The mainstream appeal moved a conglomerate of corporate leaders to buy out Shanahan and build the Kiel Center (now the Scottrade Center), opening the downtown doors in 1994. On March 17, 2011, it was announced that the St. Louis Blues were for sale. Ultimately, it was the Blues who prevailed by winning in seven games each over the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars to reach the 1968 Stanley Cup Finals. 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. 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. 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. 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]. Hockey-crazy Stillman is the latest to try his luck where so many others have failed. Other players like Patrik Berglund, and Alex Steen did not return in time for the season. However, they only won three games on the road during the first two months of the season. The logo used on the Blues' jerseys from 1967 to 1984. 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. As the team lingered on the shelf, management further demoralized the fan base by streamlining the books and trading its high-salaried players. 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. By 1986, the team reached the Campbell Conference Finals against the Flames. Movies. Rivers also fills in on color commentary whenever Pang is on a national TV assignment for the NHL on TNT. 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. Minority Owners [ edit] These are the top-ten point-scorers, goal scorers, and assist leaders in franchise regular-season history. 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. 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. [44] Beginning in 2018, the win song has been the aforementioned song recorded by The Urge. 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. It then took control of the franchise and began searching for a new owner. [1] 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. Ten players reached at least 20 goals, including Wayne Babych, future Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, and team captain Brian Sutter. The moves kept. Last chance! Reluctant to give up on the St. Louis market, the NHL blocked the sale. 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. In late September, 2005, the Lauries signed an agreement to sell the team to SCP Worldwide, a consulting and investment group led by Dave Checketts, former president of New York's Madison Square Garden. [55] Dan Kelly, the Blues' radio play-by-play announcer, was awarded the first Blues broadcaster to receive the award in 1989. List Of St Louis Blues Owners. Sid Salomon III convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. The song has since been retired; the last time they played it was during the raising of the Stanley Cup Championship banner ceremony on October 2, 2019. 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. He also purchased the Checkerdome from Ralston Purina for $5 million, then raised $3 million in operating expenses. [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 June 13, 2016, it was announced that Mike Yeo would replace Hitchcock as head coach of the Blues following the 201617 season. Gretzky, whose wife is a native St. Louisan, personally approved the trade and was prepared to finish his illustrious career with the Blues. Jeff Gordon writes: Controlling the Blues is a great honor for diehard fan Tom Stillman. The Blues missed the playoffs during the first four full seasons of new ownership. 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. They waited for an authorization by 75% of the NHL Board of Governors for the sale and transfer of the club. Following their playoff exit, Ralston authorized the deal to Hunter's renamed company Coliseum Holdings, Ltd. for $12 million on April 21. He had 70 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, including 1990-91 when he scored 86 and the team finished with 105 points. Ornest ran the Blues very cheaply, though the players did not mind. But things began to turn around as Francis drafted players like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull. List of former Blues players set to return to St. Louis before the end of the season . Category:St. Louis Blues owners Pages in category "St. Louis Blues owners" The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total. [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. 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 . Nonetheless, the team remained competitive for the next three years, despite never advancing beyond the second round. In 1981, Dean retired. [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. The uniforms, which had the team name written around the primitive "blue note" logo along with contrasting stripes, had a gold base.[37]. 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. The Blues announced plans for a navy third jersey featuring a new logo, with the Gateway Arch with the Blue Note superimposed over it inside a circle with the words "St. Louis" above and "Blues" below. As general manager and coach, Keenan traded away the popular Brendan Shanahan, tested patience with other curious transactions and cultivated a toxic relationship with Hull. Mike Keenan was hired as both general manager and coach before the abbreviated 199495 season, with the hope that he could end the postseason turmoil that Blues fans had endured for years. [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. 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. Looking at losses of more than $10 million over six seasons, the pet food giant put the Blues up for sale and in January 1983, announced it had a buyer in Saskatoon-based Batoni-Hunter Enterprises, Ltd. Batoni's president, Bill Hunter, said his group was ready to break ground on a $43 million building, which could be ready for the Saskatoon Blues in time for the 1983-84 season. The game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. Ralston renamed the arena the "Checkerdome." Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. Incensed, Ralston Purina sued the NHL, padlocked the Checkerdome and abandoned the franchise, leaving a mess for the league to sort out. "[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. Hi I have 4 tickets to the blues game tonight vs the San Jose sharks. After two awful years, including what is still a franchise-worst 185012 record with 48 points in 1979, the Blues made the playoffs the following year, the first of 25 consecutive postseason appearances. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play. Figures are updated after each completed NHL season. 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. Ten days before the deadline NHL President John Ziegler set for dissolving the franchise, Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Harry Ornest stepped up with the only formal bid. This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Blues. The Blues, who have never won the Cup, are marginally profitable during the. On July 27, 1983, ten days before the deadline, the NHL approved a bid from businessman Harry Ornest and a group of St. Louis-based investors for the team and the arena. 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. Wal-Mart heir Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband Bill purchased the Blues in 1999. On January 12, 1983, Batoni-Hunter Enterprises Ltd., led by WHA and Edmonton Oilers founder Bill Hunter, tendered an offer to buy the team. John Davidson, received the award in 2009 for his contributions in television broadcasting. 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. The Blues joined the league in 1967, one of six expansion teams that doubled the size of the NHL from six to 12. A new company who had purchased KXOK won the bid for a three-year contract and Kelly moved over from KMOX to do the games on KXOK. In addition, the contrasting shoulder yoke was removed. MLS in July 2020 pushed the expansion schedule back by a year for both St. Louis and the Charlotte, North Carolina, team that began play last year, saying the Covid-19 pandemic had led to delays . Caron was reinstated as interim general manager for the rest of the season, and general manager Larry Pleau was hired on June 9, 1997. It has been called the "Fan Salute" by some. The son of legendary Bobby Hull, the "Golden Brett" became the face of the franchise, with his magical name and sublime scoring touch. 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? san jose sharks vs . The team started the season by posting a record of 1012 in their first 13 home games. Dan Kelly continued to broadcast the games on radio but was diagnosed in the summer of 1988 with lung cancer and died on February 10, 1989. 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]. At one point, the Salomons cut the team's staff down to three employees. KXOK backed out of the contract after just 2 years, and the Blues immediately went back to KMOX, who held the rights until 2000. (Jeremy Rutherford photo / Post-Dispatch) Jeremy P. Rutherford , Tom . Berenson, who had played previously in Montreal and New York, commented: "In New York or Montreal, all you'd get would be a handshake.". 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. A corresponding blue jersey was introduced the following season, thus retiring the previous set. 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. Maybe eight will be worth the wait. The team did not even participate in the 1983 NHL draft, forfeiting all of its picks. Veteran player Al Arbour hastily stepped in to coach the team. Photo by Scott C. Dine/St. On June 17, 2005, the Lauries announced that they would sell the team. Blues current owner Tom Stillman (left) and Carol Salomon, the former wife of original owner Sid Salomon III. 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. Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. 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. League president John Ziegler said they would try to keep the team in St. Louis. Follow Jeremy P. Rutherford Blues Jump Blues/Piano Blues St. Louis Blues. 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. St. Louis kept chugging along through the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Blues jumped to a 31 series lead, but struggled in games 5 and 6. Soon after, Ornest sold the Blues to a group led by Michael Shanahan, head of Engineered Support Systems Inc. I really respect the fact that he puts the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the few. Following further contraction, the league stabilized at six teams after 1942. He made his debut two days later, wearing number 55 against the Phoenix Coyotes. After an early-season coaching change brought Ken Hitchcock aboard, the Blues broke through this season with 109 points, two points removed from the best record in the NHL.
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