St. Louis Blues All-Decade Teams: The 1990’s

By Todd Panula |

2000 Season: Wayne Gretzky with Brett Hull and Al MacInnis And Player Blues Gretzky. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Blues sure had fun in the 1990’s. They went through everything from jersey changes to player changes to ownership changes. Only the talent on the ice matched those crazy times.

The 1990’s were probably the most eventful decade without anything big truly happening, in terms of on-ice results, in St. Louis Blues history. It had intrigue, drama, colorful characters, Hall of Fame players and more, but nothing to show for it.

The Blues of the 1960’s dominated their fellow expansion teams, only to be taken to school by the old school teams. The ones in the 70’s had great players, but never managed much.

The teams in the 1980’s at least had that one run to the conference finals, even if the decade was not great overall. In the 90’s it was just different.

The 1990’s had some of, if not the best players to ever wear the Note and yet they could never climb the mountain top. Whether it was meddling GM’s or disgruntled superstars, something always got in the way in the 90’s.

Nevertheless, it was the decade that made me into the fan I am today. I was aware of hockey in the 80’s, but no more so than a child playing with a plastic golf club and an empty can of Bubble Tape while his brother watched the game. It was the 90’s that formed my love of this team.

With that in mind, I fully admit some bias. Each person has their favorites and it usually has to do with when they became a fan.

Nevertheless, the 90’s formed a team that would be capable of taking on anyone.

Line 1

Brendan Shanahan, Pierre Turgeon, Brett Hull
Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis

Line 2

Geoff Courtnall, Adam Oates, Pavol Demitra
Jeff Brown, Garth Butcher

Goalies

Grant Fuhr, Curtis Joseph

Starting off up the middle, it was hard not to form a line with Adam Oates and Brett Hull again, with Brendan Shanahan forming an unstoppable trio. However, putting merit into it while in a Blues uniform, Turgeon did more overall.

None of that is really Oates’ fault. However, he was only in St. Louis for two and a half seasons. Turgeon was with the Blues for parts of five seasons. Oates had a better point per game production value, but there has to be something said for scoring more goals and points with the team overall, even if it is because of longevity. Regardless, you’ve got a pretty good center who managed over 350 points with the team.

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The top line wingers just had no doubt. Brett Hull is the best and may always be the best to ever wear the Note. There have been better overall players in the league, but Hull might have been the best pure scorer we are ever likely to see.

Combine him with Shanahan and you’re unstoppable – as long as you have the team behind them. Shanny managed over 150 goals with the Blues, which is better than half the number it took him nine years to score in Detroit. Sure, 300 goals is impressive, but he scored more in a shorter amount of time in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, Shanahan and Oates were taken from us by off-ice issues. Oates demanded a bigger contract and threatened to walk out. Shanahan got involved with a teammate’s wife. Both are acts worthy of dismissal, but in hindsight the team could have used them as players even if we do not agree with them as human beings.

Switching back to happier topics, I had originally not planned on including Geoff Courtnall or Pavol Demitra. However, looking back, it is hard not to.

Courtnall was just such a big game player, even in the middle of the season. He was much like Brayden Schenn showed us in 2017-18. He was never thought of as the star, but did everything you asked of him whether it was a fight or scoring a goal or sticking up for teammates.

Courtnall’s career was winding down anyway, due to age, but injury ended it. Still, when healthy, he was scoring anywhere from 40-60 points with the Blues. His loss really affected the team’s overall presence.

Demitra is always the forgotten one. While he was here, we almost never appreciated him. He was always compared to Hull, as every scorer has been since, and that’s not fair. What we missed was a really good player. He scored three goals in eight game in his first trial and then got 52 points in his next season. Demitra ended up with 493 points and over 200 goals in 494 games with the Blues and that’s pretty good.

Defensively, the Blues were never superb throughout their top-six. They still had some greats.

You know you had some good defensemen in the 90’s when Jeff Brown is forced onto your second line. Brown was a rare combination of offensive ability and a no-nonsense attitude. He’d score you goals and plant someone in the boards too.

Garth Butcher is just synonymous with the 90’s. In reality, he was only with the Blues a few years, but it felt like he had always been there. Plus, his name is Garth. The only drawback to Butcher was he was included in the worst trade the Blues ever made, which sent a young Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning and others away. We love you Butchy, but I think I’d rather have had the best years of Courtnall and Ronning.

The top defenders, there is just no comparison. Pronger was just coming into his own in the 90’s and still dealing with the stigma of being the guy that we traded Shanahan for. Even so, he ended up being one of the best players the team had in those years after his acquisition.

Al MacInnis is just Al MacInnis. He wouldn’t strike fear in forwards like Scott Stevens, but he scared the pants off them in other ways. Goaltenders, defensemen and forwards alike winced in pain the moment MacInnis wound up for that lethal slap shot. If it hit them, they were going to be seeing the trainer. If it didn’t, it likely scored. He was so good, he was second on the team in scoring with 61 points in 1995-96.

Lastly, goaltending is such a subjective position when it comes to fans. The present day war between Blues factions is evidence of that.

However, it’s hard to argue against Grant Fuhr and Curtis Joseph being two of the best the team has ever seen – especially in the regular season. Fuhr set a record for the most games played when he played in 73 games for the Blues in 1996-97. If not for Nick Kypreos, it might have been the Blues playing for a Cup in 1995-96. We’ll never know.

Though the stats were not kind to CuJo in the days with the Blues, he was still one of the most athletic goalies the team has ever had. If his playoff record were better and there was not a stigma of failure there, he would be up near the top of the team’s all-time best. He is near the top anyway, but there would be more people willing to put him at the top of that list.

In the end, the Blues were just outdone by themselves in the 90’s. They had so much talent at various points. You could make an All-Star team out of players that were only briefly here. Wayne Gretzky, Esa Tikkanen, Steve Duchesne, Craig Janney and Nelson Emerson.

They either did not have the mix right at the right time, were outdone by ill-timed trades by mad GM’s *coughKeenanCaroncough* or simply ran into buzzsaws like Detroit. The 90’s are probably the biggest example of what if’s in team history, though the early 2000’s might count too.

Next. Blues All-Decade Teams: 1980's. dark

Still, it was a fun decade filled with lots of Oh Baby’s.

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