By accident", "Pronger steps aside as captain; MacInnis steps in", "Blues retire Plager's No. The Blues would underachieve greatly the following year as they posted a 32408, but they beat the Winnipeg Jets 31 in the Norris Division Semi-Finals before dropping to the Chicago Black Hawks in the Norris Division 24. He gave his players cars, signed them to deferred contracts and treated them to vacations in Florida. 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. Despite these losses, the Blues raced out to a 2182 start in their first 31 games. The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey . 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 elder Salomon was not enthralled with the idea of owning a hockey team initially, but his son persuaded him to take the plunge. Management vowed to build through the draft and implored fans to bank on the future of prospects like T.J. Oshie, David Perron and Patrik Berglund. [58] Gretzky had previously played for the Blues in 1996, although the Blues did not retire his number prior to its league-wide retirement. 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]. The son of legendary Bobby Hull, the "Golden Brett" became the face of the franchise, with his magical name and sublime scoring touch. However, after the period of exclusivity, SCP entered the picture again. The team slipped under .500 the following season and managed just 65 points in 1982-83. tickets - by owner. 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. St. Louis Blues (1958) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The following season, 201314, the team hit the 100-point mark for the sixth time in franchise history, and gained a franchise record of 52 wins. 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. [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. [46] All of these traditions carried over to the Kiel Center (now known as Enterprise Center) in 1994. Figures are updated after each completed NHL season. 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. Nonetheless, the team remained competitive for the next three years, despite never advancing beyond the second round. 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. Phil Goyette won the Lady Byng Trophy for the Blues in 1970 and New York Rangers castoff Red Berenson became the expansion team's first major star at center. With silver-jacketed organist Norm Kramer pumping out "When the Blues Go Marching In," hockey became a happening in St. Louis. Louie is the mascot of the St. Louis Blues. "[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. Two-year process yields the most desirable outcome in terms of the city's best interest. The logo used on the Blues' jerseys from 1987 to 1998. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play. 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. 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. The next few seasons became like a broken record. 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 jumped to a 31 series lead, but struggled in games 5 and 6. One of them was Emile Francis, who served as team president, general manager and head coach. The Blues averaged more than 41 wins but could not get though the conference playoffs. The Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the . 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. Category:St. Louis Blues owners Pages in category "St. Louis Blues owners" The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total. Sid Salomon III convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. This division was particularly weak, and in 197677, the Blues won it while finishing five games below .500, though this would be their last playoff appearance in the decade. st louis blues - $75 (Saint Louis) wednesday 2023-03-01. number available: 4 venue: enterprise center. Overview. The arrangement made the Blues the only major sports team in North America to be owned by a private equity firm. [11] The Board of Governors rejected the offer and "terminated" the team on June 13, one day before Ralston's supposed deadline. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. But the roller coaster started to descend in the mid-1970s. Menu. Among the first things Ornest did during his three-year tenure was change the name of the building back to the "Arena." The Blues were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, in the following round. . Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. This list may not reflect recent changes . 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. [55] The seven individuals recognized as builders by the Hall of Fame includes former Blues executives, general managers, head coaches, and owners. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com Photo by J.B. Forbes, staff photographer. The NHL Board of Governors has approved the sale of the St. Louis Blues to a group headed. But things began to turn around as Francis drafted players like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull. 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 Blues had remained in strong form throughout the season, finishing first in the Western Conference and second in the NHL. [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. 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. St. Louis businessman Tom Stillman and his band of investment brothers will announce today they have closed a deal to purchase the Blues. The Blues lost Bowman, who left during the 197071 season following a power-sharing dispute with Sid Salomon III (who was taking an increasing role in team affairs),[6] as well as Hall, Plante, Goyette and ultimately Berenson, who were all lost to retirement or trade. Minority Owners [ edit] The team did not even participate in the 1983 NHL draft, forfeiting all of its picks. Follow Jeremy P. Rutherford Albums. These are the top-ten point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise regular-season history. The original owners were successful insurance executive Sid Salomon Jr., his son Sid Salomon III and Robert Wolfson. The mistake was that play resumed before the chorus was over and the music had to stop. In fact, several of the Blues' young stars, such as Rob Ramage, Joe Mullen and Gilmour, were main cogs in the Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup win. 