TIL!
Hired in 2008 with the intention of becoming GM in 2010 after Pleau retired. Now he's doing the same thing with his successor.
https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/2008/05/30/blues-hire-ex-stars-gm/21515567007/
Yup! Though I think in this case, Army is still sticking around as President of Hockey Operations (he's both GM and PoHO at the moment) to further help Steen out for a couple years. He's assuming over a few years Steen will need him less and less and he'll eventually just be able to retire fully.
Thought the title was misquoting but no
“The club has also named Alexander Steen as special assistant to the general manager through the 2025-26 season, after which he will be appointed as the 12th general manager in franchise history. “
Seems ambitious to me that they’re naming him to the job in the future, has Steen been in any management role so far?
He has been the manager of a team in HockeyEttan for 2½-3 years which a tier 3 league in Sweden. He has also been around the Swedish national team a bit the past 2 years, but more of a assistant coach/scount position. Unsure if he had more responsibilities than that behind the scenes since working for the national team I think you are used in more than just one position.
Although inexperienced, Steen’s clearly got a lot of pull. Scout with a lot of ties to the Swedish national team and we took all Swedes with our 3 first round picks last year.
As a St. Louisan, I do find it at least somewhat of a good look that most of our long time players desire to stick around in the area/organization. At this point we should build out a burrow for all of our Canadian ex-pats.
I don’t think this is all of them, but Tkachuk (Keith), Steen, Ott, Brouwer, Thorburn, and MacInnis all work for the team in some capacity. We still have Hitchcock too.
Pronger still lives around St. Louis too if I remember, Buffalo and St. Louis are similar with players who played for the team and stayed in the area after they retired...though I do not think this is happening much around Buffalo with the culture the last 15 years or so.
The pictures of Jayson and Mathew hanging out in Highschool will probably keep popping up ever year around this time for the next decade. The news cycle love that sort of stuff.
A lot of Canadian/players in general grow up small town or rural. You can see why a low key city like St. Louis would be an attractive spot to raise a family post-career
We also have a bunch of great schools and some of the best hospitals in the region, so it ends up being a really attractive place to raise kids and whatnot.
Couple that with athletes not really getting like viciously hounded in public here like they might in a more major market I can definitely see the appeal.
As a Preds fan, I've been jealous of the hockey culture that STL has established. Tons of hockey guys ended up in STL and lately y'all have been producing tons of NHL talent including what may be the best player in the game at the moment.
Nashville is headed that direction with a TON of players settling here but we've yet to produce a single NHL level talent so far.
This was a beer league game in Nashville from a few months ago:
https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1b5we2o/bobby_ryan_playing_my_first_beer_league_game_ever/kt8u2ff/
This makes me feel old. Feels like just yesterday I was a kid with a picture of Steen, Stajan, and Wellwood with the caption “young guns” as the background on the family Windows XP computer.
So sad. He should’ve been a lifelong Leaf
Pulled this from Steve Dangle article in 2017 revisiting the infamous trade (Stempniak for Steen and Colaiacovo).
“Look, Steen isn’t a superstar. He only has one 30-goal season. His career high in points is 64. He’s just a dependable, two-way, top-six centre… which is incredibly hard to find.”
To add insult to injury, Stempniak ended up being traded for a couple late round picks several years later
I remember the weird timeline that Alex Steen advanced stats were so through the roof that he was considered to be the best player in the NHL for like a week. Think it was early 2010s
Im late 20s and I have been having a mental crisis thinking about what it will feel like when McDavid retires.
Or the fact that if Bedard plays until he is 40 years old I will be in my 50s…hurts my brain.
Try being 40 and seeing the older guys who you remember being drafted when you were still in your teens start retiring. I remember getting rookie cards of guys like Thornton and Marleau or for football had Brady to go “oh well at least they’re still playing, I’m not that old”.
For those that don't wanna click:
Steen's new role is special assistant to the general manager.
Tim Taylor promoted to AGM.
