Alex Steen named as successor to Doug Armstrong for St. Louis Blues General Manager. What does that means for the future?

The St. Louis Blues held a press conference on June 13th, 2024 to announce some major changes coming to the front office staff by 2026. Former Blues player Alexander Steen has signed a 5-year contract to join the Blues front office with the first 2 years as a special assistant to the current general manager Doug Armstrong. After that, Alexander Steen will move into the role of General manager of the team and Doug Armstrong will take a step back and remain the club's President of Hockey Operations.

So what does this mean going forward for the next 2 years?

So for the next 2 years, Doug Armstrong will continue with his plan of retooling and growing from within with prospects and signing free agents that will help the team grow. Mainly we will not see much difference for the coming season but by next season I would expect Steen to be much more involved in decisions. DA (Doug Armstrong to the fans) will still try to right the ship but now he is making the ship ready for his successor Alexander Steen.

So not much will change for the time being as the Blues continue with a retool to stay competitive as prospects within the organization continue to grow. Free agency will be where the Blues still try to improve and maybe some trades to bring in young and effective players that fit the bill for areas that need to be addressed.

What has Alex Steen been doing to make this move happen?

Last year in 2023 Alexander Steen signed on to the Blues as a consultant of player development for Europe. This move was done after the Blues selected 3 first-round European players to add to their depleted prospect pool at the time. He was also the Sports Manager of a team in Sweden for the past few years the IF Sundsvall Hockey, which plays in HockeyEttan. This has kept him close to the game of hockey during his early years of retirement from the NHL.