Gretzky, whose wife is a native St. Louisan, personally approved the trade and was prepared to finish his illustrious career with the Blues. This ended up being the Blues' last game in the regular season, as the season would be cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic shortly afterwards. The Blues are currently the only team in the four major North American sports (ice hockey, basketball, baseball, and American football) to be owned by a private equity firm. 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. 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. Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the six teams from the 1967 NHL expansion and is named after the W. C. Handy song "Saint Louis Blues". The Black Hawks treated St. Louis as a secondary market, placing minor league affiliates there and even playing a few NHL games in St. Louis during the 1950's while the team still struggled to sell tickets at Chicago Stadium. Movies. After two awful years, including what is still a franchise-worst 185012 record with 48 points in 1979, the Blues made the playoffs the following year, the first of 25 consecutive postseason appearances. And within two years, Hull also was gone, left unsigned to continue a Hall of Fame career with Stanley Cup championships in Dallas and Detroit. 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]. While there were a number of interested parties, none had enough cash to meet Ralston's asking price. In between seasons and during trade deadlines, the Blues became a must-see attraction. The Blues became the first team in NHL history to finish first overall in the standings and lose in the first round of the playoffs. On September 2, 2020, the Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen, who had spent ten years in the Blues organization, to the Montreal Canadiens.[29]. 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. Team owner puts St. Louis Blues up for sale 5 is #1 Show Me 5 Sally Sally Jessy Raphael at KSDK Today In St. Louis Be the first to know Making a Difference Mike Bush Fantasy Baseball. The original owners were successful insurance executive Sid Salomon Jr., his son Sid Salomon III and Robert Wolfson. In addition, the contrasting shoulder yoke was removed. St. Louis has embraced team's victory anthem", "The history behind the NHL's ubiquitous sound for scoring: the goal horn", "A Look at Five St. Louis Blues' Superfans", "Celebrate 20 years of fan-run papers on Friday", "How did 'Country Roads' become a Blues home-game staple? During the 2012 playoffs, they won their first playoff series since 2002, eliminating the San Jose Sharks in five games. While the fans were stunned, the players were aware of this. David Backes was also announced as the new team captain. The day after the draft, the NHL filed a $78 million counter-suit against Ralston, accusing Ralston of "damaging the league by willfully, wantonly and maliciously collapsing its St. Louis Blues hockey operation." "[50][51] And it did take them to the Stanley Cup. From 1979 to 1981, the radio and television broadcasts were separated for the first time since the inaugural season, with Kelly doing the radio broadcasts and Eli Gold hired to do the television. I really respect the fact that he puts the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the few. The jersey brought back the contrasting shoulder yoke and returned to the lighter blue of previous eras. In the hiatus preceding the NHL's Return to Play, several Blues players contracted COVID-19, which was cited by the coaching staff as one of the reasons why their play faltered in the playoffs. This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Blues. It wasn't. Blues current owner Tom Stillman (left) and Carol Salomon, the former wife of original owner Sid Salomon III. 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. The emotional win two days earlier notwitstanding, the Blues lost Game 7 of the playoffs in Calgary, falling short of the Cup finals. Buck elected to leave the booth after one season, though, and was replaced by another famed announcer in Dan Kelly. [13] After that season, Ornest sold the team to a group led by St. Louis businessman Michael Shanahan. Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. Figures are updated after each completed NHL season. No sooner had the season ended than Demers departed for Detroit. With silver-jacketed organist Norm Kramer pumping out "When the Blues Go Marching In," hockey became a happening in St. Louis. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play. The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. Following further contraction, the league stabilized at six teams after 1942. Disillusioned by Keenan's contentious style, Gretzky became a free agent and departed for New York. List of former Blues players set to return to St. Louis before the end of the season . He scored 16 points in 13 games after his arrival, but the season ended in frustration as the Blues lost Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals to Detroit. An updated version of the blue sweater, produced by Adidas, was brought back in 2019 as their 90s Vintage Jersey.. The next few seasons became like a broken record. NHL president Clarence Campbell said during the 1967 expansion meetings, "We want a team in St. Louis because of the city's geographical location and the fact that it has an adequate building."