Coyotes sign GM Armstrong to multi-year extension
Published
The Arizona Coyotes announced Wednesday that the club has signed general manager Bill Armstrong to a multi-year contract extension. As per club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
"For the past three years, Bill has done an excellent job restructuring our hockey operations department and rebuilding our hockey team,” said Coyotes owner, chairman and governor Alex Meruelo in a statement. "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."
Armstrong, 53, was named GM on September 17, 2020 and is entering his fourth season in the role.
Armstrong hired head coach André Tourigny ahead of the 2021-22 season and Tourigny led the Coyotes to a 13-point improvement from 2021-22 to 2022-23, capped with a 28-40-14 record (70 points) last season.
Before joining the Coyotes, Armstrong served as the St. Louis Blues’ assistant general manager/director of amateur scouting from 2018-20 and was instrumental in building the Blues team that won the 2019 Stanley Cup. He joined the Blues in July of 2004 as an amateur scout and in August of 2010, he was named as the club’s director of amateur scouting.
Prior to joining the Blues, Armstrong spent six seasons as a coach in the American Hockey League (AHL) and East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He began as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 1998, helping lead the Bruins to the 1999 Calder Cup Championship. Armstrong was named the head coach of Providence prior to the start of the 2000-01 season, a position he held for two seasons (2000-02). In his first season (2000-01), he led the Bruins to the best start in team history (16-4-1-2) and was named head coach of the Planet USA All-Star Team. Following his stint in Providence, Armstrong spent two seasons (2002-04) as the head coach of the Trenton Titans of the ECHL.
A native of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Armstrong played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and won the Memorial Cup with the Oshawa Generals in 1990. Drafted in the third round (46th overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1990, Armstrong played nine seasons in the AHL and the International Hockey League (IHL), appearing in 543 games and collecting 74 points (10 goals, 64 assists) and 1,443 penalty minutes.