Hockey Canada names Armstrong GM for 2022 Olympics

St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will be the architect for Team Canada in Beijing.

Hockey Canada named Armstrong GM for its 2022 men's Olympic team on Wednesday.

Armstrong will lead a group that also includes associate GM Ken Holland and assistant GMs Ron Francis, Roberto Luongo, and Don Sweeney, as well as senior vice-president of national teams Scott Salmond.

The Blues GM guided Canada to the gold medal at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the most recent best-on-best men's hockey tournament. He was also part of Steve Yzerman's staff that helped the program claim gold at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Armstrong will serve as GM of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team for the first time. He oversaw the Blues squad that won the Stanley Cup in 2019 and captured a title as assistant GM of the Dallas Stars in 1999. The longtime executive also helped build the Canadian teams that won the World Championships in 2007 and 2016.

Holland is the Edmonton Oilers' GM, and Sweeney serves the same role with the Boston Bruins. Francis is the GM of the expansion Seattle Kraken, while Luongo retired in 2019 as one of the league's most accomplished and beloved goaltenders.

The 2022 Olympics are still not a certainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and neither is the NHL's participation. The league and NHLPA still need to come to an agreement with the IOC and IIHF to send NHLers to the Olympics for the first time since 2014.