St. Louis Blues (hockey)

The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy tune "St. Louis Blues".

Facts

Founded: 1967

Arena: Savvis Center (formerly Kiel Center)

Former Arena: St. Louis Arena (1967-1994)

Uniform colors: Navy blue, Royal Blue, white, and gold

Logo design: A winged musical note with lines departing to the right

Division Championships: 7 - (1968-69, 1969-70, 1976-77, 1980-81, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1999-00)

Presidents' Trophies: 1 - (1999-00)

Stanley Cup Finals appearances: 3 - (1967-68; lost to Montreal, 0-4), (1968-69; lost to Montreal, 0-4), (1969-70; lost to Boston, 0-4)

Added in the 1967 NHL Expansion, along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Oakland Seals.

Affiliated teams: Peoria Rivermen (AHL), Alaska Aces (ECHL)

Rivals: Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings

Franchise history

Early history (1967-70)

The Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Oakland Seals, when the league doubled in size. The newcomers were, however, hampered by restrictive rules that kept virtually all the top players with the existing teams.

St. Louis was the last of the expansion teams to get in the league. It was selected over Baltimore at the insistence of the Chicago Blackhawks, who wanted to unload the decrepit St. Louis Arena, which they also owned, to a new franchise holder. The team's first owner was insurance tycoon Sid Salomon, Jr. His son, Sid III, convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. Salomon then spent several million dollars upgrading the 38-year-old arena, which had not been well maintained since the 1940s, to NHL standards. By opening night, the arena boasted almost 15,000 seats, up from 12,000 at the start of 1967. It never stopped being renovated from that day on, and held almost 20,000 seats by the time the Blues left the arena in 1994.

The Blues, originally coached by Lynn Patrick and then Scotty Bowman, proved to be the class of the admittedly weak Western Division. The playoff format guaranteed one of the expansion teams would make the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Blues would play for the Cup in each of their first three years of existence, although they failed to win a single game in any of the three final series. While the first Blues' teams included aging and faded veterans like Doug Harvey, Don McKenney and Dickie Moore, the veteran goaltending tandem of Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante proved more durable, winning a Vezina Trophy in 1969 behind a sterling defense featuring players like skilled defensive forward Jim Roberts and hardrock defensemen Bob and Barclay Plager. New York Rangers castoff Red Berenson became the expansion team's first major star at center, and Phil Goyette won the Lady Byng Trophy for the Blues in 1970. The Arena was almost always sold out, and became one of the loudest buildings in the NHL; the waiting list for season tickets soon rivaled that of the Green Bay Packers.

During that time, Salomon gained a reputation throughout the league as the ultimate players' owner. He gave his players cars, signed them to deferred contracts and treated them to vacations in Florida. Players like Hall, Plante and Harvey were used to being treated like serfs, and felt the only way to pay Salomon back was to leave everything on the ice every night.

Back to earth (1970-77)

The 1970s were less kind to the Blues. Continuing imbalance led the league to transfer the Blackhawks to the West Divsion for 1970-71, and to introduce a "crossover" playoff format that would ultimately exclude any of the expansion teams from the finals for the next three seasons. Bowman left for Montreal in 1971 after a feud with Sid Salomon III, who began to take a greater role in running the team. Older stars such as Hall, Plante and Goyette retired or were traded, as was Berenson for star Detroit Red Wings center Garry Unger. Unger scored thirty or more goals eight straight seasons for the franchise en route to breaking the NHL record for most consecutive games played, but beyond the Plagers on defense talent was thin, and the division was soon dominated by Chicago and Philadelphia. St. Louis missed the playoffs outright for the first time in 1974. Realignment placed the team in the Smythe Division the next season and the team got a few good seasons out of forward Chuck Lefley and the reacquired Berenson, but the division in general was so weak as to become a cliche for mediocrity -- the Blues won the division title in 1977 five games under .500 -- and they missed the playoffs the two seasons following behind disastrous goaltending.