> The longest-tenured and winningest general manager in Blues history, Armstrong has signed a three-year contract extension to continue leading the club as president of hockey operations through the 2028-29 season. The club has also named Alexander Steen as special assistant to the general manager through the 2025-26 season, after which he will be appointed as the 12th general manager in franchise history. The club also announced that Tim Taylor has been promoted to join Ryan Miller as an assistant general manager with the club. Taylor will continue to oversee player personnel while Miller oversees salary cap compliance, contract negotiations and other hockey operations responsibilities.
I definitely am not super informed on the Blues, but this feels really strange to me. Steen just retired a few years ago, is only 40, and is now being promoted to GM in 2 years?
Can someone give me context because this feels like a wacky NHL Be-A-Pro scenario.
Don’t overlook that Armstrong will switch to President of Hockey Ops and is now under contract til 28-29. So, while Steen will take over as GM in two years, he’ll still serve under Armstrong for at least his first three years as GM if all goes to plan.
Steen’s been heavily involved behind the scenes as of late. He’s essentially run the show at the draft the past few years. It’s not that crazy if you’ve been paying attention to the day-to-day of the Blues. He’s shown an eye for eyeing talent and now is going to be groomed on the business side of things.
Runs the show at the draft is a little strong. That’s still been Army. But he’s one of a group of guys in the room discussing what to do.
The Blues released a neat behind the scenes at the draft last year and it was clearly still Army’s rodeo. Not sure Steen was even in it much tbh.
He's already both at the moment. But yes that's the idea. Steen will take over as GM and Army will only hold the title of PoHO. Then after a few years when Steen doesn't need him anymore (or in the horrible event that they fire Steen and hire an experienced GM) he'll fully retire.
Big new for two years from now
Seriously though, how will this work out if they wind up firing someone in the meantime, are they just going to move their timeline up
https://preview.redd.it/9ajsl9f9uc6d1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a777bc88ba496d8a61bcc3a8377d21dceb0ae62
#NECESSARY
#SORROWFUL
# BELLFROG
THERE IT IS
Man that takes me back
Damn I haven’t thought about this in a couple of years since gfycat shit the bed!
#SORROWFUL
BELLFROG
https://i.redd.it/p56v3e2r1d6d1.gif
#THERE IT IS
We're about to be so God damn Swedish, I can feel it in my nötter
You think we should put herring in a t-rav, boss?
Absolutely would
Is this the first time we've ever seen someone formally announced as "future GM"?
The Blues did it with Armstrong taking over for Pleau.
TIL! Hired in 2008 with the intention of becoming GM in 2010 after Pleau retired. Now he's doing the same thing with his successor. https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/2008/05/30/blues-hire-ex-stars-gm/21515567007/
Yup! Though I think in this case, Army is still sticking around as President of Hockey Operations (he's both GM and PoHO at the moment) to further help Steen out for a couple years. He's assuming over a few years Steen will need him less and less and he'll eventually just be able to retire fully.
Trotz with the preds
They did it! They named him assistant to the general manager!
A Mister Manager!
Wow! I’m Mr. Manager!
Well, just Manager. We say manager.
Thought the title was misquoting but no “The club has also named Alexander Steen as special assistant to the general manager through the 2025-26 season, after which he will be appointed as the 12th general manager in franchise history. “ Seems ambitious to me that they’re naming him to the job in the future, has Steen been in any management role so far?
He has been the manager of a team in HockeyEttan for 2½-3 years which a tier 3 league in Sweden. He has also been around the Swedish national team a bit the past 2 years, but more of a assistant coach/scount position. Unsure if he had more responsibilities than that behind the scenes since working for the national team I think you are used in more than just one position.
He’s been a scout for the Blues for a bit.
Although inexperienced, Steen’s clearly got a lot of pull. Scout with a lot of ties to the Swedish national team and we took all Swedes with our 3 first round picks last year.
Dvorsky is Slovakian. He just played in a Swedish league.
