St. Louis Blues is an ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis was founded in 1967 and joined NHL in six team expansion during the same year. The name of the team was derived from W.C. Handy’s song “St. Louis Blues”. The team is known for their early success in NHL. However, they have won only one Stanley Cup, which happened in 2019 after a long journey in the league.

Basic information

The team colours of St. Louis Blues are royal blue, gold, navy blue and white. The current General manager of the Blues is Doug Armstrong and the head coach is former NHL tough guy Craig Berube, who led the team to the first Stanley Cup. Blues has two minor league affiliate teams, which are Springfield Thunderbirds in AHL league and Tulsa Oilers in ECHL league. Their current home arena since 1994 is Enterprise Center, which has a capacity of 18 000 seats for ice hockey matches.

Short history

St. Blues had good start in NHL – after some hiccups in early season of 1967-68 Scotty Bowman took over and he led Blues to three consecutive Stanley Cup finals. However, the fans had to wait for the first Stanley Cup for something like 50 years. Blues had very little success during the 1970’s and the financial troubles almost resulted the relocation of Blues franchise in early 1980’s.

During the next twenty years or so Blues was frequent contributor in post-season hockey – actually their play-off berth of 25 years is one of the longest in NHL. In 2000’s the team and the whole club needed rebuilding and it took several years before the new era of success could begin. The pinnacle of St. Louis Blues happened in 2018-19, when team finally made it to the Stanley Cup finals and won the title after seven games.

Brett Hull – excellent sniper

Brett Hull, current vice president of St. Louis Blues, wasn’t necessarily the best skater, but he surely is one of the best snipers in the game. The way Hull made him available for a pass is some kind of art. The two-time Stanley Cup winner and eight-time All star player was in the winning team of Canada in the 1996 World Cup. Hull played 11 seasons in Blues between 1988-98.

Chris Pronger – former captain

Chris Pronger, Canadian defenceman, is currently working for Florida Panthers organization. Pronger started his NHL career in Hartford Whalers but played nine seasons in Blues and was also a team captain. This big and skilled Hart Memorial Trophy winner finally won Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. His NHL career consists of 1167 regular season games.

Vladimir Tarasenko – a future legend

Vladimir Tarasenko has played all of his NHL career games in the Blues. Being a great goal scorer, his input was extremely valuable during the championship season of 2018-19. But Tarasenko is also a good playmaker and he certainly has a good hockey IQ. Tarasenko is one of the future legends of the game.

Also worth mentioning

Brendan Shanahan made his mark during the three seasons he spent with the Blues, as well as Adam Oates. Curtis Joseph was a reliable goalkeeper for several seasons. Over 50 years of history makes so many legends.