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. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game. Like all NHL teams, the Blues updated their jerseys for the 200708 season with new Rbk Edge jerseys. 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. In 1978-79, the Blues won 18 of 80 games, or just one more than the NFL's 1972 Miami Dophins. Hull, nicknamed the "Golden Brett" (a reference to his father, NHL legend Bobby Hull, who was nicknamed the "Golden Jet"), became one of the League's top stars and a scoring sensation, netting 86 goals in 199091 en route to earning the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player. These are the top-ten-point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise playoff history. None of the previous owners has brought a Stanley Cup championship to St. Louis. Before the season began, the Blues were hit hard with injuries as they lost Robby Fabbri before the season began. 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. The team started the season by posting a record of 1012 in their first 13 home games. St. Louis kept chugging along through the late 1980s and early 1990s. 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 September 2, 2020, the Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen, who had spent ten years in the Blues organization, to the Montreal Canadiens.[29]. However, he resigned as head coach in late November after recording a 4132 record. 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." 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. The Blues will receive 27-year-old forward Jakub Vrana . 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. Blues owners. For the first time in five years (that is, since the lockout), the Blues were in the playoffs. Ten players reached at least 20 goals, including Wayne Babych, future Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, and team captain Brian Sutter. On October 2, 2007, the Blues finalized the season-starting roster, which included rookies David Perron, Steven Wagner and Erik Johnson. Jake Allen was now the starting goaltender for the Blues, while the team also signed former Nashville Predators backup Carter Hutton. 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. New owners take over Blues BY TOM TIMMERMANN May 10, 2012 0 NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (left) introduces new St. Louis Blues majority owner Tom Stillman during a press conference on. Hull, who had a lengthy feud with Keenan, left for the Dallas Stars in 1998. The latest STL Blues hockey news, NHL headlines, scores, standings and rosters. 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. Steve Ott also left the team, signing a free-agent deal with the Red Wings. Dean was the key figure in Ralston Purina's takeover of the St. Louis Blues after the 1976-77 season. 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. When Red Berenson scored six goals in a game on Nov. 7, 1968, ownership presented the outdoor enthusiast with a new station wagon, a canoe attached to the top and a Browning 20-gauge shotgun inside. [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. You have permission to edit this article. The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Checkerboard Square chief even re-painted the fading Arena and re-dubbed it the Checkerdome. Following the 198081 season, the television broadcasts moved from KDNL to NBC affiliate KSD-TV for the 198182 season, produced by Sports Network Incorporated (SNI), owned and operated by Greg Maracek who did the broadcasts with Channel 5 sportscaster Ron Jacober. For the full season-by-season history, see List of St. Louis Blues seasons, Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against. 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. The Blues are still looking for their first Stanley Cup. List of former Blues players set to return to St. Louis before the end of the season . A few months later, in December 1996, both Keenan and executive Jack Quinn were fired. He saw the Blues as just another money-bleeding division, and put the team on the market. They would get rewarded as head coach Red Berenson won the Jack Adams Award, Mike Liut finished a close second to Wayne Gretzky in the Hart Trophy voting, and earned the top spot on the NHL All-Star team, Larry Patey finished third in the Frank J. Selke Trophy voting, and Blake Dunlop won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Because they were not required to participate in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, they did not send a representative, which led the Blues to forfeit their picks. As part of the expansion, the NHL had agreed to put all of the expansion teams in the new Western Division, an arrangement which was intended to ensure all of the new teams all had an equal chance of reaching the playoffs. The Black Hawks owners felt they could establish a "lovable loser" (much like the Cubs) with the St. Louis hockey team. All that hardware notwithstanding, hopes for a Stanley Cup run turned to stunning disappointment. The Blues took on the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first-round 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 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." Inductees affiliated with the Blues include 24 former players (six of whom earned their credentials primarily with the Blues) and seven builders of the sport.