Coyotes GM Armstrong passionate about changing culture

Bill Armstrong sent a stern message shortly after being formally introduced as general manager of the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.

"I didn't realize how beautiful it is here," Armstrong said. "I didn't know until I stepped off the plane and I was like, 'Oh my God. This is incredible.' But we're never telling the players that. What we're going to tell the players is it's not a nice place to live. It's a place to come win a championship. That's why you're coming to Arizona. You're coming to win a championship. You're investing in this team with everything you have. Weather has nothing to do with it.
"As I told them in the interview process, I will see my house, the car and my office and not much of Arizona."
It's that drive and passion emanating from Armstrong that won over Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo and president Xavier Gutierrez when they interviewed Armstrong for the position.
"Bill doesn't know it, but it was probably 15 minutes into it," Gutierrez said. "Alexander Meruelo and I were talking with Bill and he texts me and says, 'I'd run through a wall for this guy.' The reality is you've seen just a little glimpse of this, but you're in his presence and he's just such a leader.
"… This was a very important hire for us. We wanted the right person, and we wanted the right human being who would also fit with us and the culture we want to create."

Armstrong was hired Thursday to replace Steve Sullivan, who was given the job after GM John Chayka quit July 26. Sullivan was assistant GM under Chayka for three seasons.
Armstrong started with the St. Louis Blues as an amateur scout in 2004, and in 2010 was promoted to director of amateur scouting. He was named assistant GM in 2018, and the Blues won the Stanley Cup the following year.
A defenseman during his playing career, Armstrong was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round (No. 46) of the 1990 NHL Draft but never played in the NHL. He played nine seasons in the American Hockey League and International Hockey League, retiring in 1999.
His time with the Flyers organization allowed him the chance to meet Rick Tocchet, a former NHL forward who has been Coyotes coach for three seasons.
Arizona (33-29-8) had a .529 points percentage when the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The Coyotes were the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference for the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers and defeated the No. 6 seed Nashville Predators in four games. Arizona lost in the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round to the Colorado Avalanche in five games.
The Coyotes had not qualified for the postseason since reaching the conference final in 2012.
"I was a big Rick Tocchet fan growing up," Armstrong said. "I was with the Flyers organization a little bit, so he was kind of my idol going to camp, watching him. He was a great player.
"But the relationship, we have common friends that have kind of merged us together. I worked with (Blues coach) Craig Berube for a long time in St. Louis, and he's a great man. They're best friends, so we've been able to kind of merge our relationship. It's just through texts; we haven't sat down and chat. I'd like to get some of his thoughts and see what he'd like to move forward with. It's important to form a relationship with your coach. It's probably the most important relationship that you could have, is with your coach. I'm looking forward to that. He is a good coach and he's a good representative for this team and I'm looking forward to working with him."

The Blues and Coyotes have agreed that Armstrong will not participate in the 2020 NHL Draft, to be held virtually Oct. 6-7. The Coyotes will not pick until the fourth round after they forfeited their second-round pick in 2020 and first-round pick in 2021 for violating the NHL combine testing policy this season. Arizona traded its 2020 first-round pick to the New Jersey Devils for forward Taylor Hall on Dec. 16 and traded its third-round pick to the Avalanche for forward Carl Soderberg on June 25, 2019.
Among the players drafted by the Blues during Armstrong's time as director of amateur scouting were forwards Jaden Schwartz (first round, 2010), Vladimir Tarasenko (first round, 2010), Sammy Blais (sixth round, 2014) and Robert Thomas (first round, 2017); goalie Jordan Binnington (third round, 2011); and defensemen Colton Parayko (third round, 2012) and Vince Dunn (second round, 2015). Each won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis last season.
"The one thing that I loved about what (Blues GM) Doug (Armstrong, no relation) did was the collaboration," Armstrong said. "We plan on having that here in the desert. That's a big part of me, it's a big part of what we do around here. The culture's obviously going to change a little bit; there's going to be a little shock to some people. But at the same time, that needs to happen. We need to have a culture of collaboration in working together and we've got to hire smart hockey people."
The championship with the Blues was the third of Bill Armstrong's career; he won the Memorial Cup in 1990 as a junior player with Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League, scoring the tournament-winning goal in the second overtime, then the Calder Cup as an assistant coach for Peter Laviolette with Providence of the AHL in 1999. Laviolette was hired as coach of the Washington Capitals on Sept. 15.
"I've won three different championships at three different levels in three different roles," Armstrong said. "I didn't come all the way here to the desert to get a tan. I came here to win a championship."
Photos courtesy of Norm Hall - Arizona Coyotes