Would you fire Armstrong

[banks]

He did an amazing job at the end for Arizona.

I haven't followed Utah as much. But I don't think he's blown it with anything specific. I think they should be trading a few picks for some real help now. But that's not reason to fire the guy.

 

[ManofSteel55]

No, you need to give a GM brought in to do a full rebuild more than 5 years. As others have mentioned, most of his key pieces have only been NHLers for a couple of years. Rebuilds take time. If the prospects were crap, they were blowing draft picks left right and centre, and they were overpaying for bad free agents, then maybe, but it looks like he is on the right path. They just need a couple more support pieces and a good player out of this draft and they should start making steps forward. Then the real challenge begins - going from a young upstart team to a contender.

 

[ManofSteel55]

He is doing a better job IMO than Ron Francis in Seattle.
He was hired in a very bad situation with nobody wanting to play for Arizona not even players that were not drafted yet.

Francis should be on the hot seat. Questionable pick ups along the way have really slowed down Seattle's growth.

 

[SirPaste]

Seems to me as an outsider he has done a fantastic job. He came into arguably the worst spot for a GM in the league and completely restocked the pipeline and set them up well for the future. It would be foolish to fire him IMO, they are in a good spot just not ready to turn the table yet but I would expect them to be firmly in the playoff race next season as long as their young guys continue to improve.

 

[Djp]

Bill has been the GM of Arizona and Utah for 5 years. Went scorched earth and have had 5 brutal years of hockey. In this time he has amassed a huge amount of picks and cap space but has done little with it. The trade for Serg was incredible but mu gut tells me that was Smith. Hockey News ranked our prospect pool as 5th best. He had access to 47 picks in that time. He has some future stars playing and some in the pipeline but we are also burning prime years of Keller, Serg, Smaltzy, Veggie. Would you give him more time or replace him with a more winning experienced GM now?

First off this was hockey news. Unsure what criteria they use. Some use age or drsft class and some look at nhl games min as an exclusionary criteria.

Theh have had s decent draft since 21. Remember it takes 4+ yrs for most draft picks to be something.

It's not time to fire a gm

He made s few moves last summer and he likely makes a few more this summer.

 

[centipede2233]

If bill Armstrong deserves to be fired after 5 years, what does shanahan who has been president for almost 10 years with a heck of a lot more talent and assets and has 1 lousy playoff rd win?

 

[Djp]

He is doing a better job IMO than Ron Francis in Seattle.
He was hired in a very bad situation with nobody wanting to play for Arizona not even players that were not drafted yet.

Francis should be on the hot seat. Questionable pick ups along the way have really slowed down Seattle's growth.

I disagree with on Francis. He took s different approach in Seattle.snf not give up high prospects or only give them up if true anchors were taken which francis was not doing.

Because teams were not prepared for Vegas they got teams to give up picks and prosprctd and vegas went as aggressive after players but they dont have a good future prospect system. I think Eichel goes to Boston in 2026.

In his draft, teams could plan around prospects and who to protect . Now he is starting to trade these for futures.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Seems a bit unnecessary to me. Think he's done a solid job amidst all the turmoil that org has been through. Lots of good young guys and prospects yet to fully hit their stride. Unless him and the new owner don't see eye to eye on things I'd say his job is fairly safe for the next year or two.

 

[tnnr]

Young established core fighting for a playoff spot.
Good cap situation
Loads of draft picks
3 more possible blue-chip prospects coming.. (Iginla, Simashev, But)
Hrabal looks good (future goaltender)


They have a lot of small(ish) players maybe they can add some size upfront.
They've stayed away from bad free agent contracts.

He has done an excellent job. I'd look to see them make more Sergechev type trades this off-season.

 

[trellaine201]

Wow this isn't the Bill Armstrong who played for the Oshawa Generals is it?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

A lot of the prospects he's drafted haven't even played yet. But, Simashev, Iginla, and Lamoreux (barely) have all played either none or very little NHL time. Utah's just reaching the tip of the iceberg. Very bright future.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Team was injury riddled for a lot of this season. They have a young team that will be scary good sooner rather then later. I would give him another year at least. They are finally stable in location and ownership.

I think they’ll be fine as well. Just a bit of health and year of experience.

 

[piqued]

Clayton Keller doesn't matter at all?

Not in terms of how the GM should be evaluated with regards to the rebuild. Keller will be in his 30s by the time Utah is theoretically competing with Cooley/Guenther. Sure he could still be a complimentary vet you want to keep around but he won't be deciding the team's overall fortunes.

 

[Summer Rose]

Wow this isn't the Bill Armstrong who played for the Oshawa Generals is it?

It actually is, it looks like. There are two former players named Bill Armstrong according to Wikipedia, and this one did spend one season with the Oshawa Generals in 1989-90, but never played in the NHL. The other one did, but it was for only one game, for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1990-91. He came up through the ranks at Western Michigan in the CCHA. He was also born four years earlier than the Bill Armstrong who is Utah's GM.

 

[bossram]

People saying he's done a "fantastic job" is a bit hyperbolic. He's kept them respectable though, which is an accomplishment given the organization. I think you need to give him more time to make a real judgement. He was in a dogsh*t situation with the ownership in Arizona, and then kinda thrust into some strange circumstances with the team moving to Utah abruptly.

I think he's amassed a good young talent base, and made some deals like Sergachev/Marino/Durzi/Maatta to raise the floor of the team.

Next season will be important to see if they can actually take a step and make the playoffs with some stability.

Tourigny might be in more hot water. He's gotta professionalize the young group and have them stop losing in comically bad ways.

 

[Team_Spirit]

I assume he was on a budget in AZ so he gets a pass for that.

I would call a meeting about Simashev/But. I think they would be in a better shape with Michkov/ASP

 

[Antiillafire]

Probably need to take a step next year, can’t fall back in points like a Detroit or else yes there should be question marks around him. Didn’t like the iginla pick much considering Buium on the board and Parekh.

 

[Mrb1p]

They got injuries on Durzi, Sergachev, Cooley, Guenther, Maccelli, Doan and Marino. Theyll probably make the playoffs next year.

 

[surixon]

They seem to be on the right path now and have a good nucleus of players upfront and on the backend.

It's unfortunate for then that they play in such a powerhouse division right now.

 

[kerrabria]

I don't think he deserves to be fired, but I wouldn't be confident in Cooley/Keller/Guenther/Sergachev as my SCF core.