The team made headlines with free-agent signings and trades that landed stars like Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Brendan Shanahan, Scott Stevens, Grant Fuhr, Phil Housley and Al MacInnis. The mainstream appeal moved a conglomerate of corporate leaders to buy out Shanahan and build the Kiel Center (now the Scottrade Center), opening the downtown doors in 1994. The Enterprise Center was electric and buzzing with excitement with anticipation of the win. The sale price for the team and building lease was reported to be $100 million. ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - There's been talk that the Rams move is great news for the St. Louis Blues: freeing up more money for St. Louis sports fans to spend on hockey. Just before the 2007 NHL trade deadline, the Blues traded several key players, including Bill Guerin, Keith Tkachuk and Dennis Wideman, in exchange for draft picks, though they re-signed Tkachuk after the season ended. However, they only won three games on the road during the first two months of the season. More often than not, several of the Blues' emerging stars ended up as Calgary Flames, and the sight of Flames executive Al MacNeil was always greeted with dread. This list may not reflect recent changes . [22] This resurgence included an eleven-game winning streak between February and March, in large part thanks to the emergence of the eventual Calder Trophy nominee, rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. Starting after a couple of players heard "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, after their win in Philadelphia on January 3, 2019, the team started to use the song after every home win, and lasted all the way up to their Stanley Cup win. During the late 1990s, the Blues nurtured a new identity. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Black Hawks owners felt they could establish a "lovable loser" (much like the Cubs) with the St. Louis hockey team. He was replaced by assistant coach Scotty Bowman, who thereafter led the team to a winning record for the rest of the season. They missed the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history. St. Louis was the last of the six expansion teams to gain entry into the League; the market was chosen over Baltimore at the insistence of the Black Hawks owners, James D. Norris and Arthur Wirtz. The moves kept. While the first Blues teams included fading veterans like Doug Harvey, Don McKenney and Dickie Moore, the goaltending tandem of veterans Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante proved more durable, winning a Vezina Trophy in 1969 behind a sterling defense that featured players like skilled defensive forward Jim Roberts, team captain Al Arbour and hardrock brothers Bob and Barclay Plager. Former St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial and Musial's business partner Julius "Biggie" Garagnani were also members of the 16-man investment group that made the initial formal application for the franchise. Since 1990, Ron Baechle, also known as the "Towel Man" or "Towel Guy," has celebrated each goal by counting with the bell and throwing a towel into the crowd from section 314. The group becomes the eighth to hold the keys to the franchise since its inception. [15] The team later traded veteran defenseman Bryce Salvador to the New Jersey Devils for enforcer, and St. Louis native, Cam Janssen. Keenan instituted major changes, including trades that sent away fan favorites Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph, as well as the acquisition of the legendary-but-aging Wayne Gretzky and goaltender Grant Fuhr, both from the declining Los Angeles Kings. However, St. Louis was swept in their first Finals appearance by the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens. In 200910, despite not having a playoff year, the Blues had an average attendance of 18,883 (98.6% total capacity), selling out 34 of its 40 home games, which placed them seventh in the NHL in attendance. Albums. By 1986, the team reached the Campbell Conference Finals against the Flames. [35], Prior to the 202021 season, the Blues unveiled a "Reverse Retro" alternate uniform based on the design worn from 1995 to 1998, but with a red base. Originally, the Blues aired their games on KPLR-TV and KMOX radio, with team patron Gus Kyle calling games alongside St Louis broadcasting legend Jack Buck. Nonetheless, their on-ice success was enough for a consortium of 19 companies to buy the team. They play their home games at the 18,096 seat Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis, which has been their arena since moving from St. Louis Arena in 1994.[3]. Angry at having to play "second fiddle", the Blues elected to leave for KTRS in 2000. The NHL Board of Governors has approved the sale of the St. Louis Blues to a group headed. During the 3rd Period, The Blues were winning by a large margin against the visiting Nashville Predators. For instance, Ornest asked many players to defer their salaries to help meet operating costs, but the players always got paid in the end. On November 14, 2005, the Blues announced that SCP Worldwide had officially withdrawn from negotiations to buy the team. Blues Front Office Ownership Tom Stillman, Jerald Kent, Donn Lux, James Cooper, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Steve Maritz, Edward Potter, Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Taylor, David Steward, James Kavanaugh, John. Contact Information: print. Sid Salomon III convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. Blues Jump Blues/Piano Blues St. Louis Blues. None of the previous owners has brought a Stanley Cup championship to St. Louis. Their situation was not helped by the decision to keep the Eagles in the Canadian Division to keep the divisions balanced, which left the team with unaffordable travel expenses to games in Toronto and Montreal. Louie is the mascot of the St. Louis Blues. The next few seasons became like a broken record. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game. Although they had finished in third place, St. Louis was regarded as fairly evenly matched with the other three Western qualifiers since only four points separated first and fourth place. The original owners were successful insurance executive Sid Salomon Jr., his son Sid Salomon III and Robert Wolfson. Following the Black Hawks' championship in 1961, the team became much more successful at the box office in Chicago, thus St. Louis was no longer useful as a secondary market. In the 1999-2000 season, Quenneville's club won 51 games and collected 114 points, capturing the first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history. Ornest ran the Blues very cheaply, though the players did not mind. The game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, 4 killed, 4 critically injured in crash at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue, Parents push back on allegations against St. Louis transgender center. In the meantime, the franchise was on the brink of financial collapse. The Blues skated back to KPLR 3 years later. While the fans were stunned, the players were aware of this. Nevertheless, the Black Hawks owners still owned the St. Louis Arena. Here is a list of the team's owners since its inception: -Sidney Salomon Jr. -Ralph Sauer -Harry Ornest -Michael Shanahan -Dave Checketts -Tom Stillman. The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis. The Blues averaged more than 41 wins but could not get though the conference playoffs. The Keenan coup wound up being a catastrophe. However, they never made an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. Despite an impressive run into the end of the season, when they gained most points in the league from February 1, when Hitchcock was fired, to the end of the season,[18] the Blues were eliminated in the second round by the Nashville Predators in six games.