St. Louis Blues: Looking Back On The President’s Trophy
The year was 2000, the dawning of a new millennium and the unfolding of another St. Louis Blues season that should have ended with a Stanley Cup trophy. It was a season to remember for the city, but unfortunately, the President’s Trophy winners were cut down in the first round after a devastating game seven loss.
While the 1999-2000 St. Louis Blues’ lineup did not have as many big-name studs as the 1995-96 team, they still had some players. The eventual Hart Trophy winner and captain Chris Pronger who established himself as one of the game’s biggest talents was one.
Additionally, they had a Pavol Demitra, in his prime, and Al MacInnis. There was also Pierre Turgeon, and a goalie in his career year with Roman Turek.
Regular Season: First Half
St. Louis did not start the season on the right foot, dropping their first two games at home to the Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings. They caught fire after that, finishing November with a 15-7-2 record through the first 24 games of the season.
The Blues cooled off with the weather, however. St. Louis finished the month of December with a 7-4-2 record, ending the month with a win over the San Jose Sharks.
The team found new energy in the month of January. They got hot heading into the All-Star break, rolling into the 50th NHL All-Star game with a five-game winning streak.
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All-Star Game
The city of St. Louis was well represented in Toronto, sending Turek and Demitra to compete on the World team while Pronger and MacInnis joined former Blues Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph on the North America team. For those that do not remember, this was during the period where the NHL tried to mix things up for the All-Star Game and went with North America vs. The World.
Al MacInnis participated in the skills competition where he fired a 100.1 mph slapshot . That gave him his sixth Hardest Shot competition victory out of seven.
Only two of the Blues would receive the starting nod with Pronger earning the start for North America while Turek manned the net for the World Team. It was Demitra who would represent St. Louis the best, posting two of the World’s nine goals off of assists from Patrick Elias.
Regular Season: Second Half
Two days later on the road in Detroit, a four-goal outburst put the Blues over the Red Wings. That kickstarted an incredibly strong second half for the Blues. The team went 18-6-5 to close out the year, giving up just 54 goals compared to 85 goals scored.
Despite the Wings posting 108 points, the Blues took the Central Division crown with 114 points and edged out the Philadelphia Flyers (105 points) for the President’s Trophy. This was arguably one of the best St. Louis Blues regular seasons in franchise history setting a franchise high in points and their 51 wins rank second in franchise history.
Demitra led the team in points (75) and goals (28) while finishing just behind Pronger in assists (47). Additionally, he won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the player that exhibited the most sportsmanship.
Pronger went on to be the first defenseman since Bobby Orr to win the Hart Trophy with 62 points, a plus/minus of +52, and 9.6 defensive point shares (14.8 total point shares). He got those points while averaging over 30 minutes on the ice per night.
Turgeon helped carry the load with 66 points as did Michal Handzus, Scott Young, and Lubos Bartecko with more than 35 points each. Defensively, Al MacInnis had a typical year with 39 points and 8.7-point shares.
In net, Turek had a career year with 42 wins, a .912 save percentage, a 1.95 GAA, a Goals Saved Above Average of 11.54, and seven shutouts. His performance gave him his second consecutive Jennings Trophy (first one was with Dallas) and gave him second-place in the Vezina Trophy voting.
This Blues team had it all. Hall of Fame, playoff-tested veterans, one of the best goaltenders in the league, and legitimate scoring threats were all there.
Playoffs
On March 28, 2000, Demitra was diagnosed with a concussion forcing him to miss the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Blues, it would cost them.
St. Louis took game one against the San Jose Sharks 5-3, thanks to two big goals from Jochen Hecht. The offense stalled in the next three games. The Blues fell in all three games unable to surpass two goals.
Down 3-1 in the series, the Blues scored 11 goals in games five and six to force a game seven. In the do-or-die game, San Jose scored the first three goals of the game while the Sharks’ goalie Steve Shields shut the Blues down until Scott Young scored in the third period. The Blues went on to lose the game 3-1 and the series overall.
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While this was a heartbreaking defeat for the city of St. Louis, in hindsight, it was perhaps one of the best seasons in franchise history. Apart from the Stanley Cup championship, it was a team that had it all.
It had dominant goaltending, explosive offense, stellar defense, and accolades to go around. Now that the Blues have finally won the Cup, this is a season that can now be looked upon more fondly.