St. Louis Blues Mt. Puckmore Lacks Key Names/Local Perspective

The St. Louis Blues rarely get recognized by national broadcasters or writers. It should be something of note when they do and often times it is, but not usually for the right reasons.

As fans of the St. Louis Blues, we have all come to varying degrees of terms with the fact that national media rarely get much right regarding out teams. Either they completely overlook the Blues or manage to mess something up.

The most prominent example of this right now is NBC commentator Pierre McGuire consistently mispronouncing Alex Pietrangelo‘s name. Despite being a regular on the Canadian national team and having McGuire cover several years worth of playoff matchups, ol’ Regis (look it up on Wiki) insists on calling him “Petra-angelo”.

That makes you want to stick hot pokers in your ears, but eventually we either drown it out or just turn the volume down. Other incidents that rankle Blues faithful are media members that never really mention St. Louis as a contender, no matter how good we have been, or those that only highlight certain things without any real perspective.

Such is the case with ESPN’s recent look at the Mt. Puckmore’s of each Central Division team. The fact this is from ESPN should tell you all you need to know given their treatment of the NHL in recent years, but I digress.

The author, Greg Wyshynski, sets up solid rules for all the teams and even uses the Blues as an example. He states that although giants of the game have played for various teams, such as Wayne Gretzky and Martin Brodeur, they do not count. A solid start.

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

At first glance, there does not appear to be anything wrong with his choices for the Blues either. His list consists of Brett Hull, Bernie Federko, Bob Plager and Al MacInnis. What’s not to like about that? Most of us couldn’t argue against those names.

However, it’s the reasoning behind certain names, the names that just missed the cut and the absence of certain names that touch the nerve.

Just missing the cut are Brian Sutter, Curtis Joseph, Gary Unger, Keith Tkachuk, Vladimir Tarasenko and Barret Jackman. That’s right folks. Apparently Jackman is suddenly considered one of the greatest Blues of all time.

I always hate taking these positions, because I was never on the Jackman-hate bandwagon the way that so many were. However, just because he played 13 seasons with the Blues does not automatically make him among the greats. I would argue that Sutter had a bigger impact and not just because of his offensive numbers.

Also, shockingly absent from this list, given that Jackman is included is Chris Pronger. Pronger played nine incredibly impactful years with the Blues and scored more points in those years than Jackman even sniffed in his entire Blues career. Pronger was not seen as an offensive powerhouse either.

Pronger won the Hart Trophy and the Norris Trophy in the same season, a feat which has not been accomplished since. After a less than stellar debut in St. Louis, he was always in the top-10 for Norris votes.

Sure, he played for many more teams than Jackman, but he’s likely more remembered in St. Louis than anywhere else. You could make a case for Anaheim, but it will be interesting to see if the Hall of Famer makes their Mt. Puckmore list since it has not been released quite yet.

To me, this boils down to a lack of knowledge about the area. Wyshynski did his research and reached out to fans about some, but for all he gave to the Blues, there is simply no way you can hold Jackman in higher regard than one of the team’s best defenders of all time.

Another thing that irritates is the lack of perspective in our own circles. I plead guilty to this at times, mainly because we value what we have seen versus what we have read about or only heard stories of.

That said, fans voted Tkachuk as the biggest omission from the main list, ahead of Sutter and Gary Unger. I love “Walt” as much as anyone, but if I’m forming a team, I’m going to take Unger first.

Tkachuk was one of the best power forwards of his day, but the comparison just is not there for me. He was a great player and usually averaged a point per game over the course of his career (only a few dry years at the end prevented that from holding true throughout).

There is the age-old argument of playing in different eras and different styles, but they played the same amount with the Blues. Unger had almost 292 goals compared to 208 for Tkachuk. You can’t go wrong with either name on your squad, but I think that’s another case of the current generation valuing more current players.

You see it all the time in other sports. People say this player or that is greater than the one that played a generation or more before. We forget how great Jordan or Montana or Chamberlain or Howe really were because we either did not see it or were too young to appreciate it.

I get these lists are just to get people talking – mission accomplished, clearly. I also get that there is not much of a case to be made against any of the names on the actual monument.

It is simply a matter of perspective, or lack thereof. Some players gave their heart and soul to this franchise, but that does not make them one of the greatest. Others were great and get forgotten for odd reasons. I suppose we’ll just agree to disagree.

In the matter of stirring the pot, though, here is our own monument choices from about a year back.  Enjoy.