list of st louis blues owners

[33] For the 201819 season, the Blues added a third jersey based on the one worn during the 2017 NHL Winter Classic. In the first round of the playoffs, they faced the Vancouver Canucks, to whom they lost in six games. The moves kept sportswriters busy and fans captivated, and often infuriated opposing executives. During this time, from 1989 to 2000, more games began to be aired on Prime Sports Midwest, the forerunner to today's Bally Sports Midwest. Blues Front Office Ownership Tom Stillman, Jerald Kent, Donn Lux, James Cooper, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Steve Maritz, Edward Potter, Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Taylor, David Steward, James Kavanaugh, John. Despite these losses, the Blues raced out to a 2182 start in their first 31 games. The NHL Board of Governors has approved the sale of the St. Louis Blues to a group headed. St. Louis Blues, official state hockey team", "Allen traded to Canadiens by Blues for draft picks", "2014-2015 NHL Attendance National Hockey League", "Blues unveil new adidas jersey for 2017-18 season", "Blues pay tribute to team heritage with third jersey", "Blues reveal 2022 NHL Winter Classic jersey", "Reverse Retro alternate jerseys for all 31 teams unveiled by NHL, adidas", "NHL Reverse Retro jerseys for all 32 teams unveiled by adidas", "St Louis Blues Community Name the Mascot", "Blues partner with The Urge for new goal song", "Free speech in the 'Home of the Blues,' singing over 'the brave' in national anthem disrespects veterans more than silently kneeling", "Ranking the top goal songs in the NHL - Sportsnet.ca", "Woo-hoo! 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. After losing Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, the team beat the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 at Scottrade Center, securing its first playoff game victory since 2004. After a strong second-half run, the Blues made the 2009 playoffs on April 10, 2009, after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 31. The Blues joined the league in 1967, one of six expansion teams that doubled the size of the NHL from six to 12. They missed the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history. On June 3, Ralston announced that it had no interest in running the team anymore. The Blues play in the 19,150 (not counting standing room) capacity Enterprise Center, where they have played since 1994. Amid several questionable personnel moves and an unstable ownership situation, the Blues finished the 200506 season with their worst record in 27 years. He returned to California with $3.4 million in profit on the sale of the Blues and $8.2 million in profit on the sale of the Arena. The team slipped under .500 the following season and managed just 65 points in 1982-83. In each instance, the Blues were swept in four games, twice by the Montreal Canadiens and lastly by the Boston Bruins. The Enterprise Center was electric and buzzing with excitement with anticipation of the win. Attendance plummeted, from 18,560 a game in 2003-04 to 12,520 in 2006-07. St. Louis has a record of 2-3 in games when bookmakers list them +180 or longer on the moneyline. On March 17, 2011, it was announced that the St. Louis Blues were for sale. Two months later, they traded Doug Weight, a 38-year-old four-time All-Star center, to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a package to acquire 30-year-old center Andy McDonald. The Blues also dealt away Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline for their 1st round pick as they won only 23 games of their remaining 51, but they still had a chance to get into the playoffs on the last day of their season against the Colorado Avalanche. The team did not even participate in the 1983 NHL draft, forfeiting all of its picks. #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. The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey . [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. He went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Stars the next year, scoring a controversial goal on the Buffalo Sabres' Dominik Hasek to clinch the Cup for Dallas. Blues games, many of which were crucial to playoff berths, would often be pre-empted for spring training coverage. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. This list may not reflect recent changes . On June 17, 2005, the Lauries announced that they would sell the team. Overview. [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. 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. In 1986, the team reached the Campbell Conference finals and produced one of its signature moments, a "Monday Night Miracle" comeback victory in Game 6. The arena was previously known as Scottrade Center, the Savvis Center, and before that as the Kiel Center. After his duties as interim coach for the rest of the 200910 season, Davis Payne was named the 23rd head coach in the Blues' history on April 14. After losing Vladimir Tarasenko to injury during the game, the Blues lost to the Avalanche 52 as they missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The Blues lost more players as Jay Bouwmeester suffered a season-ending injury, and Jaden Schwartz missed a large portion of the season. The long-term partnership between KMOX and the Blues had its problems, however, namely during spring when the ever-popular St. Louis Cardinals began their season. Berenson, who had played previously in Montreal and New York, commented: "In New York or Montreal, all you'd get would be a handshake.". Hi I have 4 tickets to the blues game tonight vs the San Jose sharks. 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 remaining staff included the accounting department, scouting staff, and coach Barclay Plager. General manager Ron Caron made astute moves, landing forwards Brett Hull, Adam Oates and Brendan Shanahan, defenseman Al MacInnis and goaltender Curtis Joseph, among others. 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." 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. However, the NHL Board of Governors rejected the deal by a 153 vote on May 18, feeling that Saskatoon was not big enough or financially stable enough to support an NHL team.