[19]. This setupKelly as commentator, with either Kyle, Bob Plager, or Noel Picard (whose heavy French-Canadian accent became famous, such as pronouncing owner Sid Salomon III "Sid the Turd" instead of "Third") joining as an analyst, simulcast on KMOX and KPLRcontinued through the 197576 season, then simulcast on KMOX and KDNL-TV for the next three seasons. They also had strong goaltending led by Mike Liut. Incensed, Ralston Purina sued the NHL, padlocked the Checkerdome and abandoned the franchise, leaving a mess for the league to sort out. These are the top-ten point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise regular-season history. Berenson, who had played previously in Montreal and New York, commented: "In New York or Montreal, all you'd get would be a handshake.". Checks were back in the Checkerdome. Following further contraction, the league stabilized at six teams after 1942. Audience capacity was increased from 12,000 to 15,000 at the Arena, which had been home to the Central Hockey League's St. Louis Braves. Minority owner Wolfson and Blues president Emile Francis persuaded Ralston Purina executive R. Hal Dean to invest in the franchise. The Blues kept 26 players under contract, 23 of them in St. Louis. A few months later, in December 1996, both Keenan and executive Jack Quinn were fired. They captured the Jennings Trophy once more for allowing the fewest goals in the league (165). The Blues lost more players as Jay Bouwmeester suffered a season-ending injury, and Jaden Schwartz missed a large portion of the season. Moreover, for the first time in club history, the normally excellent support seen by St. Louisans began decrease, with crowds normally numbering around 12,000, notably less than the team's normal high (about 18,000 in a 19,500-seat arena). St. Louis has a record of 2-3 in games when bookmakers list them +180 or longer on the moneyline. Gretzky, whose wife is a native St. Louisan, personally approved the trade and was prepared to finish his illustrious career with the Blues. The St. Louis Blues are one of the more successful NHL teams in terms of attendance. On January 4, 2007, the Blues had a record of 613 in their previous ten games, which was the best in the NHL during that stretch. He asked many players to defer contracts to help meet operating costs and through much of Ornest's tenure, the team operated with a small office staff. During this time, from 1989 to 2000, more games began to be aired on Prime Sports Midwest, the forerunner to today's Bally Sports Midwest. This article is about the ice hockey team. The navy blue third jersey was kept without any alterations, before it was retired prior the 201617 season. They also requested that the court allow them to give up the team and bar the NHL from interfering with the sale of the team. Rivers also fills in on color commentary whenever Pang is on a national TV assignment for the NHL on TNT. Fox Sports Midwest color commentator, Darren Pang, exclaimed he "just loved the crowd, they're singing!". The moves kept sportswriters busy and fans captivated, and often infuriated opposing executives. However, they would continue their strong play even despite being plagued with various other injuries, consistently remaining at or near the top of the Western Conference. The emotional win two days earlier notwitstanding, the Blues lost Game 7 of the playoffs in Calgary, falling short of the Cup finals. Payne was previously the head coach of the Blues top minor league affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League (AHL).[16]. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. He has covered the team since the 2005-06 season, including a dozen years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Despite defeating the Blackhawks in the 2017 NHL Winter Classic by the score of 41, the Blues fired Hitchcock and promoted Yeo to head coach on February 1, 2017. On September 29, 2005, it was announced that the Lauries had signed an agreement to sell the Blues to SCP Worldwide, a consulting and investment group headed by former Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts. The uniforms, which had the team name written around the primitive "blue note" logo along with contrasting stripes, had a gold base.[37]. But the renaissance was short-lived. The Blues have a rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks, with whom they have shared a division since 1970. However, the station was never financially competitive in the market. st louis blues traditions. Defenseman Chris Pronger (acquired from the Hartford Whalers in 1995 for Brendan Shanahan), Keith Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra, Pierre Turgeon, Al MacInnis and goaltender Roman Turek kept the Blues a contender in the NHL. The Blues then fired 60 percent of their employees. During the 2007 off-season, the Blues signed free agent Paul Kariya to a three-year contract worth $18million, re-signed defenseman Barret Jackman to a one-year contract, lost their captain Dallas Drake to the Detroit Red Wings, and traded prospect Carl Soderberg to the Bruins in exchange for yet more depth in the goal crease, Hannu Toivonen. The following numbers have been retired from use within the St. Louis Blues: In addition to the aforementioned numbers, the NHL also retired Wayne Gretzky's number 99 from use for all of its members teams, including the Blues, at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game. [26] Shortly after the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, Karla May of the Missouri Senate introduced a bill which would officially designate several items as state symbols of Missouri; including the Blues being as the state's official hockey team. tickets - by owner. The Stanley Cup playoff format changed in such a way that a Western team was no longer guaranteed a Finals berth, and also the Chicago Black Hawks were moved into the Western Division following the 1970 expansion.
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