament. Now, he's not a surprising player, but there's just players that you don't really know until you see them in certain environments.

I thought Colton Parenkoa played where I know very well played very good in that tournament and yeah I thought Jarvis was an unknown a person that a young player that came in and again didn't have a massive effect on the team but his day-to-day work habit and his you know his demeanor around the team showed that he belonged and that's really what I what I picked up from that Four Nations

was the comfort level that some players have to be in that environment and then how they perform when the light's the brightest and that's really what you want to see when the game's on the line you want to see what guys are chomping and get over the boards and these are all elite players and

you know but now we're picking you have the top players and now you have to pick the top players of the top players and that's a great that's a great thing for us and I know that John had the opportunity to work closely with guys and learn from them and I think that's going to benefit

that are coop at his staff winning for also. You know, switching gears now to the NHL, I think we're starting to get to the point in the summer where, you know, fans are maybe getting a little restless and you start to think about where your team is at and how they're going to shape up against their competition. You know, when you look at St. Louis, or I look at St. Louis, you know, thinking back last year, really mobile blue line,

you guys made a nice addition with Cam Fowler, but maybe the biggest move you guys made was bringing in a new head coach in Jim Montgomery. where do you think your group is at in St. Louis and how do you guys kind of take that next step forward with the pieces in place that you have? Yeah, I think when Jim came in, we found our game obviously after the Four Nations.

We won certainly had the best record in the league and went in and played great hockey just to get into the playoffs, and we pushed Winnipeg right to double overtime of game 7, a game that I believe that we let slip through our shingers with two five on six goals, against at the end. But that's hockey. That's why you have to play the full 60 minutes. But I think one of the things that, and I think managers are all like this, you hope for the best, but it's guarded. We were playing with house money a lot of last year. We weren't a

contending team, and so I think we caught, we didn't get everyone's A game. I think what we're able to do, the last 30 games of the season, you know, I think our reputation might be a little stronger than it was at that point. And also, I don't think you can't replicate last year's team. There's different players here. It's a different environment. Everything's changing. And so what we need to do is to really build that foundation again with a new team,

the 25, 26 team, and not think that we can pick up where we left off. That, to me, is always very dangerous. And that's going to be the goal of the team is to appreciate what they accomplished last year, who's ever on this team from last year but understand that it doesn't roll over, we have to start again. Well, and you guys play in a super competitive division, right?

Like, I think, you know, we talk about Toronto all the time on this show and how stack the Atlantic is with teams like Ottawa taking another step and of course Montreal jumping into the playoffs. I think it slides under the radar in a market like Toronto, like how difficult the central is, where

you know, Winnipeg's not going anywhere, Dallas is good, Colorado's good, Minnesota's always highly competitive and there's you guys and you have to deal with that for a lot of the season how much of the environment around you are you kind of thinking about

when you go into a season or is it just we're building the St. Louis Blues the best way we can and we know that we have stiff competition in our division every single night no matter what I've always tried to look at it as you know you control your own controllables

And, you know, I got here as a manager in 2010. And the thing that I'm most proud of is we have been for the better part of those years as one of the teams that you talk about now was us in Chicago for a while and they slipped out. And then it was us and Colorado was in and they slipped out. Now they're back in. Like, I just love being a consistent team and that's what we try and do. Utah is going to, you know, they're a heck of a team. So, yeah, it's going to be very difficult.

But hopefully that we're used to that. We're time tested. We understand and we'll be prepared to play in a very difficult division. And I think playing a difficult division makes you stronger for the rest of the league also. Doug, really appreciate the time today and best of luck at the orientation camp next week. Great. Thank you very much for having me on and enjoy the rest of your summer. Absolutely.

You as well, Doug Armstrong, GM of the Blues, GM of Hockey Canada, Doug Armstrong. joining us on the Maple Toyota hotline, drive to built in Canada, fuel efficient, fun to drive Toyota have four gas or hybrid models available. Visit maple Toyota.com. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now learn the details of how they came to be.

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