In the meantime, the franchise was on the brink of financial collapse. This was partly due to the pressures of the World Hockey Association, but largely due to financial decisions made when the Salomons first got the franchise. The deferred contracts came due just as the Blues' performance began to slip. At one point, the Salomons seriously considered bankruptcy, and cut the team's staff down to three employees. One of them was Emile Francis, who served as team president, coach and general manager and even swept the Arena at times.

Purina to the rescue (1977-83)

The Salomons finally found a buyer in St. Louis-based pet food giant Ralston Purina in 1977, who renamed the Arena "the Checkerdome." Only a year after finishing with only 18 wins (still the worst season in franchise history), the Blues made the playoffs in 1980--the first of 24 straight playoff appearances. By 1981, they were the second-best team in the league in the regular season, with Berenson as coach and fresh new stars, including Wayne Babych scoring 54 goals, future Hall of Famer Bernie Federko (who would lead the team in scoring), inspirational leader Brian Sutter and franchise goaltender Mike Liut. The Blues fell flat in the playoffs that year, losing in six games to the New York Rangers in the second round. The Blues quietly slid back below .500, but they still made the playoffs in 1982 and 1983 despite finishing well below .500 in both seasons.

Rescued from the brink again (1983-86)

Purina lost an estimated $1.8 million a year during its ownership of the Blues, but took the losses philosophically, having taken over out of a sense of civic responsibility. In 1983, Purina's longtime chairman, R. Hal Dean, retired. His successor wanted to refocus on the core pet food business, and had no interest in hockey. He only saw a division that was bleeding money, and put the Blues on the market. The Blues didn't pick anyone in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft because Purina didn't send a representative; it basically abandoned the team. It finally found a buyer in a group of investors led by WHA and Edmonton Oilers founder Bill Hunter. Hunter then made plans to move the team to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. However, the NHL was unwilling to lose a market as big as St. Louis and vetoed the deal. Hunter then padlocked the Checkerdome and turned the team over to the league. The team appeared destined for contraction in July when Harry Ornest, a Los Angeles-based businessman, came in at the 11th hour to save the franchise. Ornest immediately renamed the Checkerdome back to the St. Louis Arena.

Ornest ran the Blues on a shoestring budget, but the team returned to respectability almost immediately. Doug Gilmour, drafted by St. Louis in 1982, emerged as a superstar. However, while the Blues remained competitive, they were unable to keep many of their young players. More often than not, several of the Blues' young guns ended up in Calgary, and the sight of Flames executive Al MacNeil was always greeted with dread. In fact, several of the Blues' young stars, such as Rob Ramage and Doug Gilmour, were main cogs in the Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup win. Sutter and Federko were probably the only untouchables. By 1986, they reached the league semi-finals against the Flames. Doug Wickenheiser's overtime goal in game six to cap a furious comeback remains one of the greatest moments in team history, but they lost game seven 2-1. After that season, Ornest sold the team to a group led by St. Louis businessman Michael Shanahan.

Close, but no cigar (1986-present)

The Blues kept chugging along through the late 1980s and early 1990s. General Manager Ron Caron was one of the more astute in the league, landing Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Curtis Joseph, Brendan Shanahan and Al MacInnis, among others. While they contended during this time period, they never passed the second round of the playoffs. Still, the Blues' on-ice success was enough for a consortium of 19 companies to buy the team. They also provided the capital to build the Kiel Center (now the Savvis Center), which opened in 1994.

Hull remained one of the league's top superstars, scoring 86 goals in 1990-91 - second only to Wayne Gretzky (who himself played in St. Louis briefly in 1995-96) in goals scored in a season in NHL history. The Blues were the second-best team in the regular season that year, but a second-round defeat to the Minnesota North Stars was indicative of their playoff woes.