[4]. A Broadway musical comedy star tires of the same old grind and flees the city. In 1986, the team reached the Campbell Conference finals and produced one of its signature moments, a "Monday Night Miracle" comeback victory in Game 6. 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. 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. Declining revenue reached a critical stage by the end of the 1976-77 season, and the Blues reduced their management staff to three. Blues owners. In 1978-79, the Blues won 18 of 80 games, or just one more than the NFL's 1972 Miami Dophins. Dean was the key figure in Ralston Purina's takeover of the St. Louis Blues after the 1976-77 season. The Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the . Contact Information: print. 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. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com Photo by J.B. Forbes, staff photographer. They missed the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history. 20 Years Ago, Blur's 'Song 2' Became an Unlikely Sports Anthem", "PLAY GLORIA! Blues Director of Entertainment, Jason Pippi, commented that they played Country Roads by John Denver, "was a bit of an mistake because people love to sing along to that song". Baie-Comeau Drakkar Players Bakersfield Condors Players Barrie Colts Players Barys Astana Players Belarusian Hockey Players Belleville Senators Players Bemidji State Beavers Players Bentley Falcons. The Blues skated back to KPLR 3 years later. On October 10, the Blues introduced a new mascot, Louie. 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. Soon after, Ornest sold the Blues to a group led by Michael Shanahan, head of Engineered Support Systems Inc. They treated the players to all-expenses-paid Florida vacations when seasons ended and bought them gold wristwatches for scoring hat tricks, etc. October 1, 2019. This setupKelly as commentator, with either Kyle, Bob Plager, or Noel Picard (whose heavy French-Canadian . [4] Garagnani would never see the Blues franchise take the ice, as he died from a heart attack on June 19, 1967, less than three months before the Blues played their first preseason game. However, they were swept in the Stanley Cup Finals by the Montreal Canadiens in 1969 and then by the Boston Bruins in 1970. In each instance, the Blues were swept in four games, twice by the Montreal Canadiens and lastly by the Boston Bruins. Although the St. Louis Arena was not originally designed with hockey in mind, it met NHL standards of the era for size and had good sight lines for the game. The Blues took on the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first-round series. "We've given them the extreme honor, so it's. In the midst of it, in 1999, the Clark Enterprises consortium of 19 St. Louis companies that owned the franchise sold it to Bill Laurie and his wife, Nancy, daughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Sam Walton. [a] The Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League (AHL) is the team's minor league affiliate. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game. However, had the league not found a new owner by August 6, it would dissolve the team and hold a dispersal draft for the players. On June 17, 2005, the Lauries announced that they would sell the team. On April 12, the Blues clinched the sixth seed in the West with a 10 win against the Colorado Avalanche. 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 franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the six teams from the 1967 NHL expansion and is named after the W. C. Handy song "Saint Louis Blues". Seriously underwater., Arch Madness: 2023 MVC Basketball Tournament bracket, schedule, game times, TV info, Centene expects to lose millions of Medicaid customers beginning in April, St. Louis man charged in quadruple fatal crash; police say he ran off with his license plate, Neman: Missouri womans saga of trying to find common sense at Walmart, I can still hear the roaring of the engine, says father of teen maimed in downtown St. Louis. The Blues also won the Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals (165) in the NHL, as netminder Roman Turek finished with a 1.95 goals-against average. A new company who had purchased KXOK won the bid for a three-year contract and Kelly moved over from KMOX to do the games on KXOK. The arena was previously known as Scottrade Center, the Savvis Center, and before that as the Kiel Center. During the season, he publicly criticized Gretzky, who entered free agency after the season, declined an offer from the Blues, and took a less lucrative contract with the New York Rangers. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. 