Doug Armstrong, Alexander Steen Sharing GM Duties Through Draft
As previously announced a few summers ago, Alexander Steen will become the full-time General Manager of the St. Louis Blues on July 1st, 2026, while current General Manager Doug Armstrong will become the team’s President of Hockey Operations. In a new update from the team, although he’s still a few weeks away from taking over the role, Steen has been operating as a General Manager for the team for some time.
The team shared a quote from Armstrong, saying, “What I told the players right after the trade deadline is, for all intents and purposes that Alex is the GM as far as you’re concerned now. There are no more trades, there are no more waivers (this season). Now Alex has to put his stamp on the team in exit meetings and (set) his expectations.”
Armstrong stated that his sole responsibility moving forward will be to make the Blues’ selections at the 2026 NHL Draft, while Steen will manage all other aspects. If St. Louis makes any trades at the draft or leading up to it, Steen will have the final call, but will still have guidance from Armstrong. That appears to be how it will remain moving forward, unless Armstrong jumps to a different opportunity in the near future.
Steen will have his hands full in his first year with the reins. Thanks to Armstrong’s work, the Blues really only have to focus on an extension for Dylan Holloway this offseason. Still, Steen will have to make a call on trade candidates Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Colton Parayko, among others, to put his first touches on the team’s direction moving forward.
Now, even if Steen opts for a retool and trades some or most of the team’s veterans, Armstrong didn’t leave him in a bad spot if he wants to go that route. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked all 32 teams’ farm rankings after the trade deadline, and the Blues clocked in at 10th, highlighted by Justin Carbonneau, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Adam Jirícek, with plenty of other prospects on their way up.
If Steen chooses to move on from Thomas, Kyrou, or Parayko, St. Louis could easily find themselves with a top-5 farm system, giving Steen plenty of flexibility moving forward. Still, there’s no telling what his thought process is, and we likely won’t know what direction he’ll want to take until he does something.
Jordan Kyrou Undergoes Minor Knee Surgery, Will Be Ready For Camp
Blues star winger Jordan Kyrou underwent a minor knee procedure this week that his not expected to impact his availability for next season’s training camp, the team announced Thursday. General manager Doug Armstrong did not disclose an exact timeline.
Kyrou missed a few weeks with a lower-body injury back in December. It’s unclear if the procedure referenced today is related to that absence, but if it is, it would offer an added explanation for the top scorer’s struggles this season.
Over the past few seasons, Kyrou has been money in the bank for at least 30 goals and 65 points. From the 2021-22 to 2024-25 seasons, he rarely missed extended time and averaged 34 goals and 74 points per 82 games.
All that came crashing down in a disastrous 2025-26 campaign for both him and the club. Kyrou’s 18 goals, 28 assists, and 46 points in 72 games were his worst scoring line in five years.
His ice time was correspondingly limited by head coach Jim Montgomery. He was a healthy scratch for a game early in the season and saw over 15 minutes just three times in the final 12 games of the season. He averaged only 15:44 per game on the year, his lowest deployment since his big breakout in 2021-22.
Kyrou’s name was frequently in trade speculation over the past two offseasons as the Blues looked to leverage him from a position of strength, potentially to improve their blue line. He had a full no-trade clause kick in on July 1 last summer that now makes that a much more complicated proposition. Now locked in at an $8.125MM cap hit through 2030-31, it’s unwise for the Blues to cut bait on Kyrou after a down season anyway.
Latest On Dylan Holloway
There are numerous factors that contributed to the St. Louis Blues’ failure to return to the postseason in 2025-26, and one of those factors was the health of a few key contributors. One of the team’s best forwards, Dylan Holloway, was limited to just 59 games played as a result of lower-body injury issues. Set to become an RFA this summer, Holloway could be a candidate to receive a long-term extension from the club.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong spoke on that possibility in his end-of-season press conference, and made it clear that the team wants to see Holloway show he can stay healthy – and play at a consistent level – before they feel comfortable committing to a long-term contract. Per The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, Armstrong said “Holloway has to prove to himself and the league that he’s an 82-game player to that level that he played at the end. I think he is, but what I think is really irrelevant — it’s what he does. That’s just an honest answer that we need consistent, 82-game play.” Holloway has been excellent at times in his Blues career, and finished 2025-26 with 22 goals and 51 points in 58 games played. His expiring contract, the offer sheet he signed when he was a member of the Edmonton Oilers, contained a $2.29MM AAV.
Blues Likely To Retain Steve Ott As AHL Coach
O’Reilly, who scored 74 points in 81 games for the Nashville Predators this season, has won gold at IIHF Worlds twice in his career, and has also won a silver medal at the tournament. He was also on last year’s Canadian entry into the tournament. Scheifele, 33, scored 103 points this season and won gold in 2016 and silver in 2017, scoring 21 points across 27 career games at IIHF World Championships. Thomas scored 64 points in 64 games for the St. Louis Blues this season but has not previously represented Canada on the country’s senior men’s side. Tavares, who scored 71 points for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year, captained Team Canada at the 2024 edition of the tournament, and also played at worlds in 2010, 2011, and 2012. He led the tournament in goals in 2010.
