Breaking: Alex Steen to take over as Blues GM

UPDATE: This just in, the St. Louis Blues have announced that general manager Doug Armstrong has signed a contract extension to remain the President of the St. Louis Blues and will train former Blues player Alex Steen, who will become the team's general manager in 2026.

 From the team's press release announcement:

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 12^th 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.

Read below for our earlier reports on this developing story.

Yesterday the St. Louis Blues officially announced that they would be holding a press conference today to announce a 'major hockey operations announcement'.

The news has seemingly come out of left field and there's been plenty of speculation about what the move could be, but most fans and analysts seem to agree that long-time Blues GM Doug Armstrong could be stepping down from his position. Armstrong has been with the Blues since 2008 and helped to deliver a Stanley Cup championship in 2019, but the team has taken a bit of a step backward in recent seasons. The Blues have failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons and, frankly, they don't look like a team on the rise.

There were rumors floating around social media that former Blues player turned executive Alex Steen could be up for a promotion to the GM position and ESPN insider Kevin Weekes seemed to confirm that speculation with an image posted online yesterday evening.

Weekes simply posted a photo of Steen to his timeline:

That's... a bit cryptic... not gonna lie.

It's unclear what this means exactly from Weekes, but don't be surprised if Steen is unveiled as the Blues' new GM later today. Or, perhaps, he'll move into a new role alongside Armstrong to eventually become his successor. That move seems more likely to me, but the rumor mill has run with the 'Steen as new GM' idea so we'll just have to wait to see how things play out.

Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman also reports that Steen will receive an "increased role" in the team's front-office, but didn't go so far as to say that he'll be named GM. 

Still, the rumors persist that Steen will be named GM, so again we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.