Mike Keenan was hired as both general manager and coach prior to the 1994-95 NHL season, lauded as the "playoff coach" that could cure the postseason turmoil Blues fans had endured for years. He instituted major changes, among them trades that sent away fan favorites Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph, as well as the acquisition of the legendary but aging Wayne Gretzky (who left for the New York Rangers as an unrestricted free agent following the season). In spite of all he was prophesized to accomplish, his playoff resume with St. Louis included a first round exit in 1995 and a second round exit in 1996. Neither the fans nor the team ownership was fond of what he did, and he was fired on December 19, 1996. Caron was reinstated as interim general manager for the rest of season, and current GM Larry Pleau was hired on June 9, 1997. But that did not stop Hull from leaving for the Dallas Stars in 1998, and he won the Stanley Cup in his first season in the Lone Star State.

Defenseman Chris Pronger (acquired from the Hartford Whalers in 1995 for Brendan Shanahan), Pavol Demitra, Pierre Turgeon, Al MacInnis, and goalie Roman Turek, kept the Blues a contender. In 1999-2000, they had the best record in the NHL during the regular season, earning the Presidents' Trophy, but were stunned by the San Jose Sharks in the first round in seven games. In 2001, the Blues advanced to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out in five games to the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche.

Despite years of mediocrity and the stigma of never being able to "take the next step", the Blues were a playoff presence every year from 1980 to 2004--the longest active streak in North American professional sports at the time. Amid a depletion in talent over recent years and an unstable ownwership situation, the Blues finished the 2005-2006 season with their worst record in 27 years. They missed the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history.

Wal-Mart heir Bill Laurie purchased the Blues in 1998, but on June 17, 2005 announced that he would sell the team. On September 29, 2005 it was announced that the Lauries has signed an agreement to sell the Blues to Dave Checketts. On November 14, 2005 the Blues announced that Checketts' group, Sports Capital Partners has officially withdrawn from negotiations to buy the team. On December 27, 2005 it was announced that the Blues had signed a letter of intent to exclusively negotiate with General Sports and Entertainment, LLC. However, after the period of exclusivity, Checketts entered the picture again. On March 24, 2006, the Lauries completed the sale of the Blues and the lease to the Savvis Center to Checketts, Sports Capital Partners (SCP) and TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P. Checketts promptly installed John Davidson as team president and de facto GM.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1967-68	74	27	31	19	--	70	177	191	792	3rd in Western	Lost in Stanley Cup Final (MTL)
1968-69	76	37	25	14	--	88	204	157	838	1st in Western	Lost in Stanley Cup Final (MTL)
1969-70	76	37	27	12	--	86	224	179	876	1st in Western	Lost in Stanley Cup Final (BOS)
1970-71	78	34	25	19	--	87	223	208	1092	2nd in Western	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (MIN)
1971-72	78	28	39	11	--	67	208	247	1150	3rd in Western	Lost in Conference Semifinals (BOS)
1972-73	78	32	34	12	--	76	206	248	1195	4th in Western	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (CHI)
1973-74	78	26	40	12	--	64	206	248	1147	6th in Western	Out of Playoffs
1974-75	80	35	31	14	--	84	269	267	1275	2nd in Smythe	Lost in Conference Preliminaries (PIT)
1975-76	80	29	37	14	--	72	249	290	1274	3rd in Smythe	Lost in Conference Preliminaries (BUF)
1976-77	80	32	39	9	--	73	239	276	877	1st in Smythe	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (MTL)
1977-78	80	20	47	13	--	53	195	304	845	4th in Smythe	Out of Playoffs
1978-79	80	18	50	12	--	48	249	348	1055	3rd in Smythe	Out of Playoffs
1979-80	80	34	34	12	--	80	266	278	1037	2nd in Smythe	Lost in Conference Preliminaries (CHI)
1980-81	80	45	18	17	--	107	352	281	1657	1st in Smythe	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (NYR)
1981-82	80	32	40	8	--	72	315	349	1579	3rd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (CHI)
1982-83	80	25	40	15	--	65	285	316	1281	4th in Norris	Lost in Division Semifinals (CHI)
1983-84	80	32	41	7	--	71	293	316	1614	2nd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (MIN)
1984-85	80	37	31	12	--	86	299	288	1301	1st in Norris	Lost in Division Semifinals (MIN)
1985-86	80	37	34	9	--	83	302	291	1478	3rd in Norris	Lost in Conference Finals (CGY)
1986-87	80	32	33	15	--	79	281	293	1572	1st in Norris	Lost in Division Semifinals (TOR)
1987-88	80	34	38	8	--	76	278	294	1919	2nd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (DET)
1988-89	80	33	35	12	--	78	275	285	1675	2nd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (CHI)
1989-90	80	37	34	9	--	83	295	279	1809	2nd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (CHI)
1990-91	80	47	22	11	--	105	310	250	1987	2nd in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (MIN)
1991-92	80	36	33	11	--	83	279	266	2041	3rd in Norris	Lost in Division Semifinals (CHI)
1992-93	84	37	36	11	--	85	282	278	1889	4th in Norris	Lost in Division Finals (TOR)
1993-94	84	40	33	11	--	91	270	283	1659	4th in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (DAL)
1994-95¹	48	28	15	5	--	61	178	135	1077	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (VAN)
1995-96	82	32	34	16	--	80	219	248	1823	4th in Central	Lost in Conference Semifinals (DET)
1996-97	82	36	35	11	--	83	236	239	1336	4th in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (DET)
1997-98	82	45	29	8	--	98	256	204	1414	3rd in Central	Lost in Conference Semifinals (DET)
1998-99	82	37	32	13	--	87	237	209	1308	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Semifinals (DAL)
1999-00	82	51	19	11	1	114	248	165	1139	1st in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (SJ)
2000-01	82	43	22	12	5	103	249	195	1345	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Finals (COL)
2001-02	82	43	27	8	4	98	227	188	1343	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Semifinals (DET)
2002-03	82	41	24	11	6	99	253	222	1618	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (VAN)
2003-04	82	39	30	11	2	91	191	198	1274	2nd in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (SJ)
2004-05²	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2005-06	82	21	46	--	15	57	197	292	1355	5th in Central	Out of Playoffs