[8][9]. In the midst of it, in 1999, the Clark Enterprises consortium of 19 St. Louis companies that owned the franchise sold it to Bill Laurie and his wife, Nancy, daughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Sam Walton. They would also pick up Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers by giving away Jori Lehtera. This article is about the ice hockey team. In the end, when the legal dodgeball and financial haggling between the league and Ralston Purina settled, when the budget squeezing and penny-pinching was complete, Ornest came out the big winner. The Blues jumped to a 31 series lead, but struggled in games 5 and 6. [41], At the end of the national anthem before every home game, the words "the home of the brave" are drowned out by fans with "the home of the Blues. On April 12, the Blues clinched the sixth seed in the West with a 10 win against the Colorado Avalanche. In the 1999-2000 season, Quenneville's club won 51 games and collected 114 points, capturing the first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history. 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]. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. Trending. * current Blues player David Backes was also announced as the new team captain. 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. The Blues have worn blue and white jerseys with the famous "Blue Note" crest and gold accents since their inception in 1967. 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. All that hardware notwithstanding, hopes for a Stanley Cup run turned to stunning disappointment. Former Blues forward David Perron was brought back on a free agent deal, while defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was named team captain. [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. In 201213, the Blues completed the lockout-shortened season in fourth place in the Western Conference. In fact, they made it to the conference finals only two times in their streak (1986 and 2001). {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, 4 killed, 4 critically injured in crash at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue, Parents push back on allegations against St. Louis transgender center. The jersey introduced the short-lived trumpet logo on the shoulders and featured thin diagonal stripes on the tail and sleeves. In the meantime, the franchise was on the brink of financial collapse. 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. Only Wayne Gretzky found the net more than Hull during any given three-year period. [36] A second "Reverse Retro" uniform was released in the 202223 season, this time based on the prototype uniforms the team first leaked in 1966 before eventually releasing the more iconic "blue note" uniforms. However, they would continue their strong play even despite being plagued with various other injuries, consistently remaining at or near the top of the Western Conference. 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. Goaltending anchors Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante retired, Berenson was traded and "Sid III" began changing coaches and general managers like it was a court order. Lynn Patrick initially served as general manager and head coach. The Blues took on the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first-round series. Chris Kerber and Joe Vitale are the current radio broadcast team. He asked many players to defer contracts to help meet operating costs and through much of Ornest's tenure, the team operated with a small office staff. Photo by Scott C. Dine/St. The deferred contracts came due just as the Blues' performance began to slip. They would finish second in the Western Conference, behind the Vancouver Canucks. 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. Guided by young coach Joel Quenneville, built on the backline presence of MacInnis and Chris Pronger who came in the Shanahan deal the Blues embarked on one of their most rewarding periods. The son of legendary Bobby Hull, the "Golden Brett" became the face of the franchise, with his magical name and sublime scoring touch. Im baffled., Suspect charged in fatal shooting in downtown St. Louis, Former Sweetie Pies TV star Tim Norman gets two life sentences in nephews death, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol slams ump C.B. [22] This resurgence included an eleven-game winning streak between February and March, in large part thanks to the emergence of the eventual Calder Trophy nominee, rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. 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. Originally, the St. Louis Blues aired their games on KPLR-TV and KMOX radio, with team patron Gus Kyle calling games alongside St Louis broadcasting legend Jack Buck. While they kept the Reebok Edge-era template, they brought back the 19982007 look. 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. san jose sharks vs . When the period of exclusivity expired without a deal, SCP jumped back into the picture. 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. This led to a Norris Division semi-finals exit against the Chicago Black Hawks. The Blues missed the playoffs during the first four full seasons of new ownership. The team started the season by posting a record of 1012 in their first 13 home games. Doug Wickenheiser's overtime goal in Game 6 to cap a furious comeback remains one of the greatest moments in team history (known locally as the "Monday Night Miracle"), but the Blues lost Game 7, 21. Tom Stillman becomes the eighth owner in Blues franchise history. St. Louis businessman Tom Stillman and his band of investment brothers will announce today they have closed a deal to purchase the Blues. He saw the Blues as just another money-bleeding division, and put the team on the market. Although perennial postseason contenders for most of their history, the franchise frequently struggled in the playoffs, including consecutive Stanley Cup Finals defeats at the end of their first three seasons. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). 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. But things began to turn around as Francis drafted players like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull. Fox Sports Midwest color commentator, Darren Pang, exclaimed he "just loved the crowd, they're singing!". 