[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. The season of 200809 saw the Blues play their last game on KPLR, which had the rights since the 198687 season (except for the 199697 season on CBS affiliate KMOV), electing to move all their games to FS Midwest, starting with the 200910 season. As the team lingered on the shelf, management further demoralized the fan base by streamlining the books and trading its high-salaried players. 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. [7] Emile Francis would call it quits on May 2, leaving for the Hartford Whalers to become president and general manager. He purchased the team and its player contracts for $3 million in cash and $9 million in two notes. [34] A corresponding vintage white version was unveiled for the 2022 NHL Winter Classic. Blues owners. 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. Under Arbour, the Blues essentially matched their 1969-70 regular season performance in their fourth season, and were still the best of the expansion teams; however, it was only good enough for second place in the West as St. Louis finished twenty points behind Chicago. [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. 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. A few weeks later, SCP withdrew and a month later, the Blues announced they had signed an exclusive letter of intent to negotiate with General Sports and Entertainment, LLC. [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. St. Louis Blues owner Tom Stillman is a former lawyer who worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce where he was Chief Counsel for Export Administration. Despite posting the second-best regular-season record in the entire league in 199091, the Blues were upset in the second round of the playoffs to the Minnesota North Stars, a defeat that was symbolic of St. Louis' playoff struggles. The St Louis Blues: A History Of The Hockey Team St. Louis Blues (1958) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. 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. 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? 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. Two-year process yields the most desirable outcome in terms of the city's best interest. 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. 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. Blues Acquire Vrana From the Red Wings During this time, Doug Gilmour, drafted by St. Louis in 1982, emerged as a star. Brandon Saad and Robert Thomas both recorded a goal and an assist, helping the Blues earn a 5-2 win over the Predators at home 04:56 January 19, 2023 ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Saad and Robert. David Backes was also announced as the new team captain. The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues will receive 27-year-old forward Jakub Vrana . 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. Members of the Blues' all-local ownership group include Tom Stillman, Jerald Kent, Donn Lux, James Cooper, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Steve Maritz, Edward Potter, Andrew Taylor, David Steward, Jim. Louis Post-Dispatch, R. Hal Dean, chief executive officer and board chairman of the Ralston Purina Co., gestures as he delivers his state of the company addressSept. 30, 1971, at the annual checker day rally. Minority owner Wolfson and Blues president Emile Francis persuaded Ralston Purina executive R. Hal Dean to invest in the franchise. From 1967 until 1994, the team played in the St. Louis Arena (known as The Checkerdome from 1977 until 1983), where the old St. Louis Eagles played, and which the original owners had to buy as a condition of the 1967 NHL expansion. The Blues took on the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first-round series. The players, used to being treated like mere commodities, felt the only way they could pay him back was to give their best on the ice every night.[6]. However, St. Louis was swept in their first Finals appearance by the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens. Maybe eight will be worth the wait. NHL Board of Governors OKs sale of St. Louis Blues The Blues lost more players as Jay Bouwmeester suffered a season-ending injury, and Jaden Schwartz missed a large portion of the season. [1] The latest STL Blues hockey news, NHL headlines, scores, standings and rosters. While the Blues contended during this time period, they never passed the second round of the playoffs. In March 2011, Checketts announced he was putting the team and the Scottrade Center lease up for sale, projecting a deal would be struck before the 2011-12 season started. Like all NHL teams, the Blues updated their jerseys for the 200708 season with new Rbk Edge jerseys. In addition to players and builders, the team recognizes an affiliation with two broadcasters who were awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame. QR Code Link to This Post. The Salomons might have been the most generous employers in sports history. 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. Initially, the front of the jersey featured the team name above the crest logo, but was removed in 1987. But with former Blues goaltender and nationally renowned broadcaster John Davidson at the point, they turned the worm. The Blues are still looking for their first Stanley Cup. For the 199495 season, the Blues introduced a more radical jersey set, featuring red in a more prominent role. Their regular-season success, however, did not transfer into the playoffs, as they were eliminated by the New York Rangers in the second round 24 after beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round 32. You have permission to edit this article. 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. 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. Hull's 86 goals set the record for most goals in a single season by a right-winger (and the third-most overall at the time). The initial results were not good. After each Home win, the entire St Louis Blues team skates to center ice and in unison, raise their sticks and clap while the goal horn blares, to thank the Blues fans in attendance and watching on TV. Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. St. Louis Blues Music Genre Overview | AllMusic Ornest ran the Blues very cheaply, though the players did not mind. As the Blues faced the Oilers on December 7, 1982; brochures were distributed saying "Saskatchewan in the NHL". 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. Ten players reached at least 20 goals, including Wayne Babych, future Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, and team captain Brian Sutter. The Blues then fired 60 percent of their employees. Their chance of winning the Central Division title, the top seed in the West, and the Presidents' Trophy would all evaporate, after they lost their final six games and wound up in second place in the Division, this time to the Colorado Avalanche. Rivers also fills in on color commentary whenever Pang is on a national TV assignment for the NHL on TNT. Following the disappointing 200506 season, which saw the Blues with the worst record in the NHL, the new management focused on rebuilding the franchise. