Bill Armstrong signed a multiyear contract to remain general manager of the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The 53-year-old enters his fourth season as GM since he was hired Sept. 17, 2020. Arizona has added key players during Armstrong's tenure, this offseason trading for defenseman Sean Durzi and signing free agent forwards Jason Zucker, Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad, and defensemen Troy Stecher and Matt Dumba.
Forward prospects Logan Cooley (No. 3, 2022 NHL Draft) and Conor Geekie (No. 11, 2022), and defenseman Dmitry Simashev (No. 6, 2023), were all selected by Armstrong and the Coyotes front office.
"I am very grateful to (owner Alex) Meruelo, (chief brand officer) Alex Meruelo Jr. and (president) Xavier Gutierrez for all of their confidence, trust and continued support," Armstrong said. "Being the general manager of the Arizona Coyotes is an honor and a privilege and I am very proud of all the hard work that our hockey operations staff, coaching staff, and players have done to improve our organization. We still have a lot of work to do but I firmly believe that we are on the right track to becoming a playoff-caliber team for years to come. We have a very bright future here in Arizona."
The Coyotes also have a core of young players including 22-year-old forward Matias Maccelli and 25-year-old forward Clayton Keller, who had 86 points (37 goals, 49 assists) last season to tie Keith Tkachuk (1996-97) for the most in a season for the Coyotes since the franchise moved to Arizona from Winnipeg prior to the 1996-97 season.
Andre Tourigny signed a three-year contract to remain coach Aug. 23.
"For the past three years, Bill has done an excellent job restructuring our hockey operations department and rebuilding our hockey team," Meruelo said. "He has acquired elite talent through the draft, trades, and free agency, and has established a winning culture by adding a great coaching staff and other key hockey operations personnel. I am confident that under his leadership, the Coyotes will soon become a perennial playoff team and we will continue to work towards our goal of bringing a Stanley Cup to the Valley."
Armstrong joined the Coyotes after he was assistant general manager of the St. Louis Blues, helping build the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019.
"Bill has a great eye for talent, and he has done a fantastic job assembling an excellent team on and off the ice," Gutierrez said. "He has worked extremely hard, stayed true to his plan, and has earned the trust and respect of ownership, our coaches, our players, and our fans. We look forward to continuing our work together as we strive for our ultimate goal of delivering a Stanley Cup to Arizona."
The Coyotes were 28-40-14 last season with 70 points, a 13-point improvement from 2021-22 and their highest total since they had 74 in 2019-20, their lone Stanley Cup Playoff appearance in the past 11 seasons.
"It's been a tough two years in the desert in terms of watching our team, the rebuild in place and taking bad contracts and now it's getting to the good stuff," Armstrong told NHL.com on July 20. "Listen, we're going to have some challenges. We're going have some moments we're not very good, but we've got an ability now to go to into the rink from the first day of training camp and have a good team and push to see how good we can become. That means trying to get to the (2024 NHL Trade Deadline) and being in the hunt, and that's not an easy task for us as an organization."
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