- The St. Louis Blues are expected to enter negotiations to retain Steve Ott as head coach of the team’s AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, beyond this season, per GM Doug Armstrong. Ott took over as Thunderbirds head coach in January, replacing Steve Konowalchuk, who began the season 13-18-6. Ott was able to deliver playoff hockey to Springfield, guiding the team to a 31-31-10 record as of writing, good for the final opening-round playoff spot in the league’s Atlantic Division. Ott was formerly an assistant on the Blues’ NHL staff and also had an 848-game NHL career as a player.
Blues Won’t Retain Assistant Coaches Claude Julien, Mike Weber
The Blues will not renew the contracts of assistant coaches Claude Julien and Mike Weber, per a team announcement Friday.
Neither was hired under the current head coach, Jim Montgomery, who was brought in early in the 2024-25 campaign. The Blues obviously weren’t keen on making any coaching changes are taking the President’s Trophy-winning Jets to the brink in the first round last year, but a playoff miss this year understandably has them re-evaluating their staff.
Now, they’ll give Montgomery the chance to bring in his own hires. Julien, a veteran head coach in his own right, joined the Blues in a scouting role back in 2022 and was added to the bench ahead of the 2024-25 season as a veteran complement to fresh-faced head coach Drew Bannister, who St. Louis quickly moved on from once Montgomery became available. When Julien stepped back behind the bench at the beginning of last season, it was his first non-international coaching duties since being fired by the Canadiens in February 2021.
Julien is now 65 years old. He’d actually never been an assistant coach at the NHL level up to this point and was last an assistant at any level with the QMJHL’s Hull Olympiques in 1996. He’s coached parts of 19 seasons as a head man with the Habs, Bruins, and Devils, winning a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and an Eastern Conference title in 2013, along with Coach of the Year honors with them in 2009. He has a lifetime record of 667-445-162 (.587), ranking 16th all time in wins and tied for 19th all time in games coached with 1,274. Retirement wouldn’t be a surprising outcome.
As for Weber, this was the former Sabres and Capitals defenseman’s first NHL coaching job. He was hired back in 2023 under Craig Berube – two head coaches ago – after spending the prior three seasons as an assistant in Buffalo’s organization with AHL Rochester.
Blues Sign Arseni Koromyslov To Entry-Level Contract
The St. Louis Blues have signed 2022 fourth-round pick Arseni Koromyslov to a two-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. This deal will move Koromyslov to North America after four seasons in Russia’s pro leagues. The contract details, per PuckPedia, are:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $850K | $102.5K | $72.5K | $82.5K |
| 2027-28 | $967.5K | $107.5K | $82.5K |
Koromyslov, 22, filled an important role for the KHL’s Chelyabinsk Traktor this season. He recorded 17 points, 40 penalty minutes, and a plus-four in 61 games this season. This was Koromyslov’s second season in a full-time, KHL role. His 2024-25 season was spread across three teams, with Koromyslov recording five points in 26 games with Lada, two points in seven games with SKA St. Petersburg, and 10 points in 48 games with Traktor including the postseason. He scored one goal with each team, a pattern he kept up through this season.
Despite the low-scoring, Koromyslov has never recorded a negative plus-minus across a full season. He has proved to be a reliable defender at Russia’s junior and pro levels – a knack helped along by just how much Koromyslov has improved his game as he’s moved to higher roles. He was a noticeable physical presence this season, using a long reach and hard checking to stop opponents in the neutral zone. His ability to win puck battles from Traktor’s second-pair went far in supporting a forward group with seven players who scored 35 points or more.
Koromyslov will lean on that defensive prowess to earn minutes with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds next season. He joins a long list of left-defenders on the Thunderbirds roster but could offer a bit more defensive reliability than Marc-Andre Gaudet, Quinton Burns, or Michael Buchinger. Should that professional defense carry over, Koromyslov could plant his feet behind Leo Loof on St. Louis’ depth chart in the 2026-27 season.
Pius Suter Changes Representation
- Eligible for an extension or potentially a trade this summer, St. Louis Blues forward Pius Suter is preparing early. According to PuckPedia, Suter has changed his representation to Judd Moldaver. Moldaver represents some of the sport’s top athletes, such as Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Zach Werenski.
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Blues Reassign Theo Lindstein, Otto Stenberg
The Blues reassigned defenseman Theo Lindstein and forward Otto Stenberg to AHL Springfield on Tuesday, per a team release. Both youngsters had been up for the last several weeks to aid in St. Louis’ playoff push, but after the Ducks and Kings locked up the final Western Conference playoff berths last night, they’ll be returned to Springfield to aid in another push for a berth. With three games remaining in the regular season, Springfield has a two-point lead over Lehigh Valley for the cutoff line in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
With only two games remaining on the Blues’ regular-season schedule, Lindstein and Stenberg won’t be missing much. The 2023 first-rounders were selected just four spots apart at 29th and 25th overall, respectively, and their paths have largely been congruent. Both Swedes made their initial NHL arrivals this season.
