Armstrong, the GM of the St. Louis Blues, will be joined on the Hockey Canada Olympic management group by Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, who will be associate GM; and Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney and Florida Panthers adviser Roberto Luongo, who each will be an assistant GM.
"Under Doug's leadership, as well as that of our entire management group, we're thrilled to task them to lead us into 2022, with the opportunity to oversee our staff and players as they compete for an Olympic gold medal," Tom Renney, CEO of Hockey Canada, said in the announcement made Wednesday.
NHL players could participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014, part of the four-year extension of the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement that was ratified by the NHL Board of Governors and the NHL Players' Association on July 10. Participation is pending an agreement between the NHL, NHLPA, International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation.
"This group that we're going to assemble is probably going to have a lot of faces that have never worn a Team Canada jersey at this level of competition," Armstrong said.
Armstrong, who is from Sarnia, Ontario, has been Blues GM since 2010 and helped build the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019. St. Louis has reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight times and the Western Conference Final twice during Armstrong's tenure. He worked 17 seasons in the Dallas Stars organization, including six as GM, and won the Cup in 1999.
Armstrong was part of Hockey Canada's management group for the gold medal-winning teams at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics. He became the first person in management to join the Double Triple Gold Club as a two-time winner of the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal and IIHF World Championship (2007, 2016).
"There's some players that played in 2014, and quite honestly some players played in 2010, that we're going to look at very seriously for this team to help us move forward," Armstrong said. "But youth will be served on this team for sure. I think that the World Cup (2016) showed the excitement and the flair that [that] 'Young Guns' team (Team North America, which included players from the United States and Canada age 23-and-under) put on the ice and that would have usually been in normal circumstances the first step for some of those guys to get integrated into Hockey Canada."
Holland, who was part of Hockey Canada's management group at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, won the Stanley Cup four times with the Detroit Red Wings, including three as GM (1998, 2002, 2008).
Francis, who was named Seattle GM in July 2019, worked 12 seasons in the Carolina Hurricanes front office, including as GM from 2014-18.
Sweeney and Luongo will be on the management group for the first time. Luongo last played as an NHL goalie in 2018-19 and played for Canada at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympics.
"He's here for more than just the goaltenders," Armstrong said of Luongo. "Ninety percent of the players we're (looking at), he's played against."
Armstrong said he will scout the Honda West Division, Holland the Scotia North Division, Sweeney the MassMutual East Division, and Luongo the Honda Central Division. Francis will oversee scouting for the entire NHL.
"In his day job, Ronnie is responsible for scouting 31 NHL teams right now, so we thought, why not do the same for us?" Armstrong said.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, an NHL-sized rink (200-by-85 feet) will be used instead of an international-sized rink (200-by-98 feet).
"I think with that knowledge, we'll build our team like that," Armstrong said. "But no matter the ice surface, we're going to rely on skating and on hockey sense. So whether it's NHL ice or a pond somewhere, we're going to rely on the same traits to build our team."
Canada won the bronze medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, when Sean Burke was GM and the Olympic Athletes from Russia won the gold medal. NHL players did not participate.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report
