However, in an ironic twist the Cards purchased a controlling interest in KTRS in 2005, and once again preferred to air preseason baseball over regular-season hockey. For instance, Ornest asked many players to defer their salaries to help meet operating costs, but the players always got paid in the end. Following further contraction, the league stabilized at six teams after 1942. The Checkerboard Square chief even re-painted the fading Arena and re-dubbed it the Checkerdome. The navy blue third jersey was kept without any alterations, before it was retired prior the 201617 season. 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 original owners were successful insurance executive Sid Salomon Jr., his son Sid Salomon III and Robert Wolfson. According to Sutter, they wanted to stay in St. Louis because it reminded them of the rural Canadian towns where many of them grew up. Defensively, however, the Blues were less than stellar and saw Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers overtake the Division. 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. [21] On March 29, 2019, the Blues became the seventh team in NHL since the 196768 season to qualify for the playoffs after being placed last after January 1. The former New York Rangers goaltender promptly made multiple blockbuster deals, picking up Jay McKee, Bill Guerin and Manny Legace from free agency, and bringing Doug Weight back to St. Louis after a brief (and productive) stopover in Carolina. 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". The game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. They treated the players to all-expenses-paid Florida vacations when seasons ended and bought them gold wristwatches for scoring hat tricks, etc. During most of Ornest's tenure, the Blues had only 26 players under contract23 in St. Louis, plus three on their farm team, the Montana Magic. Sidney Salomon (right) and his son, Sid, express jubilation after the group of nine individuals they head from St. Louis were awarded a conditional franchise from the National Hockey League on April 5, 1966. Bucknor for rejecting handshake: Zero class, Man shot and killed after fight in downtown St. Louis, Fate of St. Louis Fox Theatre still undecided, Liberty High student killed in St. Charles shooting could heal you with a smile, Brothers who did everything together, fashionista among victims in fatal St. Louis crash, St. Louis prosecutors staff down by nearly half as caseloads jump. "[40] On October 1, 2018, it was reported that, for the upcoming season, a new goal song recorded by St. Louis-based band The Urge, "The Blues Have The Urge," would be played after Blues goals, immediately following the traditional organ music. 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. 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. In the offseason for the 201718 season, the Blues would lose David Perron to the Vegas Golden Knights via an expansion draft. Blues owners. Among the first things Ornest did during his three-year tenure was change the name of the building back to the "Arena." To this day, in terms of contention, the Salomon group remains the most successful of the Blues owners. [12] To date, this is the closest that an NHL team has come to folding since the Cleveland Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars after the 197778 season. Caron was reinstated as interim general manager for the rest of the season, and general manager Larry Pleau was hired on June 9, 1997. However, they only won three games on the road during the first two months of the season. Ultimately, Keenan's playoff resume with St. Louis included a first-round exit in 1995 and a second-round exit in 1996, and he was fired on December 19, 1996. Although perennial postseason contenders for most of their history, the franchise frequently struggled in the playoffs, including consecutive Stanley Cup Finals defeats at the end of their first three seasons. Blues current owner Tom Stillman (left) and Carol Salomon, the former wife of original owner Sid Salomon III. The seats are in section 106 row cc seats 1-4. Doug Wickenheiser's overtime goal in Game 6 to cap a furious comeback remains one of the greatest moments in team history (known locally as the "Monday Night Miracle"), but the Blues lost Game 7, 21. Early in the morning of trade deadline day, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to a deal. When the period of exclusivity expired without a deal, SCP jumped back into the picture. 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]. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play. After his duties as interim coach for the rest of the 200910 season, Davis Payne was named the 23rd head coach in the Blues' history on April 14. [45], The Blues were one of the last teams to add a goal horn, doing so during the 199293 season at the St. Louis Arena. Attendance had gone from a peak of 18,601 a game in 1972-73 to 10,130. Albums. 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 third-longest streak in North American professional sports history (all three of which being held by NHL teams). However, they were stunned by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2000 playoffs in seven games. tickets - by owner. They moved on to the next round, where they defeated the Dallas Stars in another seven-game series to advance to their first Western Conference Finals since 2001. They were again eliminated by Los Angeles, however, this time in six games in the first round of the playoffs, despite taking an initial 20 series lead. He had 70 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, including 1990-91 when he scored 86 and the team finished with 105 points. "Our new ownership group is 100 percent local, and we are 100 percent committed to the Blues and to St. Louis." Stillman asked for support from fans, local businesses and the rest of the community. 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. The team did not even participate in the 1983 NHL draft, forfeiting all of its picks. He purchased the team and its player contracts for $3 million in cash and $9 million in two notes. St. Louis has a record of 2-3 in games when bookmakers list them +180 or longer on the moneyline. The slump haunted them, as they blew a 20 series lead to the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, losing the first-round series in six games. You have permission to edit this article. The Cardinals moved back to KMOX in the 2011 season, with conflicting games moved to KYKY, an FM station owned by the same group as KMOX. The Black Hawks owners felt they could establish a "lovable loser" (much like the Cubs) with the St. Louis hockey team. Bill Laurieis an American former basketball player and coach, and current business executive and philanthropist. The logo used on the Blues' jerseys from 1967 to 1984. Jeff Gordon writes: Controlling the Blues is a great honor for diehard fan Tom Stillman. Two-year process yields the most desirable outcome in terms of the city's best interest. 