St. Louis Blues
About the St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues were founded in 1967 as part of the NHL expansion that doubled the league from six teams to 12.
The franchise takes its name from W.C. Handy's famous 1914 song “Saint Louis Blues,” reflecting the city's deep connection to blues music.
Success came unusually quickly. The Blues reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three NHL seasons, although it would take more than half a century for the franchise to finally lift the Stanley Cup.
Division History
When the Blues entered the NHL in 1967, they were placed in the newly created West Division alongside the league's other five expansion franchises.
League realignment in 1974 moved St. Louis into the Smythe Division. Another reorganization in 1981 placed the Blues in the Norris Division of the Campbell Conference.
When the NHL introduced geographic conference and division names in 1993, St. Louis became a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference.
The Blues have remained in the Central Division since then, with one exception. During the shortened 2020-21 season, the NHL temporarily reorganized its divisions and St. Louis competed in the West Division.
Championship History
The Blues reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three seasons in the NHL.
St. Louis advanced to the championship series during its inaugural 1967-68 season but was swept by the Montreal Canadiens. The Blues returned to the Final the following year and again lost to Montreal in four games.
A third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance came in 1970, when St. Louis faced the Boston Bruins. Boston swept the series in four games.
Nearly five decades passed before the Blues returned to the Stanley Cup Final.
The 2018-19 season became the greatest in franchise history. St. Louis sat last in the overall NHL standings on the morning of January 3, 2019, before producing a remarkable second-half turnaround.
The Blues defeated the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks during the playoffs to reach the Stanley Cup Final against Boston.
The series went seven games, with St. Louis winning the deciding game 4-1 at TD Garden to capture the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. Ryan O'Reilly received the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, while rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington made 32 saves in Game 7.
The championship ended a 51-season wait for the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
St. Louis has won 10 division championships. The Blues captured the Central Division in 2019-20, one season after winning the Stanley Cup. The franchise also won the Presidents' Trophy in 1999-2000 after finishing with the NHL's best regular-season record.
Home of the Blues
The Blues play their home games at Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis.
The franchise originally played at St. Louis Arena, where the Blues hosted their first NHL game in October 1967. The building remained the team's home through the 1993-94 season.
St. Louis moved into a new downtown arena in 1994. The building originally opened as Kiel Center and later became Savvis Center and Scottrade Center.
The arena adopted the Enterprise Center name in 2018 as part of a long-term naming-rights agreement.
Enterprise Center hosted the Blues throughout their 2019 championship season, although the team clinched the Stanley Cup on the road in Boston.
Notable Blues
Bernie Federko remains the leading scorer in Blues history.
Federko spent 13 seasons with St. Louis and recorded 352 goals, 721 assists and 1,073 points in 927 regular-season games.
He remains the franchise leader in games played, assists and points. Federko was also the first player in NHL history to record at least 50 assists in 10 consecutive seasons.
His No. 24 was retired by the Blues in 1991, and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.
Brett Hull became the greatest goal scorer in franchise history after joining St. Louis in a trade with the Calgary Flames in 1988.
Hull scored 527 goals and recorded 936 points during his 11 seasons with the Blues. His 527 goals remain the franchise record.
His greatest season came in 1990-91, when Hull scored 86 goals and won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP. He also won the Ted Lindsay Award as the outstanding player selected by his peers.
Hull's No. 16 was retired by the Blues in 2006, and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.
Chris Pronger became one of the NHL's dominant defensemen during his years in St. Louis.
Pronger joined the Blues in 1995 and produced his greatest individual season in 1999-2000. He won both the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman while helping St. Louis capture the Presidents' Trophy.
Alex Pietrangelo became the captain of the first Stanley Cup-winning team in Blues history.
The defenseman spent 12 seasons with St. Louis and served as captain from 2016 through 2020. During the 2019 championship run, Pietrangelo played a central role at both ends of the ice and scored what proved to be the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game 7 against Boston.
Ryan O'Reilly was another defining player of the 2019 championship team.
Acquired before the 2018-19 season, O'Reilly recorded a franchise-record 23 points during the playoffs and scored in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games. He received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason.
Jordan Binnington provided the goaltending behind the Blues' historic championship run.
The rookie took over as a regular starter midway through the 2018-19 season and helped transform St. Louis from the bottom of the NHL standings into Stanley Cup champions. Binnington won 16 games during the postseason, setting an NHL record at the time for playoff victories by a rookie goaltender.
Other prominent players in Blues history include Glenn Hall, Red Berenson, Garry Unger, Brian Sutter, Al MacInnis, Keith Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra, David Backes, Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko and Colton Parayko.