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). The Blues play in the 19,150 (not counting standing room) capacity Enterprise Center, where they have played since 1994. St. Louis soon began to attract the interest as a potential NHL market, eventually leading the owners of the moribund Ottawa Senators to relocate there for the 1934-35 season. C Dave Checketts D John Danforth L Bill Laurie O Harry Ornest S SLB Acquisition Holdings LLC Hockey-crazy Stillman is the latest to try his luck where so many others have failed. 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. Since the St. Louis Blues were founded in 1967, the team has had a number of owners. An updated version of the blue sweater, produced by Adidas, was brought back in 2019 as their 90s Vintage Jersey.. Tom Stillman becomes the eighth owner in Blues franchise history. Blues ownership group acquires minority stake from previous owners "[42], Starting in 2014, the team introduced a win song in the form of Pitbull's "Don't Stop The Party",[43] but from 2016 to 2018, the win song was "Song 2" by Blur after public backlash against using a Pitbull song. However, as the season was put on pause due to the pandemic, no team would play the full 82 games. At the beginning of the 200607 season, the Blues looked to be competitive in the Central Division. Behind the solid goaltending of Brian Elliott and scoring heroics of Andy McDonald, the Blues defeated the Sharks in five games, advancing to the conference semifinals. Other players like Patrik Berglund, and Alex Steen did not return in time for the season. On October 10, the Blues introduced a new mascot, Louie. After being one of the worst teams a couple of years before, they were one of the best in 1981, as they finished with a then-franchise-best record of 451817 record which translated to 107 points and the second-best record in the league. Like the other five expansion teams, the Blues' roster consisted primarily of castoffs from the Original Six and players who had previously never managed to break out of the minor leagues. In the offseason for the 201718 season, the Blues would lose David Perron to the Vegas Golden Knights via an expansion draft. The Checkerboard Square chief even re-painted the fading Arena and re-dubbed it the Checkerdome. The team started the season by posting a record of 1012 in their first 13 home games. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com Photo by J.B. Forbes, staff photographer. The 2016 offseason saw big changes for the Blues, as team captain David Backes left the team to sign with the Boston Bruins, and goaltender Brian Elliott was traded to the Calgary Flames, while veteran forward Troy Brouwer also signed with Calgary as a free agent. For instance, Ornest asked many players to defer their salaries to help meet operating costs, but the players always got paid in the end. 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. Bill Laurie, a former point guard at Memphis State University, had long desired to buy and move a National Basketball Association (NBA) team to St. Louis (coming close to achieving this in 1999, with an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the then-Vancouver Grizzlies), and it was thought that this desire caused him to neglect the Blues. On February 12, 2020, the Blues suffered another loss as defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suddenly collapsed on the bench in a game against the Anaheim Ducks, and would not come back to play again in the season. He gave his players cars, signed them to deferred contracts and treated them to vacations in Florida. [41] However, during the 2019 playoffs, Laura Branigan's "Gloria" was played first before The Urge song. Movies. He intended to build a $43 million 18,000-seat arena in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in time for the 1983-84 season. List of former Blues players set to return to St. Louis before the end Early in the morning of trade deadline day, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to a deal. They would also pick up Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers by giving away Jori Lehtera. Center David Backes has been named a finalist for the Frank Selke Trophy as the league's top two-way player. Jeremy Boyer, the Blues organist, plays a Glenn Miller arrangement of W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" in its entirety before games and a short version at the end of every period, followed by "When the Saints Go Marching In." Attendance plummeted, from 18,560 a game in 2003-04 to 12,520 in 2006-07. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- St. Louis Blues minority owner David L. Steward was celebrating on the TD Garden ice with his son after the Blues defeated the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of . The Blues simplified their design, with only the blue note logo on the front; there were no third jerseys for the season. In the meantime, the franchise was on the brink of financial collapse. 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. Why A Stanley Cup Would Mean Big Money For St. Louis Blues Owner Tom 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. Fox Sports Midwest color commentator, Darren Pang, exclaimed he "just loved the crowd, they're singing!". The Blues were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, in the following round. The logo used on the Blues' jerseys from 1967 to 1984. Defensively, however, the Blues were less than stellar and saw Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers overtake the Division. In addition to Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn vs. SEA this past Tuesday, . Wal-Mart heir Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband Bill purchased the Blues in 1999. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. A look at the ownership lineage: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Former Blues forward David Perron was brought back on a free agent deal, while defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was named team captain. [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. This led to a Norris Division semi-finals exit against the Chicago Black Hawks. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play. Declining revenue reached a critical stage by the end of the 1976-77 season, and the Blues reduced their management staff to three. Photo by UPI, St. Louis Blues chairman Mike Shanahan at a game in January of 1987, agonizing from the owner's box. post; account; . While there were a number of interested parties, none had enough cash to meet Ralston's asking price. After spending the first half of the 200809 season at or near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, the Blues began to turn things around behind the solid goaltending of Chris Mason. [15] The team later traded veteran defenseman Bryce Salvador to the New Jersey Devils for enforcer, and St. Louis native, Cam Janssen. 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). Louis Post-Dispatch, Ruth and Harry Ornest, holding court during their reign with the St. Louis Blues, on July 12, 1985. #19 St Louis Blues Team Value 1 $880M Calculated December 2022 Owner (s) Tom Stillman Championships 1 Year Purchased 2012 Price Paid $180M Revenue 2 $180M Operating Income 3 $56M Debt/Value 4. After a strong second-half run, the Blues made the 2009 playoffs on April 10, 2009, after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 31. 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. Berenson, who had played previously in Montreal and New York, commented: "In New York or Montreal, all you'd get would be a handshake.".
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