According to a few NHL sources, Bill Armstrong has verbally agreed to become the Arizona Coyotes next general manager. The paperwork on a five-year contract still needs to be signed but reports that surfaced last night about him being the next GM appear to be accurate.
Armstrong lands the job over other candidates like broadcasters Pierre McGuire and Kevin Weekes, and former Los Angeles Kings assistant general manager Mike Futa. He comes over to the Coyotes from the St. Louis Blues where he spent the past 16 years in various roles and he’ll replace John Chayka, who parted ways with Arizona back in July and on not the best of terms.
Until Armstrong is officially added to the management team, Steve Sullivan will continue acting as interim GM. Sullivan may or may not stay with the organization after Armstrong comes on board.
Andy Strickland, who covers the Blues for Fox Sports Midwest, reports Armstrong will be paid more than $1 million a season.
Armstrong Has Work to Do
Not unlike many GM’s, Armstrong is about to have a busy offseason. But, unlike many GM’s, he needs to clean up an ugly situation in Arizona, where the team has lost a ton of draft picks, has to worry about re-signing Taylor Hall or letting him walk in free agency, plus deal with rumors of pending trades to players like Darcy Kuemper, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and others.
Will he be a GM who makes everyone and everything available? Will he start over and try to rebuild? Or, does he see the Coyotes as a team that, with a few key additions, could make the playoffs for a second time in as many years?
The job in Arizona is likely among the hardest GM jobs in all of the NHL. Armstrong will have his work cut out of him.
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