St. Louis Blues: Two Former Blues To Enter Hall Of Fame

With the recent announcement of the 2019 Hall Of Fame Class, the St. Louis Blues will have two former players enter the Hall of Fame.

When I first heard that Guy Carbonneau was entering the hall of fame, I started thinking about players that played for the  St. Louis Blues and were in the Hall of Fame.  I soon realized that 2019 inductee Vaclav Nedomansky also played for the Blues.

With these two newest additions, the St. Louis Blues now have a total of 24 former players in the Hockey Hall of Fame.  These 24 players make the Blues eighth all-time in the NHL for most Hall of Fame players to play for one club.

Listed ahead of the Blues is the Toronto Maple Leafs with 65, Detroit Red Wings with 60, Montreal Canadians with 57, New York Rangers with 57, Boston Bruins with 51, Chicago Blackhawks with 44, and the Ottawa Senators with 30; but only one player since reforming in 1993.

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During the Blues early years, they had four future Hall of Famers on their Stanley Cup Final rosters.

We all know about the tandem in goal; Jacques Plante (1968-70) and Glenn Hall (1967-71).

The two had a combined 7 Stanley Cup Championships. Plante with six and Hall with one.

Not only did the Blues have two Hall of Fame goalies but they had left-winger Dickie Moore on their roster for the 1967-68 season.  They also had defenceman Doug Harvey for the 1968-69 season.

These two had a combined 12 Stanley Cup Championships, six apiece.  After Hall left after the 1971 season, they would not have another Hall of Famer on their roster until the 1976 season.

That season they drafted a young kid by the name of Bernie Ferderko.  Ferderko would go on to play a total of 13 years with the Blues

Although Ferderko never won a Stanley Cup while wearing a Blues sweater, he did finally get to raise the Cup this past season.  Something that has been long deserved, but Bernie is not the only Hall of Famer to play for the Blues and never raise the Cup.

During the 1980s, the Blues had six additional Hall of Famers on their roster.  The great Guy Lapointe played for the Blues from 1981-83.  He had six previous Stanley Cups before joining the Blues.  During Lapointe’s stay with the Blues, they signed an undrafted free agent by the name of Joe Mullen

Mullen went on the be the first American born player to score 500 goals and reach 1000 points in his career.  After a contract dispute that leads to Mullen signing a new one year deal, he was traded to the Calgary Flames during the 1985-86 season.  Mullen went on to win three Stanley Cups in his career.

Two more future Hall of Famers were on the roster with Mullen.  The before mentioned Nedomansky during the 1982-83 season and another player drafted by the Blues.; Doug Gilmour, who played with the Blues from 1983-87.

Before the start of the 1988 season, Gilmour was traded to the Calgary Flames due to involvement in a legal matter.  Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, Gilmour and the Blues felt it best that the trade happen. He went on to win a Cup with the Flames during that season.

The year before Gilmour was traded and the year after, the Blues added two players that may go down as one of the top combos to ever play for St.Louis, possibly even in the entire NHL.  That combo is none other than Brett Hull and Adam Oates.

Oates was acquired from the Red Wings for Ferderko, but once again a contract dispute caused the Blues to trade the future Hall of Famer.  Oates was traded to the Bruins during the 1991-92 season, unfortunately for Oates, he also never raised the Cup.

As for Hull, he didn’t have a contract dispute, but a dispute with then-coach and GM Mike Keenan.  Hull left the Blues after the 1998 season and went on to win the Stanley Cup the following season with the Dallas Stars, and then again with the 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings.

The 1990s, by far, had the most Hall of Fame players pass through St. Louis.  The Blues had one year with Hall of Famer Scott Stevens before he was shipped out of town as compensation for signing another Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan.

Stevens went on to win a total of three Stanley Cups, after leaving St. Louis.  After the 1995 season, Keenan again sent a Hall of Famer out of town.  Shanahan went on to also win three Stanley Cups after leaving the Blues while playing for the Red Wings.

The next three Hall of Famers to pass through St. Louis were Phil Housley 1993-94,  Peter Stastny 1993-95, and Carbonneau 1994-95.  Out of the three, only Carbonneau won the Stanley Cup.  He won the Cup twice before joining the Blues, and once after leaving the Blues.

During the 1995-96 season, the Blues had a total of seven Hall of Fame players on the roster.  The roster included  Hull, Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Gran Fuhr, Al MacInnis, Glenn Anderson, and Chris Pronger.  Those players have a combined 18 Stanley Cups between them.

In my opinion, this was the best chance the Blues had at winning the Stanley Cup, before the 2019 season.  And we all know how that ended.  Fuhr injured, Steve Yzerman crushes our dreams, and Keenan runs the greatest player of all-time, out of town.

During the 2000s the Blues have had two Hall of Fame players on the roster.  Paul Kariya played for the Blues from 2007-10.  Kariya, another Hall of Fame player that has never won the Cup.  Martin Brodeur had a brief cup of coffee with the Blues during the 2014-15 season after winning three Stanley Cups during his career.

It’s amazing to consider all the talent that has come through St. Louis during the Blues history and to think that the team had just accomplished their first Stanley Cup. Hopefully, it will be the first in a long list of championships for years to come.