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. 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. 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. During this period, the NHL rebuffed attempts at further expansion. While there were a number of interested parties, none had enough cash to meet Ralston's asking price. Things got worse after Keenan orchestrated a bold trade to acquire Wayne Gretzky late in the 1995-96 season. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. 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. Despite a healthy 24-point jump from the previous season, the strain of playing in a conference where seven teams finished with more than 100 points kept them out of the playoffs for the second year in a row. On September 2, 2020, the Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen, who had spent ten years in the Blues organization, to the Montreal Canadiens.[29]. "We've given them the extreme honor, so it's. During that time, Salomon gained a reputation throughout the NHL as the top players' owner. Pronger, Doug Weight and Mike Sillinger were all sent packing. David Backes was also announced as the new team captain. 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 California Seals. [34] A corresponding vintage white version was unveiled for the 2022 NHL Winter Classic. Veteran player Al Arbour hastily stepped in to coach the team. John Davidson, received the award in 2009 for his contributions in television broadcasting. [48] The longest-running fan publication, Game Night Revue, was created by a group of fans in the mold of the Chicago Blackhawks' Blue Line Magazine. On March 17, 2012, the Blues became the first team to reach 100 points and clinch a playoff berth in the 201112 season under Hitchcock, qualifying for their first playoffs since 200809. Ralston then filed a $60 million anti-trust lawsuit in U.S. District Court, claiming that the NHL broke federal antitrust laws and breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing by voting to reject the sale and transfer of the Blues to Hunter's group. 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. It was loud enough, TV cameras picked up the song loud and clear. [27] The bill was signed into law by Mike Parson, the Governor of Missouri, with the revised statute becoming effective August 29, 2019. He intended to build a $43 million 18,000-seat arena in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in time for the 1983-84 season. [24] Up until that point, the Blues were the oldest franchise to never win the Stanley Cup; they were also the last of the five surviving 1967 expansion teams to win the Cup for the first time. post; account; . The Blues lost more players as Jay Bouwmeester suffered a season-ending injury, and Jaden Schwartz missed a large portion of the season. [23] On June 12, 2019, the Blues defeated the Bruins 41 in Game 7 to win their first Stanley Cup. Arbour, who officially retired as a player after the 197071 season, would remain behind the Blues' bench for the next two seasons. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. But the renaissance was short-lived. 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. But a competing carnival owner hatches a scheme to put an end to the show before it begins. [10] Ralston called the counter-suit "ridiculous" and gave the NHL an ultimatum: if the NHL would not accept Hunter's offer by June 14, Ralston would dissolve the team and sell its players and assets to other teams. Aside from Stillman, the ownership group includes Jerald Kent, Donn Lux, James Cooper, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Steve Maritz, Edward Potter, Andrew Taylor, David Steward, Jim Kavanaugh, John Danforth,. 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. (Jeremy Rutherford photo / Post-Dispatch) Jeremy P. Rutherford , Tom . The team finished last in the division and disbanded after one season. The Blues were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, in the following round. They also had strong goaltending led by Mike Liut. Trending. [13] Despite operating on a shoestring, the Blues remained competitive even though they never finished more than six games over .500 in Ornest's three years as 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. Under Bowman, the Blues dominated the West for the next two seasons, becoming the only expansion team to compile a winning record, and they captured division titles by wide margins each year. Ornest ran the Blues very cheaply, though the players did not mind. Blues Jump Blues/Piano Blues St. Louis Blues. For the 199495 season, the Blues introduced a more radical jersey set, featuring red in a more prominent role. The Berenson trade did bring then-Detroit Red Wings star center Garry Unger, who ultimately scored 30 goals in eight consecutive seasons while breaking the NHL's consecutive games played record. Hull, who had a lengthy feud with Keenan, left for the Dallas Stars in 1998. Dean was the key figure in Ralston Purina's takeover of the St. Louis Blues after the 1976-77 season. [5] Upon acquiring the franchise in 1966, Salomon then spent several million dollars on extensive renovations for the 38-year-old arena, expanding it from 12,000 seats to 15,000. He gave his players cars, signed them to deferred contracts and treated them to vacations in Florida. Dean retired and his successor, William Stiritz, had no interest in continuing the involvement in hockey. 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. 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. [33] For the 201819 season, the Blues added a third jersey based on the one worn during the 2017 NHL Winter Classic. The broadcasts failed to produce a profit and then returned to KPLR for the 1982 NHL playoffs and the 198283 season before returning to KDNL (currently St. Louis' ABC affiliate) for the 198384 season, the first under the ownership of Harry Ornest. But from late December through January the Blues lost only twice in 16 games and grabbed a foothold. 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.
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