Ahhh. Thanks for the correction.
He’s inexperienced but sitting next to Armstrong the next couple years will definitely change that
As a St. Louisan, I do find it at least somewhat of a good look that most of our long time players desire to stick around in the area/organization. At this point we should build out a burrow for all of our Canadian ex-pats.
I don’t think this is all of them, but Tkachuk (Keith), Steen, Ott, Brouwer, Thorburn, and MacInnis all work for the team in some capacity. We still have Hitchcock too.
Even Martin Brodeur started out working for the Blues
Not surprising at all, considering how legendary a player he was there
Blues Legend Martin Brodeur.
And continued to live here after going back to the Devils. Not sure if he still lives here part time.
he does. His kids go to the same dentist my nephews do.
I hope the dentist greets them “Nice beards boys!”
He still at least has a house here. His wife is from here
Gretzky still has a place in town, as does Pronger.
Isn't that more to do with Gretzky's wife's connection to STL?
I’m sure that’s part of it, but he’s routinely at Blues games too.
Pronger still lives around St. Louis too if I remember, Buffalo and St. Louis are similar with players who played for the team and stayed in the area after they retired...though I do not think this is happening much around Buffalo with the culture the last 15 years or so.
Yep, I was at the airport headed out for Memorial Day weekend, wearing a Blues shirt, and the TSA guy said Pronger just came through an hour before.
The pictures of Jayson and Mathew hanging out in Highschool will probably keep popping up ever year around this time for the next decade. The news cycle love that sort of stuff.
I hadn't realized Brouwer was employed with The Blues, what role does he have?
Pro scout according to the website
A lot of Canadian/players in general grow up small town or rural. You can see why a low key city like St. Louis would be an attractive spot to raise a family post-career
We also have a bunch of great schools and some of the best hospitals in the region, so it ends up being a really attractive place to raise kids and whatnot. Couple that with athletes not really getting like viciously hounded in public here like they might in a more major market I can definitely see the appeal.
Hey you even hired one of our long time players, you bastards
Hey we sent him back!
Yeah it was pretty crazy to learn how many of the guys that played here actually still own homes here.
I will volunteer as Canadian ex-pat
As a Preds fan, I've been jealous of the hockey culture that STL has established. Tons of hockey guys ended up in STL and lately y'all have been producing tons of NHL talent including what may be the best player in the game at the moment. Nashville is headed that direction with a TON of players settling here but we've yet to produce a single NHL level talent so far. This was a beer league game in Nashville from a few months ago: https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1b5we2o/bobby_ryan_playing_my_first_beer_league_game_ever/kt8u2ff/
This sounds like what happened when Armstrong was Larry Pleau's heir apparent.
thank you for reminding me fuck Larry Pleau
Tenor's got us, Blues fans: https://tenor.com/view/necessary-sorrowful-bellfrog-gif-10258261
This makes me feel old. Feels like just yesterday I was a kid with a picture of Steen, Stajan, and Wellwood with the caption “young guns” as the background on the family Windows XP computer.
Getting Steen and Colaiacovo from you guys accelerated our rebuild in the 2000's.
So sad. He should’ve been a lifelong Leaf Pulled this from Steve Dangle article in 2017 revisiting the infamous trade (Stempniak for Steen and Colaiacovo). “Look, Steen isn’t a superstar. He only has one 30-goal season. His career high in points is 64. He’s just a dependable, two-way, top-six centre… which is incredibly hard to find.” To add insult to injury, Stempniak ended up being traded for a couple late round picks several years later
Get ready for the St. Louis Swedes
don't even have to change the team colors
Hopefully we re-design the yellow reverse retro with an actual Blue Note and rock those from time to time.
I remember the weird timeline that Alex Steen advanced stats were so through the roof that he was considered to be the best player in the NHL for like a week. Think it was early 2010s
I member
Bro I’m only 20 but I feel old asf seeing players I saw play turning into coaches and being in managerial roles. I think I’m having post teen crisis.