¹ Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.

² Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Current squad

As of July 10, 2006 ^*

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
1	Curtis Sanford	L	2000	Owen Sound, Ontario
33	Jason Bacashihua	L	2005	Garden City, Michigan
50	Reinhard Divis	L	2000	Vienna, Austria

Defensemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
4	Eric Brewer	L	2005	Vernon, British Columbia
5	Barret Jackman - A	L	1999	Trail, British Columbia
20	Andy Roach	L	2005	Mattawan, Michigan
25	Dennis Wideman	R	2004	Kitchener, Ontario
27	Bryce Salvador	L	1996	Brandon, Manitoba
28	Matt Walker	R	1998	Beaverlodge, Alberta
29	Jeff Woywitka	L	2005	Vermillion, Alberta
33	Steve Poapst	L	2005	Cornwall, Ontario
43	Mike Stuart	R	2002	Rochester, Minnesota
45	Tomas Mojzis	L	2006	Kolin, Czechoslovakia
55	Christian Backman	L	1998	Alingsas, Sweden
74	Jay McKee	L	2006	Kingston, Ontario

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
7	Keith Tkachuk	L	LW	2001	Melrose, Massachusetts
9	Jay McClement	L	C	2001	Kingston, Ontario
10	Dallas Drake - C	R	RW/LW	2000	Trail, British Columbia
12	Lee Stempniak	R	RW	2003	West Seneca, New York
13	Bill Guerin	R	RW	2006	Worcester, Massachusetts
15	Peter Sejna	L	LW	2003	Liptovski Mikulas, Czechoslovakia -->
17	Ryan Johnson	L	C/LW	2003	Thunder Bay, Ontario
20	Timofei Shishkanov	R	LW	2006	Moscow, U.S.S.R.
21	Jamal Mayers	R	C/RW	1993	Toronto, Ontario
22	Jeff Hoggan	L	LW/RW	2004	Hope, British Columbia
23	Trent Whitfield	L	C	2005	Estevan, Saskatchewan
26	Petr Cajanek	L	C	2001	Zlin, Czechoslovakia
32	Vladimir Orszagh	L	RW/LW	2005	Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
36	Jesse Boulerice	R	RW/LW	2006	Plattsburgh, New York
37	Dean McAmmond	L	LW	2005	Grande Cache, Alberta
39	Doug Weight	R	C	2006	Warren, Michigan
42	Mark Rycroft	R	RW/LW	2000	Penticton, British Columbia
48	Scott Young - A	R	RW	2005	Clinton, Massachusetts
54	Mike Glumac	R	RW	2003	Niagara Falls, Ontario
-	Dan Hinote	R	RW	2006	Leesburg, Florida

