St. Louis Blues All-Decade Teams: 1960’s

The St. Louis Blues had some all-time greats, but sometimes it gets too hard to pick just one team. So, let’s look at the best from each decade, starting with the beginning.

The St. Louis Blues did not have much time to establish themselves in the 1960’s. They were not an official team in the NHL until 1967, when they dropped the puck on their very first game.

Despite this short window, they made an early mark on the game and the city. Ask any who were there, and even some who were not there, and they will tell you about the greatness in those early teams.

The early St. Louis Blues were mainly players the other teams thought were too old or expendable. Whether today’s fans like it or not, that early group had a lot in common with the Vegas Golden Knights.

The NHL was quite different back then too. You had entire teams that were comprised of what many consider all-star caliber players since this was before the NHL exploded to 32 teams (Seattle is coming, just face it).

Even so, there were those that rose above the rest. With that in mind, let’s look at the all-decade team for the 1960’s

Line 1

Gary Sabourin, Red Berenson, Tim Ecclestone
Barclay Plager, Al Arbour

Line 2

Phil Goyette, Gerry Melnyk, Jimmy Roberts
Noel Picard, Bob Plager

Goalies

Glenn Hall, Jacques Plante

OK, so I cheated with this team since there probably won’t be two lines worth in some of the other decades. We will see.

More from All-Time Lists

• Flashback Friday: Blues Stage Biggest 3rd Period Comeback in NHL History vs Leafs
• St. Louis Blues Top 10 Players of the 2010 Decade
• St. Louis Blues All-Time Best All-Star Team Players
• St. Louis Blues: Who Wore It Best, Jersey Number 10
• St. Louis Blues: Who Wore It Best, Jersey Number 12

So, for those of you that like to yell at the screen and slam keyboards, take my line one as the main team of the decade for the 60’s.

You would think it was easy to pick this team, but there were not enough years played in the 60’s to separate some of the younger players from the already established veterans. That is why someone like Tim Ecclestone makes it onto the top line.

Ecclestone did not wow with the Blues, but he played well on a team that was not as offensive as some might think. Also, he played for the Blues for all those years. There were guys that were on the team that had better individual years but might have only been around for one year.

It’s hard to argue against Red Berenson and Gary Sabourin on the top line though. They were regularly in the top five Blues scorers in the 60’s.

There are also some that might have complaint with not pairing the Plagers on the top lines. While they are St. Louis royalty, there is not really a good argument to put them over guys Al Arbour.

Arbour is a Hall of Fame player and played a style not conducive to scoring points. He was also the team captain.  Barclay Plager managed to score a lot of points as a defenseman when that was not the style and even Bob said he was the better pure player.

Phil Goyette let the team in scoring in 1969-70, but the reason he got left off was longevity. He had one fantastic year, but then got claimed in the expansion draft by Buffalo.

The same is true of Gerry Melnyk. He had one good season in St. Louis in the team’s first year. However, despite his 50 points, he can’t go to the top line since other players did more for longer.

The goalies were simple. You only had two to really speak of in the 60’s and they were two of the best of all time.

The second defensive pair was pretty easy as well. You’re not going to leave someone like Bob Plager off and Noel Picard was one of the team’s best in that time as well. They both played a more defensive style, but Picard’s best offensive years were with St. Louis.

So, who are your picks for this decade? Did we leave any out? Let us know.