Colby Armstrong
Armstrong in 2006
Born (1982-11-23) November 23, 1982
Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Right wing
Shot Right
Played for Pittsburgh Penguins
Atlanta Thrashers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal Canadiens
Vaxjo Lakers HC
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 21st overall, 2001
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2004–2014

Colby Joseph Armstrong (born November 23, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlanta Thrashers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens in a nine-year career. As of 2015 he serves as an NHL analyst for Sportsnet. Armstrong's younger brother Riley briefly played in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks.

Early life

Armstrong was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, but grew up in Saskatoon. His father worked for the City of Saskatoon[1] and his mother operates a skating school in Saskatoon.[2] He has an older sister, Tiffany, and a younger brother, Riley.[1] He attended St. Joseph High School in Saskatoon.[3]

Hockey career

Junior hockey

Armstrong played his minor hockey with the Saskatoon Redwings and Saskatoon Blazers.[4] He later played major junior hockey with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League (WHL) beginning in 1999. In his second year with the Rebels, the team won the 2000–01 WHL championship.[5] This allowed the Rebels to play for the Memorial Cup as the best junior hockey team in Canada. The tournament was held in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Rebels won the cup in overtime in the final with Armstrong as their captain.[6][7] He played one more year with Rebels and finished his major junior career with 185 points in 205 games.[7][8]

Professional hockey

Armstrong was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft as the 21st pick overall. He was assigned to the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beginning in the 2002–03 season.[7] In the 2005–06 season, Armstrong made his NHL debut,[9] and had a superb rookie season, in which he played 47 games and tallied 40 points (16 goals and 24 assists).[10] Armstrong had three overtime goals for the Penguins in the 2006–07 season in which he accumulated 12 goals and 34 points. The Penguins and Armstrong avoided an arbitration hearing in the 2006–07 off-season by re-signing him to two-year, $2.2 million contract.[11] Armstrong became very close friends with teammate Sidney Crosby while playing for the Penguins.[3] On January 1, 2008, Armstrong scored the first ever outdoor Winter Classic goal in the inaugural event.[12]

Pittsburgh traded Armstrong on February 26, 2008, to the Atlanta Thrashers, alongside Angelo Esposito, Erik Christensen and a first-round draft pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, in exchange for Marián Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.[13] He then scored 11 points in 18 games to finish out the 2007–08 season with Atlanta. In the 2008–09 season, Armstrong played in all 82 games, matching his career high of 40 points. On July 16, 2009, Armstrong re-signed with the Thrashers to a one-year, $2.4 million contract.[14] He served as one of the team's alternate captains during the 2009–10 season.[10] He was also suspended for two games in April for an illegal hit on Mathieu Perreault of the Washington Capitals.[15] He finished the season with 15 goals and 29 points in 79 games.[16]

On July 1, 2010, Armstrong signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a three-year, $9 million contract.[16][17] With his first two seasons largely affected by injury and inconsistent play, on June 30, 2012, he was bought-out by the Maple Leafs from his final season of his contract. He played in 79 games over the two years, registering 9 goals and 26 points. He was named an alternate captain by the Maple Leafs during his time with them.[18]

With the opening of free agency the next day, July 1, 2012, Armstrong signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens.[19] During the lock-out-shortened 2012–13 season, he signed to play with the Utah Grizzlies, where his brother Riley was playing at the time.[10] After the season resumed, Armstrong suffered another major injury in an April game versus the Carolina Hurricanes.[20] He finished the season contributing only 5 points in 37 games.[21]

On July 27, 2013, Armstrong left the NHL as a free agent and signed his only European contract with the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League, playing one season.[21][22]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2007 Russia
Silver medal – second place2009 Switzerland

Armstrong was a member of Canada's 2007 IIHF World Championship-winning team. His only goal of the tournament was the game-winning goal in the gold medal game against Finland in Moscow, which Canada won 4–2.[23] He also played in the 2009 IIHF World Championship for Team Canada[24] where they won the silver medal after losing to Russia 2–1 in the final.[25]

Broadcasting career

Rogers Media hired Armstrong as an analyst for Sportsnet's national coverage of the NHL starting in the 2014–15 season. Since 2016, he has also been an analyst of Pittsburgh Penguins games for the AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh studio and game broadcast crew[22][26][27] and games on TNT since 2022.[28]