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. KMOX is a 50,000-watt clear-channel station that reaches almost all of North America at night, allowing Kelly to become a celebrity in both the United States and Canada. The Blues have a rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks, with whom they have shared a division since 1970. In hopes of saving the franchise, Francis persuaded St. Louis-based pet food giant Ralston Purina to buy the team, arena, and the $8.8 million debt. Since the 201920 preseason, WXOS (101 ESPN) has been the flagship radio station for the Blues. On March 17, 2011, it was announced that the St. Louis Blues were for sale. Checks were back in the Checkerdome. Looking at losses of more than $10 million over six seasons, the pet food giant put the Blues up for sale and in January 1983, announced it had a buyer in Saskatoon-based Batoni-Hunter Enterprises, Ltd. Batoni's president, Bill Hunter, said his group was ready to break ground on a $43 million building, which could be ready for the Saskatoon Blues in time for the 1983-84 season. After a strong second-half run, the Blues made the 2009 playoffs on April 10, 2009, after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 31. tickets - by owner. [25] This all but assured that Berube would have the "interim" tag removed from his title, which occurred two weeks after their Cup victory. [32], When Adidas became the uniform provider before the 201718 season, the Blues kept most of the same template, with the exception of the home jersey numbers changing from gold to white. The sale price for the team and building lease was reported to be $100 million. Still desperate for a championship, the Blues made another controversial move in 1995, hiring Mike Keenan right off the staff directory of the Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers. As the team lingered on the shelf, management further demoralized the fan base by streamlining the books and trading its high-salaried players. During that time, Salomon gained a reputation throughout the NHL as the top players' owner. Photo by Scott C. Dine/St. Under new management, the Blues promptly installed John Davidson as president of hockey operations, moving Pleau to a mostly advisory role. While the Blues contended during this time period, they never passed the second round of the playoffs. 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. On May 21, the Blues advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1970, defeating the San Jose Sharks in a six-game Western Conference Finals series. The bottom of the numbers taper off to give way to the aforementioned stripes. By accident", "Pronger steps aside as captain; MacInnis steps in", "Blues retire Plager's No. His successor, William Stiritz, wanted to refocus on the core pet food business, and his personal sporting interests were in horse racing and not hockey. St. Louis Blues: Directed by Raoul Walsh. The Blues' successes in the late 1960s, however, did not continue into the 1970s. {{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. Especially galling were the frequent blown leads after two periods, and with the worst home record (6133) posted in the entire NHL. In 201415, the Blues won their second Central Division championship in four years and faced the Minnesota Wild in round one of the 2015 playoffs. Early in the morning of trade deadline day, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to a deal. The standard for other teams was 60 players. Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. Weight was again traded in December 2007 to the Anaheim Ducks, along with a minor league player, in exchange for Andy McDonald. Instead, a Return to Play tournament was organized, starting in August 2020. 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 game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. Hitchcock is a finalist for the Jack Adams coaching award and Doug Armstrong is a contender for general manager of the year. In 19992000, the team notched a franchise-record 114 points during the regular season, earning the Presidents' Trophy for the League's best record. On June 3, Ralston announced that it had no interest in running the team anymore. However, they were stunned by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2000 playoffs in seven games. While the Blues had returned to respectability on the ice, they were struggling off it. Maybe eight will be worth the wait. They sought to unload what was then a decrepit facility which had not been well-maintained since the 1940s, and thus pressed the NHL to give the franchise to St. Louis, which had not submitted a formal expansion bid. With his aging father stepping back, Sid Salomon III took a more prominent role in running the franchise and upheaval became the order of the day. Ornest immediately reverted the name of the team's home venue to the St. Louis Arena. post; account; . 27 febrero, 2023 . [36] A second "Reverse Retro" uniform was released in the 202223 season, this time based on the prototype uniforms the team first leaked in 1966 before eventually releasing the more iconic "blue note" uniforms.