St. Louis Blues: NHL Decade Lists Unsurprisingly Blah

The St. Louis Blues had plenty of great moments during the decade of the 2010’s. The NHL went with the usual suspects instead when choosing their best of the decade though.

The 2010’s was one of the best decades in St. Louis Blues history. There were four seasons above 100 points.

It could have been five seasons if there was not a labor dispute. The Blues had 60 points in 48 games in 2012-13, which would have translated to over 100 points for that year.

St. Louis has had over 90 points for six consecutive seasons. That will be seven if the team keeps up their current pace in 2019-20.

The Blues removed a coach from their post twice and went on to close to record seasons. After letting Davis Payne go in 2011-12, Ken Hitchcock’s Blues went on to a 109 point season and a trip to the conference semifinals.
Hitchcock would later lead the team to their first Western Conference Final in 15 years.

The Blues fired Mike Yeo in 2018-19. We all know what the team did under Craig Berube‘s leadership, which was going worst to first and winning the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup.

Admitting all bias, it was still a magical run that included tons of special moments. Think about Jaden Schwartz‘ huge game against the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues scored three unanswered goals in the third period of Game 6 of that series, with the third being Schwartz’ soul crushing goal just 15 seconds from the end of regulation.

What about Pat Maroon sticking the knife in the hearts of Dallas Stars fans with his series clinching overtime goal in Game 7 of that series?

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Carl Gunnarsson scored in overtime of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. That gave the Blues their first ever franchise win in a Cup Final, with the team having been swept their previous three chances in the late 1960’s and early 70’s.

Of course, we could go on and on. But then again, we are all Blues fans here so we see things through a certain prism.

Even with that in mind, the choices for things like Save of the Decade, Moment of the Decade, Event of the Decade etc. are just so stereotypical of what everyone would assume the league would pick that it is disappointing. None of them feature teams from smaller markets or non-historic franchises.

The Save of the Decade was already discussed in another article. I feel Jordan Binnington‘s save was better and in a bigger moment than Brayden Holby’s, but it involved the Washington Capitals, an east coast team, so they get the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s a list of the others from NHL.com:

Coach of the Decade: Joel Quennevile

OK, it’s hard to argue this one. Coach Q recorded 452 wins with the Chicago Blackhawks, the vast majority which came in the decade and also took them to three Stanley Cup wins. There’s no case for anyone else really

Franchise of the Decade: Chicago Blackhawks

Even as a Blues fan, it is hard to argue this one. It might be hard to stomach, but they won three titles. Pittsburgh won back-to-back, which might be just as hard, but three is still more than two. Los Angeles won two and Boston went to three finals, but lost twice. Hard to argue against the Hawks, try as we’d like to.

Playoff Series of the Decade: 2014 Western Conference Final, Los Angeles Kings vs. Chicago Blackhawks

This one I don’t get. Maybe it is the Blues fan in me that did not care if the bottom fell out of the arena with these two teams playing, but it just did not seem all that great. Sure, Game 7 went to OT and Game 5 to double-OT, but some of the other games were not close. There was a three-goal win and a four-goal win in there. It doesn’t seem all that important or fantastic in the grand scheme of things.

Game of the Decade: 2013 Eastern Conference First Round, Game 7, Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Again, a shrug from me. I’m not saying this game was bad, in fact it was quite exciting. It went to overtime and had a final of 5-4. However, this was a choke job by Toronto just as much, if not more than a comeback from Boston. The Maple Leafs were up 4-1 with 10 minutes left in the game and still up two goals with two minutes left. If the same game happened but did not feature Boston or Toronto, it would not have received the same love in my opinion.

Event of the Decade: 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium

Meh. All credit to setting a new attendance record, and the game was pretty decent. However, I hate shootouts and think they’re a joke, as is three-on-three overtime, and I think this would have been a sellout no matter who played. Having Detroit against Toronto wasn’t that great a draw at the time. It was more the attraction of playing in Michigan’s Big House. At least current Blues forward Tyler Bozak scored the game winning shot. That was as close to getting on this list as the Blues got though.

Moment of the Decade: NHL100 in Los Angeles

This is fine. Any time you can gather together all the legends of the game that are still with us, it’s a fine moment.

Goal of the Decade: Patrick Kane‘s 2010 Cup winning goal

I get it. I do. It was a Cup-clinching overtime goal for a team that had not won in over 50 years. My problem is there were more exciting goals out there. Nobody even knew this goal went in except for Kane, so it kind of took away from some of the celebration. As great as those Chicago teams were, it felt like there could have been a slight variety to the choices, but whatever.

Overall, I get why most of the selections were made. Fans of other teams will call this sour grapes. However, that is not the case.

If you take away the fact the Blues won anything, I would still feel the same way. Everything involves Chicago, Toronto, Boston or Los Angeles.

Sorry, but most people don’t care about the Kings unless they are winning. There isn’t a great need to cater to the L.A. crowd.

Detroit and Toronto are original six teams. Toronto missed the playoffs that season and Detroit was still good, but starting their downward slide. It might be based on the game itself, but again, you could have had Florida against Nashville and that stadium still would have gotten filled up.

It’s all subjective. Most fans will likely agree with the choices and those that don’t have conversations as to why.

It’s just all blah for this fan. More examples of the league favoring certain markets and teams. Such is the way of things.