Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Doug Armstrong Is An Interesting Name For The Leafs' GM Position

05/22/2023 at 6:26pm EDT

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic looks at a few candidates for the GM position in Toronto.

One interesting name...

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.

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Ukey

Saw one article, which I at the moment can not find, that made what I thought was a good point about this speculation. If you look Armstrong is now listed as President of Hockey Operations and GM / Alternate Governor. That sounds like a guy with a lot of autonomy/power. How would that work in Toronto given Shanny's title? I do not have access to the full Lebron article so perhaps it is addressed there.

Steeb

I don't understand why in Gord's name STL would ever even consider allowing that to happen. It would be shitty of them and Army to do that to the fan base, and just give more fuel to the fire that the rest of the league is the farm team for the big money clubs like TOR and NYR.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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