If you enjoy the NHL, you are probably familiar with the St. Louis Blues. One of the expansion teams to the NHL.
The NHL is popular among hockey fans and bettors who are enthusiastic about the NHL odds. While the NHL is not as popular as the NFL or NBA, it is still a very US sport and has a very big fanbase.
The St.Louis Blues have not been doing so well lately, coming in the bottom half of the Western Conference, central division in the 2022-2023 season, but could hope to be on the horizon.
Let’s talk about the Blues, their history, and who they are, for those who want some insight on what to expect from this team as we consider the 2023-2024 season!
Who Are The St.Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a pro ice hockey team that is based in St. Louis. They are in the Central Division of the Western NHL Conference.
Founded in 1967 as a part of the NHL's expansion, they won a Stanley Cup in 2019 and have the most playoff appearances at the Stanley Cup aside from the Original Six, despite their poorer performance in more recent years.
Although they have also been more perennial postseason performers for a majority of their history, they have often struggled in the playoffs, even during their consecutive Stanley Cup Finals defeats in their primary 3 seasons.
St. Louis Hockey Pre-1967
While St. Louis was not originally a hockey-ideal location, it did meet the standards of the NHL and therefore, the Flyers moved in in 1929, and this began peaking interest. Eventually, St. Louis began becoming a place of interest in the NHL.
Later on, the NHL managed to stabilize 6 teams, and the St. Louis Arena was under the control of those who owned the Chicago Black Hawks, but they only placed minor league affiliates there.
Expansion
The Blues ended up being added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion of the league, as well as the North Stars, the Penguins, Flyers, Seals, and Kings. The first owners of the team were insurance tycoons. Upon acquiring the franchise they spent millions on renovating the arena, expanding it by 3,000 seats.
Stanley Cup Finals
Under the new playoff format as was developed due to the expansion, the new leadership in the franchise was more than enough to help the Blues to qualify for the playoffs in their inaugural season.
While they finished 3rd, they were seen as being somewhat evenly matched with their other qualifiers, since only 4 points departed the 1st place and 4th placing teams. That being said, it was still the Blues who prevailed in winning 7 games, each gaining the North Stars and Flyers to get to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Blues dominated the Western Conference for 2 seasons after this, ending up as the only team from the expansion that was able to put together a winning record. Around this time if you were betting on NHL, then you can guarantee that the Blues would've been a fair bet.
70's & 80's
The Blue’s success before started to dwindle, and the 70s and 80s were a sour time for them, as they suffered near-relocation and financial problems. However, they also gained a playoff streak this time, so it was not all so bad!
They faced many upsets, including an upset by the North Stars in 6 games, in the 1969-1970 season. However, in the early 70s, the franchise was close to financial collapse, which was mostly due to the pressures of the WHA.
At one point the Salomans who were in control of the franchise cut the staff for the team down to only 3 employees!
Yet, after the Blues were one of the worst teams for a great part of the '70s, in 1981, they were one of the best by 1981, when they finished with the best record the franchise had seen at 45-18-17, which was 107 points and the 2nd best in the whole league!
Around 10 of their players reached 20 goals, they had strong goaltending as well, and they got rewarded when their head coach won the Jack Adams Award.
Sadly, though, their success in the regular season was just that, only in the regular season, as they were eliminated pretty quickly by the Rangers in the 2nd round of the playoffs 2-4.
Although they were more respectable on the ice at this point they struggled off of it. Things continued to get worse from there, and while they saw some success in the 90's they saw no significant improvement until 2011 and onwards, when they finally started gaining more points and getting playoff berths.
Their seasons vastly improved, and finally, they saw a Stanley Cup Championship in the 2018-2019 season.
Overall
While the Blues have been pretty decent performers on and off throughout the years, they have struggled to get beyond the divisional playoffs on many occasions. With only 1 conference championship and 1 Stanley Cup. But, who knows, maybe that will change soon!
