Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Canada names Armstrong, Holland, Murray, Bergevin and Blake to World Cup management team

Martin Brodeur Retirement Press Conference

Martin Brodeur Retirement Press Conference

Getty Images

On Monday, Hockey Canada made it official -- St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has been selected as Team Canada GM for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

And he’s been armed with quite a staff.

Anaheim’s Bob Murray, the NHL’s reigning GM of the Year, will serve as an assistant, along with Detroit’s Ken Holland, Montreal’s Marc Bergevin and L.A. Kings AGM Rob Blake.

Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s VP of operations, has also been named to the group.

“These are some of the most respected and successful men in hockey, and we could not be more excited for them to lead Team Canada into the 2016 World Cup of Hockey,” Hockey Canada president Tom Renney said. “There is a lot of work to be done between now and Sept. 17, 2016, and as a staff we look forward to working with the management group as we look toward a second consecutive World Cup championship for Team Canada.”

Two things to consider about this new management team:

One, it’s got a remarkably high standard to live up to -- outgoing GM Steve Yzerman was lauded for his work with the Olympic squad at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, putting together a team that went undefeated en route to its second consecutive gold medal (worth noting that both Armstrong and Holland were part of Yzerman’s management group.)

Two, the selection process comes with a wrinkle.

Canada and the U.S. will be unable to select any skaters age 23 and under, as those players will be exclusively available for the North American Youngstars team. According to a Hockey Canada release, the Youngstars squad will be selected by a management group jointly named by the NHL and NHLPA.