The newest CHL franchise in Denver needed about four seconds to hire their first head coach, Derek Armstrong.
The yet-to-be-named expansion club said during their inaugural press conference on Tuesday that they knew right away that the self-proclaimed ‘rink rat’ was the right guy for the job.
Armstrong had a solid NHL career playing in 477 games in the ‘show’ scoring 221 points (72-149-221) while seeing action with NY Islanders, Ottawa, NY Rangers, Los Angeles and St. Louis. His best seasons came with the Kings where he had four 35+ point campaigns.
The soon to be 39-year-old has ties to the Denver area as a member of the IHL Champion Denver Grizzlies from the 1994-95 season. Armstrong had 13 goals and 18 assists during that championship season.
After a 106 point (44-62=106) season in his final year in juniors with the Sudbury Wolves led to Armstrong being drafted by the Islanders in the sixth round of the 1992 CHL Entry Draft.
Retired for the past two season, Armstrong’s final days on the ice came in the St. Louis Blues organization where he spent time with the NHL club and their AHL affiliate (Peoria) during the 2009-10 season.