Steen takes over as Blues GM on eve of NHL free agency 

ST. LOUIS -- Alexander Steen officially started his tenure as St. Louis Blues general manager on Tuesday, and his main priority is to get them back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on a consistent basis.

Steen replaces Doug Armstrong, who held the position for 16 years and remains president of hockey operations, with NHL free agency beginning at noon ET Wednesday. The Blues (37-33-12) finished four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card in the Western Conference and missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. In the past week, they’ve acquired forward Mason McTavish from the Anaheim Ducks, forward Connor McMichael from the Washington Capitals and defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Toronto Maple Leafs in separate trades.

“(Free agency) opens tomorrow and everybody’s a little antsy, but it’s a longer time frame,” Steen said. “We are happy with where we’re at, where we’re positioned. We like our team, but our management group’s high on that internal competition and if something presents itself, we’ll look at it and act accordingly.”

Robert Thomas was in attendance for Steen’s press conference Tuesday and said he’s excited by the recent acquisitions. Thomas, the team’s No. 1 center, was limited to 64 games this season but led the Blues in goals (25), assists (39), points (64) and plus/minus (plus-22). He turns 27 on Thursday and is signed through the 2030-31 season ($8.125 million average annual value).

“From my standpoint, I've loved my time in St. Louis,” Thomas said. “I love it here, I love the organization, the city. These last couple years have been tough. We want to be really competitive every year, and we've only had one full year of that. 

“To (get) some high-end young pieces that can really fill in our team, it gives our team excitement and especially the confidence that we're going to be competitive soon. Also, it gives me a lot of responsibility; I'm coming into the prime years of my career now, (and) I want to have success here and a really successful team. Whether that's stepping up in my leadership and my play, all those are aspects of the game and puts that accountability on me, so I'm really excited.”

Steen said, “It takes a village. We have great collaboration between all of our departments and our management group on decisions we want to make and how we weigh them and discuss them and are open to suggestions. … Doug and I have the same view of our plan and kind of work for what’s best for the St. Louis Blues.”

Steen didn’t waste any time going to work. On Tuesday, the Blues announced they tendered qualifying offers to McMichael and defenseman Leo Loof and placed forward Jonathan Drouin on waivers for the purpose of buying out the last of the two-year contract he signed with the New York Islanders on July 1, 2025.

Drouin had three points (one goal, two assists) in nine games with St. Louis after being acquired from New York on March 6.

“Obviously a tough decision; we waited a lot,” Steen said. “I think ‘Dru’ is a very defined player and at the end of the day, we didn’t feel like we were going to provide him with a position to excel, so we landed at that decision.”

Armstrong, the architect of the franchise’s lone Stanley Cup championship (2018-19), said he feels Steen is ready to tackle his new role after mentoring him the past two seasons when the latter was special assistant to the GM. Steen had 622 points (245 goals, 377 assists) in 1,018 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Blues. He also had 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 91 playoff games, including helping St. Louis win the Cup seven years ago.

“I’m excited to work with him,” Armstrong said. “I couldn’t think of a more deserving person to be the GM of the St. Louis Blues. … One thing I always admired about Alex is he pushed to make me a better GM every day. We challenged each other -- he challenged me, he made me think outside the box. He made me understand that he and I owed it to each other to do the best we could do and ultimately to get that Stanley Cup and to share that with him was very meaningful.

“… I couldn’t be more proud or honored to pass the torch to Alex. He’s going to do a great job here.”