*Photo from NHL.com*
There's finally some news to talk about. The Arizona Coyotes have signed GM Bill Armstrong to a multi year contract extension, according to an announcement by the Coyotes on Wednesday afternoon.
Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo said in a statement that "For the past three years, Bill has done an excellent job restructuring our hockey operations department and rebuilding our hockey team. He has acquired elite talent through the draft, trades, and free agency, and has established a winning culture by adding a great coaching staff and other key hockey operations personnel. I am confident that under his leadership, the Coyotes will soon become a perennial playoff team and we will continue to work towards our goal of bringing a Stanley Cup to the Valley."
Hired in September of 2020 as the GM of the Coyotes, the team has gone 77-116-27 since Armstrong came in, good for the second worst record in the NHL in that time frame. They have been deep in a rebuild under Armstrong's direction.
Armstrong had one year and a club option for another year left on his current contract. The Coyotes picked up that option and signed him to an extension that starts when his current contract expires. The extension will run through the end of the 2028-2029 season.
In a statement, Armstrong said "I am very grateful to Alex Meruelo, Alex Meruelo Jr, and Xavier Gutierrez for all of their confidence, trust and continued support. Being the general manager of the Arizona Coyotes is an honor and a privilege and I am very proud of all the hard work that our hockey operations staff, coaching staff, and players have done to improve our organization. We still have a lot of work to do but I firmly believe that we are on the right track to becoming a playoff-caliber team for years to come. We have a very bright future here in Arizona."
Prior to joining the Coyotes, Armstrong was the assistant GM for the St. Louis Blues under GM Doug Armstrong, helping to build the 2018-2019 roster that won the Stanley Cup. He was a member of the Blues organization for 16 years, starting as an amateur scout.
Under Armstrong's direction, the Coyotes have drafted top prospects Logan Cooley, Dmitry Simashev, and Conor Geekie as first round draft picks. The Coyotes finished with a 28-40-14 record last season, a 13 point improvement from 2021-2022 and their highest point total since 74 in 2019-2020. They previously extended head coach Andre Tourigny.
This offseason, Armstrong and the Coyotes have added veteran faces in Alex Kerfoot, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, Nick Bjugstad, and Troy Stecher.
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