Team captains

Al Arbour 1967-70
Red Berenson & Barclay Plager 1970-71
Barclay Plager 1971-76
no captain 1976-77
Red Berenson 1977-78
Barry Gibbs 1978-79
Brian Sutter 1979-88
Bernie Federko 1988-89
Rick Meagher 1989-90
Scott Stevens 1990-91
Garth Butcher 1991-92
Brett Hull 1992-95
Brett Hull & Shayne Corson & Wayne Gretzky 1995-96
no captain 1996-97
Chris Pronger 1997-2002
Al MacInnis 2002-03
no captain 2003-05
Dallas Drake 2005- present

Hall of Famers

Retired numbers

2 Al MacInnis, D, 1994-2005
3 Bob Gassoff, D, 1974-77
8 Barclay Plager, D, 1967-77; Head Coach, 1978-79 & 1982-83
11 Brian Sutter, LW, 1976-88; Head Coach, 1988-92 (the only one of the six Sutter brothers in the NHL to have his number retired by any team)
24 Bernie Federko, RW, 1976-89
99 Wayne Gretzky, C, 1996 (retired League-wide)

Note: The number 5 of Bob Plager (D, 1967-78; Head Coach, 1992-93; Barclay's brother) and the number 14 of Doug Wickenheiser (LW, 1984-87) are honoured by the club with banners but are not officially retired. After Wickenheiser's death in 1999, the number was unofficially retired; the last player to wear it was Geoff Courtnall in 1999-2000. Defenseman Barrett Jackman currently wears number 5, which is honoured by the organization in recognition of Plager's service to the club as a player, coach and scout. Also, the team has announced they will retire #16 in honour of Brett Hull during the 2006-07 NHL season

First round draft picks

1968: Gary Edwards (6th overall)
1969: none
1970: none
1971: Gene Carr (4th overall)
1972: Wayne Merrick (9th overall)
1973: John Davidson (5th overall)
1974: none
1975: none
1976: Bernie Federko (7th overall)
1977: Scott Campbell (9th overall)
1978: Wayne Babych (3rd overall)
1979: Perry Turnbull (2nd overall)
1980: Rick Wilson (12th overall)
1981: Marty Ruff (20th overall)
1982: none
1983: none
1984: none
1985: none
1986: Jocelyn Lemieux (10th overall)
1987: Keith Osborne (12th overall)
1988: Rod Brind'Amour (9th overall)
1989: Jason Marshall (9th overall)
1990: none
1991: none
1992: none
1993: none
1994: none
1995: none
1996: Marty Reasoner (14th overall)
1997: none
1998: Christian Backman (24th overall)
1999: Barrett Jackman (17th overall)
2000: Jeff Taffe (30th overall)
2001: none
2002: none
2003: Shawn Belle (30th overall)
2004: Marek Schwarz (17th overall)
2005: T.J. Oshie (24th overall)
2006: Erik Johnson (1st overall)

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Blues. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	POS	GP	G	A	Pts
Bernie Federko	C	927	352	721	1073
Brett Hull	RW	744	527	409	936
Brian Sutter	LW	779	303	333	636
Garry Unger	C	662	292	283	575
Pavol Demitra	LW	494	204	289	493
Al MacInnis	D	613	127	325	452
Red Berenson	LW	519	172	240	412
Chris Pronger	D	598	84	272	356
Pierre Turgeon	C	327	134	221	355
Doug Gilmour	C	384	149	205	354