St. Louis Blues: Top 10 Moves We Wish Were April Fools’ Jokes

4 of 11

NOV 14 1981, NOV 15 1981 Ice Hockey – Colorado Rockies (Action) #17 Rocky Paul Gagne gives #60 Alie Mike Liut a hard time but Liut Puts a stop to the Puck #17 Blues Ed Kea 1 Period. Blues goalie Mike Lut smothers puck despite efforts of Rockies, Paul Gagne as Ed Kea (17) skates in to assist Liut. Credit: Denver Post (Denver Post via Getty Images) /

8. Mike Liut

On February 21 1985 the Blues got Mark Johnson and Greg Millen from Hartford. To pick up those two, they had to trade away Mike Liut.

To that point, Liut was the Blues’ most popular goaltender since Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante. Liut had the team record for shutouts for nearly 30 years.

Millen was a decent goaltender, but he wasn’t a suitable replacement. Millen averaged about 3.4 goals against with the Blues and ended his tenure with the Blues two games under .500.

The addition of Johnson made sense at the time. Johnson still had the shine of being a member of the Miracle on Ice team. He was also coming off an 87 point season with the Whalers.

Unfortunately, Johnson only had 47 points with Hartford prior to the deal and only scored 10 with the Blues. He left for the New Jersey Devils in the summer and had a fairly productive career following that.

So, the Blues got a rental player and an addition to their laundry list of goaltenders that were just OK. When you give up on a goaltender that had been quite productive during his time in St. Louis, that’s not the return you want. While Liut did not do much with Hartford or Washington afterward, Millen was not an upgrade.

Chalk another one up to the Blues messing it up and plenty of people wondering what might have happened if they stood pat.

Home/All-Time Lists