In 2019, Armstrong was in training to appear on the CBC reality TV show Battle of the Blades. However, he was injured during training and instead appeared on the show as one of the judges.[29]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 Saskatoon Blazers AAA SMHL 33 21 19 40 103 — — — — —
1998–99 Red Deer Rebels WHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
1999–2000 Red Deer Rebels WHL 68 13 25 38 122 2 0 1 1 11
2000–01 Red Deer Rebels WHL 72 36 42 78 156 21 6 6 12 29
2001–02 Red Deer Rebels WHL 64 27 41 68 115 23 6 10 16 22
2002–03 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 73 7 11 18 76 3 0 0 0 4
2003–04 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 67 10 17 27 71 24 3 1 4 45
2004–05 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 80 18 37 55 89 10 4 2 6 14
2005–06 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 47 16 24 40 58 — — — — —
2005–06 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 31 11 18 29 44 — — — — —
2006–07 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 12 22 34 67 5 0 1 1 11
2007–08 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 54 9 15 24 50 — — — — —
2007–08 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 18 4 7 11 6 — — — — —
2008–09 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 22 18 40 75 — — — — —
2009–10 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 79 15 14 29 61 — — — — —
2010–11 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 50 8 15 23 61 — — — — —
2011–12 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 29 1 2 3 9 — — — — —
2012–13 Montreal Canadiens NHL 37 2 3 5 12 4 0 0 0 15
2013–14 Växjö Lakers SHL 37 12 7 19 26 10 0 1 1 20
AHL totals 251 46 83 129 280 37 7 4 11 22
NHL totals 476 89 120 209 376 9 0 1 1 26

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2007 Canada WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 9 1 1 2 4
2009 Canada WC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 9 0 3 3 4
Senior totals 18 1 4 5 8

References

  1. 1 2 "Getting to Know Penguins Rookie Colby Armstrong". NHL.com. Pittsburgh Penguins. March 8, 2006. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  2. ↑ Gordon, Sean (January 9, 2013). "Colby Armstrong on life in the ECHL". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Zwolinski, Mark (October 1, 2011). "Core Leafs: Armstrong life of the Leaf party". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  4. ↑ Zary, Darren (June 2, 2020). "Colby Armstrong armed with popcorn for his biggest prank". Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  5. ↑ Murray, Robert. "WHL On This Day: May 5". Western Hockey League. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  6. ↑ Vanstone, Rob (May 19, 2018). "Armstrong savours Memorial Cup memories". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 "Prospect Profile: Colby Armstrong". American Hockey League. May 5, 2004. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  8. ↑ Meacham, Greg (March 10, 2017). "25th Anniversary Special – Top 25 Rebels in franchise history; No. 8 Colby Armstrong". Red Deer Rebels. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Pens Recall Colby Armstrong and Maxime Talbot from WB/S". Pittsburgh Penguins. December 28, 2005. Retrieved November 14, 2022 – via NHL.com.
  10. 1 2 3 "Utah Grizzlies sign NHL player Colby Armstrong as lockout drags on". Deseret News. December 5, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Pens re-sign Armstrong". pittsburghlive.com. 2006-07-21. Archived from the original on 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
  12. ↑ "Living Room Sports: Max Talbot And Colby Armstrong Talk Stanley Cup Memories And Rooming With Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin". CBS Pittsburgh. May 29, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Penguins get Hossa, hoping he's the missing piece to their Cup". ESPN. Associated Press. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  14. ↑ "Atlanta Thrashers re-sign RFA forward Colby Armstrong". NHL.com. July 16, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  15. ↑ "NHL suspends Thrashers' Armstrong 2 games". CBC Sports. April 2, 2010. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  16. 1 2 "Maple Leafs sign former Rebel Colby Armstrong". Red Deer Advocate. July 1, 2010. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Maple Leafs ink Colby Armstrong". The Globe and Mail. 2010-07-01. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  18. ↑ "Maple Leafs to buy out Armstrong's contract". Sportsnet. June 30, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Canadiens sign Free Agents Prust, Bouillon, Armstrong". Montreal Gazette. 2012-07-01. Archived from the original on 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
  20. ↑ Johnston, Mike (April 3, 2013). "Habs' Armstrong out for rest of regular season". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  21. 1 2 "Former Leafs, Canadiens forward Colby Armstrong signs with Swedish club". Toronto Sun. QMI Agency. July 27, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  22. 1 2 Sager, Joe (June 7, 2016). "Former Penguin Colby Armstrong embarking on a new journey in Pittsburgh". The Times. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Canada Dominates Finland to Win Gold Medal at IIHF World Hockey Championship". The Hockey News. The Canadian Press. May 13, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  24. ↑ "A Report Card Look at Canada's IIHF World Hockey Championship". The Hockey News. The Canadian Press. May 10, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Canada Wins Silver Medal at 2009 IIHF World Championship". Hockey Canada. May 10, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  26. ↑ "ROOT SPORTS Adds Armstrong, Rupp As Analysts". The Official Site of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  27. ↑ Horwat, Nick (2023-09-20). "New Voices Added to Penguins TV Broadcast Team". The Hockey News Pittsburgh Penguins News, Analysis and More. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  28. ↑ Murphy, Brian (November 25, 2022). "How to watch NHL Thanksgiving Showdown on TNT: Penguins, Flyers headline Friday's marquee games". The Sporting News. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  29. ↑ Klein, Chanel (October 16, 2019). "Everybody needs a buddy like Colby Armstrong". CBC. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
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