Lindstein didn’t get as long a leash as his more offensively inclined counterpart. While Stenberg saw a few call-ups throughout the year, Lindstein didn’t get his first and only one until shortly after the trade deadline. Since his summons on March 9, though, he’s played in 17 straight for the Blues and hasn’t looked out of place. The left-shot puck-mover recorded a pair of goals and assists for four points along with a +6 rating while averaging 15:46 per game. Riding shotgun with Colton Parayko on the second pairing, there were legitimately strong possession impacts underlying those stats. Lindstein’s 52.5% Corsi share and 54.9% shot share at 5-on-5 are both the best marks of any Blues defenseman this season.
His minor-league stat line isn’t nearly as impressive. The Blues’ development plan for the 6’0″, 197-lb Lindstein likely meant they were going to give him an NHL look at some point this year, no matter what, but he was limited to 16 points and a team-worst -24 rating in 56 games with Springfield before his recall. Given that, they’ll be watching what Lindstein does closely down the stretch. If nothing else, the excellent chemistry he showed with Parayko over the last month should give him the inside track toward a roster spot in training camp, assuming the Blues continue a slower-paced retool and don’t load up on defenders in free agency.
Stenberg will almost certainly be with the Blues next October, though. A cerebral two-way piece not unlike his blue line counterpart, he’s a natural center but has skated mostly on the wing thus far in his NHL minutes. That hasn’t stopped him from producing three goals and seven assists for 10 points through his first 32 games, tacking on a +3 rating and 49 hits while averaging 13:37 of ice time per night.
Stenberg has seen some fringe penalty kill usage, just north of a minute per game, in which he grades out well. The 20-year-old needs to shoot more – he averaged a tick under one shot on goal per game – to boost his point totals. His all-around numbers, though, indicate a player well on track to hit his floor of being a responsible bottom-six piece. The Blues controlled 46.8% of shot attempts with him on the ice at 5-on-5. That’s a respectable figure considering he only started 42% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
Miller And Taylor Named AHL Co-General Managers
As St. Louis continues its front office shakeup, a pair of executives have received additional duties. The Blues announced today that assistant GMs Ryan Miller and Tim Taylor will take on co-GM duties for their AHL affiliate in Springfield. Miller (no relation to the former goalie with the same name) has been with the team since 2010 and is currently in charge of contract negotiations, CBA compliance, and other similar functions. Taylor, meanwhile, will continue to oversee player personnel. The two will replace Kevin Maxwell who departed the team last month to join the Rangers. Veteran Peter Chiarelli also departed last month while Alex Steen will take over as GM from Doug Armstrong in July as the front office will be structured differently in 2026-27.
Blues’ Doug Armstrong Won’t Be Available For Maple Leafs GM Search
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of a full-scale search for their next general manager after dismissing Brad Treliving last week. Their list of candidates is growing quickly, but isn’t expected to include current St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong. The Blues have no plans to allow Armstrong to interview for Toronto’s GM vacancy, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Armstrong is set to become St. Louis’ President of Hockey Operations while Alexander Steen steps into the GM role on July 1st. Pagnotta’s report was echoed by Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast.
It seems St. Louis has no interest in letting Armstrong walk after 16 years in the Blues’ GM chair. That tenure has spanned some transformative years in Blues franchise history. Armstrong took over a squad with only one playoff appearance in their last five seasons. With quick and crafty moves, such as bringing in a new goalie tandem in Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott, Armstrong pushed St. Louis to the Central Division championship in just his second season. That postseason appearance kicked off six consecutive playoff berths for the Blues. They were briefly interrupted with a miss in 2018 but returned in full force with a Cinderella-story Stanley Cup win in 2019.
Along the way, Armstrong made clear his willingness to put the team’s overall performance above any one player. He parted ways with all four captains under his reign, including moving on from Alex Pietrangelo just one season after he became the first Blue to lift the Stanley Cup. The results of those changes have ebbed and flowed, with St. Louis now boasting a strong prospect pool and only one playoff berth in the last three seasons.
In the midst of a rebuild, St. Louis will also turn over their top management position. Steen joined the Blues’ management staff as a team consultant and development coach in 2023. He was promoted to a ‘Special Assistant to the GM’ role in 2024 and is now preparing to take one more step this summer. His path has been largely untraditional, but also well supported by his leadership role during 13 seasons as a Blues player and his close connection with Armstrong. Those factors have helped St. Louis hone Steen into a manager capable of filling their top chair, while Armstrong will still have a say in hockey ops decisions. The tandem between Armstrong and Steen has grown strong, and St. Louis will ensure it sticks even as their roles shift.
Not even a GM opening in Armstrong’s home province will be enough to knock the Blues’ plan off-course. Armstrong has held a management position in the Midwest since 1992 and has taken steps to reduce his workload since managing Team Canada to a Silver Medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Unless St. Louis changes its mind about supporting an upcoming rookie GM, Armstrong will continue with the city where he won his latest Stanley Cup. That will give him a chance to see out many top Blues prospects, including defenseman Adam Jiricek and whoever the club reels in with a top pick in 2026.