On June 3, Ralston announced that it had no interest in running the team anymore. But the roller coaster started to descend in the mid-1970s. The arrangement made the Blues the only major sports team in North America to be owned by a private equity firm. She runs into the skipper of a showboat who befriends her, and they make plans to put together a musical revue. However, they were stunned by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2000 playoffs in seven games. Blues owners - STLtoday.com That included Federko, Gassoff, Hull, MacInnis, Bob and Barclay Plager, Pronger and Sutter, along with Kelly, the Blues' legendary broadcaster. The arena quickly became one of the loudest buildings in the NHL, a reputation it maintained throughout its tenure as the Blues' home. 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. The Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the . 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. san jose sharks vs . st louis blues - tickets - by owner - event sale Follow Jeremy P. Rutherford You have permission to edit this article. As the team lingered on the shelf, management further demoralized the fan base by streamlining the books and trading its high-salaried players. The St. Louis Blues are one of the more successful NHL teams in terms of attendance. The St Louis Blues: A History Of The Hockey Team 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. Dean was the key figure in Ralston Purina's takeover of the St. Louis Blues after the 1976-77 season. He was replaced by assistant coach Scotty Bowman, who thereafter led the team to a winning record for the rest of the season. In addition, the contrasting shoulder yoke was removed. As the Blues faced the Oilers on December 7, 1982; brochures were distributed saying "Saskatchewan in the NHL". 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. 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. [31], For the 201415 season, the Blues made a few tweaks to their jerseys. The Blues joined the league in 1967, one of six expansion teams that doubled the size of the NHL from six to 12. Before the season began, the Blues were hit hard with injuries as they lost Robby Fabbri before the season began. Angry at having to play "second fiddle", the Blues elected to leave for KTRS in 2000. Blues games, many of which were crucial to playoff berths, would often be pre-empted for spring training coverage. However, Dean took the losses philosophically, having taken over out of a sense of civic responsibility. St. Louis has a record of 2-3 in games when bookmakers list them +180 or longer on the moneyline. Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. 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". Louie is the mascot of the St. Louis Blues. The current logo (shown in the infobox), is similar, but with the slightly darker shade of blue used since 1984. Ornest ran the Blues very cheaply, though the players did not mind. However, they were swept in the Stanley Cup Finals by the Montreal Canadiens in 1969 and then by the Boston Bruins in 1970. They treated the players to all-expenses-paid Florida vacations when seasons ended and bought them gold wristwatches for scoring hat tricks, etc. During this period, the NHL rebuffed attempts at further expansion. They would finish second in the Western Conference, behind the Vancouver Canucks. Boyer also plays the latter song on the organ after Blues goals, with fans replacing the word "Saints" with "Blues. [30] In 201011, the team sold out every home game. After a strong second-half run, the Blues made the 2009 playoffs on April 10, 2009, after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 31. 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. With the Blues' victory in their fourth Stanley Cup Finals, 49 years after their last appearance and in their 52nd year of existence, they became the final active team from the 1967 expansion to win their first Stanley Cup. After his death, Ron Jacober (who had left Channel 5 to be KXOK's sports director in 1985 then left for KMOX in 1987) was hired as the radio play-by-play announcer for the remainder of the season, and John Kelly succeeded in that position. [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. QR Code Link to This Post. Following their playoff exit, Ralston authorized the deal to Hunter's renamed company Coliseum Holdings, Ltd. for $12 million on April 21. For instance, Ornest asked many players to defer their salaries to help meet operating costs, but the players always got paid in the end. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com Photo by J.B. Forbes, staff photographer. They faced the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round, but despite the team's tremendous run to end the season, the Blues would ultimately lose the series in a quick four-game sweep. 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. 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 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. This list may not reflect recent changes . The NHL Board of Governors has approved the sale of the St. Louis Blues to a group headed. Veteran player Al Arbour hastily stepped in to coach the team. [20] On November 19, 2018, the Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo after starting the season with a 793 record and replaced him with Craig Berube on an interim basis. However, the station was never financially competitive in the market. 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. 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. Blues Chairman Tom Stillman confirmed . [13] After that season, Ornest sold the team to a group led by St. Louis businessman Michael Shanahan. The navy blue third jersey was kept without any alterations, before it was retired prior the 201617 season. He had 70 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, including 1990-91 when he scored 86 and the team finished with 105 points. The Blues kept 26 players under contract, 23 of them in St. Louis. However, St. Louis was swept in their first Finals appearance by the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens. Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. Most NHL teams during the mid-1980s had over 60 players under contract. Tom Stillman takes over as new, local Blues owner - St. Louis Business But with Ron Caron as the general manager and Jacques Demers as the coach, with Federko and Sutter as the foundation, the Blues were competitive. 0. Arbour, who officially retired as a player after the 197071 season, would remain behind the Blues' bench for the next two seasons. 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 slump haunted them, as they blew a 20 series lead to the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, losing the first-round series in six games. 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. 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." 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. He was introduced on October 10, 2007. New owners take over Blues - STLtoday.com The St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history later that season. 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. He also purchased the Checkerdome from Ralston Purina for $5 million, then raised $3 million in operating expenses. The emotional win two days earlier notwitstanding, the Blues lost Game 7 of the playoffs in Calgary, falling short of the Cup finals. Minority Owners [ edit] 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. st louis blues traditions - legal-innovation.com They also had strong goaltending led by Mike Liut. This third jersey was unveiled on September 21, 2008, and debuted during a Blues' home game against the Anaheim Ducks on November 21, 2008. 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. This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Blues. [34] A corresponding vintage white version was unveiled for the 2022 NHL Winter Classic. Ralston Purina lost an estimated $1.8 million a year during its six-year ownership of the Blues. The Blues jumped to a 31 series lead, but struggled in games 5 and 6. 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. The initial results were not good. They missed the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history. Initially, the front of the jersey featured the team name above the crest logo, but was removed in 1987. 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 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. Ten players reached at least 20 goals, including Wayne Babych, future Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, and team captain Brian Sutter. St. Louis Blues Music Genre Overview | AllMusic Years later, Sutter argued that had the Blues made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, they would have likely beaten the Canadiens, having won two out of three games against the Habs in the regular season. In 2001, the Blues advanced to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out in five games to the eventual champions, the Colorado Avalanche. Blues Acquire Vrana From the Red Wings Pronger, Doug Weight and Mike Sillinger were all sent packing. 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. However, he resigned as head coach in late November after recording a 4132 record. Declining revenue reached a critical stage by the end of the 1976-77 season, and the Blues reduced their management staff to three. He intended to build a $43 million 18,000-seat arena in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in time for the 1983-84 season. The Blues season would come to an end at the hands of the San Jose Sharks, who eliminated them in six games. 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. [28], In the 201920 season, the Blues suffered an early blow as forward Vladimir Tarasenko suffered a season-ending injury on October 24. However, they only won three games on the road during the first two months of the season. St. Louis Blues Owners Archives - The Hockey Writers Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. At one point, the Salomons cut the team's staff down to three employees. It has an urban feeling, with little of the rural atmosphere that distinguishes country-blues. The team's first owners were insurance tycoon Sid Salomon Jr., his son, Sid Salomon III, and Robert L. Wolfson, who were granted the franchise in 1966. But things began to turn around as Francis drafted players like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull. Additionally, fans complained they could not hear the station at night (it had to readjust its coverage due to a glut of clear channels on adjacent frequencies). 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. St. Louis CITY SC owner Carolyn Kindle says bumpy road helped in prep In 1981, Dean retired. "[50][51] And it did take them to the Stanley Cup.