Top defensive pairing: Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis
It is impossible to go wrong with this defensive pairing. Between the two of them, they combined for 12 All-Star teams just with the Blues.
Interestingly, despite leading the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final and the Anaheim Ducks to the actual Cup, he only played in one All-Star Game after leaving the Blues. MacInnis played in 12 total, six of which were in St. Louis and was voted in one more time with the Blues but could not participate.
You have two Hall of Fame players, both Stanley Cup champions (though with other franchises) and teammates that will now both hang from the Enterprise Center rafters. I would not pick any other defenders over these two.
Second defensive pairing: Barclay Plager, Ramage
While the other Plager, Bobby, is more well known and revered by Blues fans now, it was his brother Barclay Plager that was the bigger star in the league, at least from a skills point of view. Both Plagers played with fire and tenacity, but Barclay had a bit more pure hockey talent as opposed to Bobby who relied on his physicality a tad more.
Barclay played in four All-Star Games, including the one in St. Louis. Unfortunately, he never got to play with his brother in one.
The odd thing about Rob Ramage is that he is often a forgotten man. Younger fans probably know him better for being traded to Calgary for Hull or the brief time he spent as a color analyst on Blues broadcasts.
However, Rammer was a top notch player in his day. Two of his three best statistical seasons came with the Blues, whom he played for six seasons.
Three of his four All-Star appearances were made with the Blues as well. He would go on to win two Stanley Cups, one with Calgary and one as a depth player in Montreal, but he was a good defender and player for the Blues and represented the team well.
Third defensive pairing: Pietrangelo, Stevens
Last, but not least, be have two of the most well known Blues defenders of all time. The main reason they are lower on the list is because of All-Star appearances.
Scott Stevens was known around the league even during his time with the Blues. He was the team captain, a player to be feared even then and made the All-Star team in 1991. Unfortunately, he made his name legendary with the New Jersey Devils.
Even so, for a player of that talent to be able to show his quality in only one season with the Blues and still be remembered for it shows how good he was and how you can’t leave him off this list.
Alex Pietrangelo might well go down as one of the best defensemen in team history, just based on his achievements. There have been better defenders or pure scorers from the blue line for sure, but Pietrangelo is a solid combination of both.
He defends well due to his wits and a good reach, due to his height. He also scores at a pretty good clip, putting his name in the top 10 in points and third in franchise history in assists. Of course, he is the only captain in team history to win a Stanley Cup, which does not hurt either.
The only downfall for Pietrangelo for this list is only having two All-Star appearances. For as good as he has been, in spurts granted, he has only been selected for the midseason exhibition twice in 12 seasons with the Blues. Of course, he earned his way on during the 2020 game since he is having a potential career year, so it was a nice touch that the game was in St. Louis.
Goaltenders: Elliott, Hall, Plante
Depending on format, sometimes the league has only had two goaltenders and other times they had three – one for each period. For this list, we will go with the latter.
Brian Elliott was loved during his time in St. Louis, but you would not necessarily think of him as an all-timer. However, he made the All-Star Game twice with the Blues. Couple that with the fact there have actually not been many Blues goalies at this event and there you have it.
Still, Moose is top five in wins and still number one in franchise history for save percentage, goals against average and shutouts.
The other two are on there for obvious reasons. Both are Hall of Fame players and both suited up for the Blues. Good enough.
Glenn Hall was voted into three All-Star games as a member of the St. Louis Blues. He played in two. He was voted into the game in St. Louis in 1970, but did not play due to injury.
His teammate, Jacques Plante did play in that game in addition to five other Blues and coach Scotty Bowman. Plante won a Vezina Trophy with the Blues.
Amazingly, though nobody remembers, he did not finish his career with the Blues. Plante went on to play for three more teams and four more seasons.
Like Hall, Plante played in two All-Star games while a member of the Blues. Both helped the Blues to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances too, so they’ve got that going for them.
Perhaps Jordan Binnington can slide into this list later in his career. For now, his one appearance ties him with Mike Liut, Curtis Joseph and Ernie Wakley.
Overall, I’d take this team any day of the week if they were all in their primes. Every single one was a deserving All-Star and plenty of them played in eras where the names around the league were all giants among the game.
Those top two lines are fire.
What do you think? Would you include any names that might have only made one All-Star appearance over any of the names listed?
Let us know and as always, Let’s Go Blues!