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. [31], For the 201415 season, the Blues made a few tweaks to their jerseys. Ornest had made plans to buy the team as early as March, but built up his efforts in late June to have enough money. On February 9, 2019, another tradition was born. However, St. Louis was swept in their first Finals appearance by the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens. Weight was again traded in December 2007 to the Anaheim Ducks, along with a minor league player, in exchange for Andy McDonald. As the team lingered on the shelf, management further demoralized the fan base by streamlining the books and trading its high-salaried players. The Blues got off to a slow start in their initial season. The game against Anaheim was suspended during the first period and postponed to March 11. On December 27, 2005, it was announced that the Blues had signed a letter of intent to exclusively negotiate with General Sports and Entertainment, LLC. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the six teams from the 1967 NHL expansion and is named after the W. C. Handy song "Saint Louis Blues". The Blues have a tradition of live organ music. But a competing carnival owner hatches a scheme to put an end to the show before it begins. Attendance had gone from a peak of 18,601 a game in 1972-73 to 10,130. 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. Just before the 2007 NHL trade deadline, the Blues traded several key players, including Bill Guerin, Keith Tkachuk and Dennis Wideman, in exchange for draft picks, though they re-signed Tkachuk after the season ended. [15] The team later traded veteran defenseman Bryce Salvador to the New Jersey Devils for enforcer, and St. Louis native, Cam Janssen. The Blues simplified their design, with only the blue note logo on the front; there were no third jerseys for the season. 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. st louis blues traditions. "[50][51] And it did take them to the Stanley Cup. 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. Quenneville was fired during the 2003-04 season and like so many prominent Blues alumni before him Hull, Shanahan, Stevens, Pronger he went on to win a Cup elsewhere. In 2001, the Blues advanced to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out in five games to the eventual champions, the Colorado Avalanche. He was introduced on October 10, 2007. October 1, 2019. After an ice plant was installed, the minor league St. Louis Flyers began play there in 1929. St. Louis Blues - (NHL) Enterprise Center - Operations only, the City of St. Louis is the owner Stifel Theatre - Majority Owner Former assets [ edit] Peoria Rivermen - (AHL) Shareholders [ edit] [3] Majority Owner [ edit] Thomas H. Stillman - Chairman of the Board & CEO, Summit Distributing. Before the 199798 season, the Blues introduced a new alternate white jersey. The seats are in section 106 row cc seats 1-4. 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). [27] The bill was signed into law by Mike Parson, the Governor of Missouri, with the revised statute becoming effective August 29, 2019. In addition, the contrasting shoulder yoke was removed. 5 to the rafters", "Blues retire Pronger's number on 'very special' night in St. Louis", "Perfect setting: Gretzky's number retired before All-Star Game", "Brian Elliott, Blues Stats National Hockey League.com Players", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St._Louis_Blues&oldid=1141928547, Most points in a season: Brett Hull, 131 (199091), Lowest GAA in a season (min 30 GP): Brian Elliott, 1.56 (201112), Best SV% in a season (min 30 GP): Brian Elliott, .940 (201112), This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 16:20. [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. The next few seasons became like a broken record. 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. St. Louis Blues: Directed by Raoul Walsh. He is the former owner of the St. Louis Bluesand is the co-chairman of Paige Sports Entertainment. 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. 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. He also purchased the Checkerdome from Ralston Purina for $5 million, then raised $3 million in operating expenses. [25] This all but assured that Berube would have the "interim" tag removed from his title, which occurred two weeks after their Cup victory. Dean was the key figure in Ralston Purina's takeover of the St. Louis Blues after the 1976-77 season. 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. On February 8, 2008, it was announced that, after going much of the season without a captain, defenseman Eric Brewer was chosen as the team's 19th captain. A look at the ownership lineage: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. However, they were swept in the Stanley Cup Finals by the Montreal Canadiens in 1969 and then by the Boston Bruins in 1970. Bill Laurieis an American former basketball player and coach, and current business executive and philanthropist. 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? The logo used on the Blues' jerseys from 1967 to 1984. The Keenan coup wound up being a catastrophe. The jersey brought back the contrasting shoulder yoke and returned to the lighter blue of previous eras. Dean retired and his successor, William Stiritz, had no interest in continuing the involvement in hockey. He was replaced by assistant coach Scotty Bowman, who thereafter led the team to a winning record for the rest of the season. [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. However, despite the music stopping, the loyal Blues fans in attendance continued to sing loudly. Most NHL teams during the mid-1980s had over 60 players under contract. During the 2012 playoffs, they won their first playoff series since 2002, eliminating the San Jose Sharks in five games. None of the previous owners has brought a Stanley Cup championship to St. Louis. St. Louis Blues (1958) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Things got worse after Keenan orchestrated a bold trade to acquire Wayne Gretzky late in the 1995-96 season. That was the highlight of the Ornest years; the bottom fell out soon after. 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. It operated for over 10 years, from 1994 to 2005, when its owner decided not to resume the magazine after the 200405 NHL lockout (one final oversized "goodbye" issue was distributed the first two home games of the 200506 season).