St Louis Blues History.

St. Louis Blues, professional ice hockey team and one of five teams in the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Blues play at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and wear uniforms of blue, gold, red, and white. The team’s name was chosen by Sid Salomon, Jr., the founding owner, to represent the rich history of blues music in St. Louis.

The Blues joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1967. Led by head coach Scotty Bowman, St. Louis was immediately successful and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in each of its first three seasons. However, the club failed to win a single game in any of the three championship series. Goalies Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall—both future Hockey Hall of Fame members—led the defense, and in 1969 the two shared the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalies. Center Red Berenson was the team’s leading scorer that year.

From 1970 to 1984 St. Louis posted just three winning regular-season records and advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs only four times. In the 1979-80 season, Berenson became the Blues’ coach. The next year he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year after guiding the Blues to a club-record 45 victories and a division title. Goalie Mike Liut made the NHL All-Star team that year and and center Blake Dunlop earned the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy as the league’s most dedicated player. Center Bernie Federko was also one of the team’s prominent players.

Head coach Jacques Demers piloted the Blues to back-to-back winning seasons in 1984-85 and 1985-86. Along with Federko and Liut, the St. Louis lineup starred left wing Brian Sutter. The Blues advanced to the conference finals in 1986, their best postseason showing in 16 years. In 1988 St. Louis named Sutter head coach and acquired right wing Brett Hull from the Calgary Flames. In the 1990-91 season Sutter led the Blues to a club-record 47 regular-season wins, for which he was named the league’s coach of the year. Hull and center Adam Oates paced the team’s offense and were among the NHL’s leading scorers. Through the mid-1990s St. Louis consistently made the playoffs but failed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.