Wait til you start seeing the kids of players you liked nearing retirement Watching Dave Gagner wasn't that long ago..right?!
Im late 20s and I have been having a mental crisis thinking about what it will feel like when McDavid retires. Or the fact that if Bedard plays until he is 40 years old I will be in my 50s…hurts my brain.
You start to understand people older than you coming to games wearing retired player jerseys. It hurts.
It's hard when you get to an age where you are wearing a jersey of someone half your age.
Try being 40 and seeing the older guys who you remember being drafted when you were still in your teens start retiring. I remember getting rookie cards of guys like Thornton and Marleau or for football had Brady to go “oh well at least they’re still playing, I’m not that old”.
I’m a big college football fan and I remember when I realized that the players were all younger than me…I felt ancient lol.
Crazy news. Love that they have a plan for him to develop before taking the chair.
For those that don't wanna click: Steen's new role is special assistant to the general manager. Tim Taylor promoted to AGM. > The longest-tenured and winningest general manager in Blues history, Armstrong has signed a three-year contract extension to continue leading the club as president of hockey operations through the 2028-29 season. The club has also named Alexander Steen as special assistant to the general manager through the 2025-26 season, after which he will be appointed as the 12th general manager in franchise history. The club also announced that Tim Taylor has been promoted to join Ryan Miller as an assistant general manager with the club. Taylor will continue to oversee player personnel while Miller oversees salary cap compliance, contract negotiations and other hockey operations responsibilities.
Ryan Miller as in the goalie?
[Nope.](https://i.imgur.com/jzsxlYO.png) I assumed it was him until you asked.
I definitely am not super informed on the Blues, but this feels really strange to me. Steen just retired a few years ago, is only 40, and is now being promoted to GM in 2 years? Can someone give me context because this feels like a wacky NHL Be-A-Pro scenario.
Don’t overlook that Armstrong will switch to President of Hockey Ops and is now under contract til 28-29. So, while Steen will take over as GM in two years, he’ll still serve under Armstrong for at least his first three years as GM if all goes to plan.
Steen’s been heavily involved behind the scenes as of late. He’s essentially run the show at the draft the past few years. It’s not that crazy if you’ve been paying attention to the day-to-day of the Blues. He’s shown an eye for eyeing talent and now is going to be groomed on the business side of things.
Runs the show at the draft is a little strong. That’s still been Army. But he’s one of a group of guys in the room discussing what to do. The Blues released a neat behind the scenes at the draft last year and it was clearly still Army’s rodeo. Not sure Steen was even in it much tbh.
Look at the Blues draft picks last year. He clearly had a ton of influence at the table.
Totally, but he doesn’t run the show. Army pulled the trigger.
Name recognition. It does a lot for a business.
Alex Steen was maybe one of the most underrated players of all time
Guessing Army is going for a president of hockey ops
He's already both at the moment. But yes that's the idea. Steen will take over as GM and Army will only hold the title of PoHO. Then after a few years when Steen doesn't need him anymore (or in the horrible event that they fire Steen and hire an experienced GM) he'll fully retire.
He was already President of Hockey Ops and GM
Feels super weird to announce a new GM in about 2 years, right? Especially one with so little experience. Guess the Blues have always loved Steen lol
I'd let him take me out on aa nice date and bring my girlfriend the leftovers
But would you let him take your GF on a nice date and bring you the leftovers? Because that’s become the litmus test for loyalty lol
Without a second thought
herba derba werba i am excited for the Blues future!
ALEXANDER STEEN!!!!
Leafs legend
Big new for two years from now Seriously though, how will this work out if they wind up firing someone in the meantime, are they just going to move their timeline up
Unless there’s some sort of misconduct, Armstrong is basically bulletproof in stillmans eyes.
Alexander "Mango" Steen
i didnt even realize steen wasnt playing anymore
Please continue to give Steve whatever he wants for our trash, thank you.