After firing Brad Treliving last week, there has been a ton of speculation over who the new general manager or president will be, but you can now cross Doug Armstrong's name off the list.
According to Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, it is just not the right timing for the Maple Leafs and Armstrong as the veteran executives steps down from his general manager position of the St. Louis Blues and into a more advisory role with the club.
It's no surprise that Doug Armstrong's name was highly touted because of his resume. He has won multiple Stanley Cup's as an executive and has been part of Team Canada's program for many years, but the main reason his name was floating out there was because he just stepped down as GM of the St. Louis Blues.
The one thing that many people forgot about was that although Armstrong stepped down as the GM, he'll be sticking around the organization for many years to come. In fact, there was a succession plan in place for many years, as former Leaf Alexander Steen is set to replace Armstrong on July 1st.
With Armstrong set to stay on with the Blues as the President of Hockey Operations and St. Louis reportedly not willing to allow him to interview in Toronto, the Leafs have to look elsewhere for a GM or President and that's actually great news.
Hiring Armstrong would not have signaled change. Armstrong has long ties to current head coach Craig Berube, so if he was hired, it's safe to assume he would have kept Berube as his coach. The same thing applies with Armstrong's hockey philosophies and although he has had solid success in the NHL, the team should be looking at a younger executive and someone who is thinking rebuild.
A 61 year-old Armstrong isn't the person who you'd want to start your rebuild, but instead would be someone who screams re-tool, which is unfortunately isn't how this team should be thinking.
It's actually a blessing that Armstrong isn't available for Toronto
If the Leafs want serious change, they need to go away from the "old-school" hockey executive and go with a data-driven young executive who has a five-year plan. Although the Leafs have William Nylander and Auston Matthews, they shouldn't be sworn to those players as the ones who will take them to the Stanley Cup.
They've been here for the past 10 years and haven't gotten past the second round, so why would we have all the trust in the world that they're the answer? The organization needs a fresh perspective and someone the fanbase can believe in.
If only Kyle Dubas was available still...
Joking aside, the Leafs need a fresh face and someone unafilliated with this franchise. Someone like Florida Panthers Assistant GM Sunny Mehta would be a welcomed sight as his data-centric vision is something that fits what Keith Pelley was speaking about in his press conference a few weeks ago.
Either way, we can now cross Armstrong's name off the shortlist of candidates, which isn't a bad thing at all.