Arizona Coyotes extend general manager Bill Armstrong in multi-year deal
The Arizona Coyotes continued their commitment to the current organization and extended general manager Bill Armstrong on Wednesday.
Armstong, who has been the team’s general manager since 2020, will be extended through the 2028-29 season, as reported by Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. The multi-year deal allows Armstrong to further his long-term vision for the organization.
“You come in here and make all these moves and start to get it going in a direction and keep pushing,” Armstrong said. “Now you’re acquiring picks and drafting players and we’ve been able to recruit some really strong free agents into our team and add some key pieces in Jack McBain and (Karel) Vejmelka. You can start to see it coming together. You want to finish what you started and this contract allows me to do that.”
It wasn’t the most ideal circumstance for Armstrong coming into the organization. The team had just gone through a bitter split with previous GM John Chayka, whose violations of the league’s combine testing policy led to draft sanctions.
“I always tell this story that when I went to take the job, someone close to me said, 'Don’t take that job. There’s a lot more coming at you than you think,' ” Armstrong said. “I kind of knew what I was getting into in some ways and where the team was at and what had to be done.”
The draft sanctions cost two picks for the Coyotes in two drafts, including a first-round selection in 2021, and forced Armstrong to find a way to start building. He started his tenure by trading then-captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland in 2021 for a first-round pick that became forward Dylan Guenther.
Through that pressure, he’s become the architect of the team’s future. Since he’s taken over, he’s had six first-round selections across three drafts. In the future, he’s accumulated 34 draft picks through trades for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 NHL Drafts.
Extension season: Coyotes solidify head coach André Tourigny's place in rebuild with 3-year extension
The future has often been a hot topic of discussion for the Coyotes, especially when it comes to the team’s future home. The Coyotes have yet to find a permanent home in Arizona, but have shown renewed belief in the extensions around the front office and hockey operations department.
“We’ve had some unfortunate circumstances with the rink in Tempe that didn’t go our way. The ownership wanted to show everybody that there’s stability here in the desert and we’re going to sign good people to see this thing through,” Armstrong said. “That’s the message that’s been said and people are wondering about if the new rink will be built for us and there’s a lot of worry. But you can take a lot of that out and get people to concentrate on doing their job better when they know they’re going to be here and be with the organization for a while. I’m a big believer in stability.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Coyotes give GM Bill Armstrong multi-year extension
