Bleedin' Blue
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My Four Favorite Random St. Louis Blues Of All Time

By Todd Panula

13 Jan 1999: Tony Twist #18 of the St. Louis Blues stretches out on the ice before the game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. The Blues defeated the Sabres 4-2.
13 Jan 1999: Tony Twist #18 of the St. Louis Blues stretches out on the ice before the game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. The Blues defeated the Sabres 4-2. /
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St. Louis Blues
26 Mar 1998: Leftwinger Tony Twist of the Tampa Bay Lightning in action during a game against the St. Louis Blues at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The Blues defeated the Lightning 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Elsa Hasch /Allsport /

Tony Twist

This selection might be somewhat of a copout. Tony Twist was a very popular figure during his time with the Blues.

However, random player who you like is a very broad term. I take it more as someone who was not a superstar, or as mentioned, was not with the team long.

Twist falls into the latter category. He was a big name in St. Louis, but around the league nobody knew who he was unless they played or unless they thought he was dirty.

Twist was somewhat of an agitator, but there was nothing actually dirty about his game for the most part. The only reason fans might get that impression is because he beat the snot out of someone on their team.

Twist actually got bigger and more muscular after his playing days, but he was an absolute beast when he was on the ice. There were times when he looked like you put a WWE wrestler in a hockey uniform and unleashed him on unsuspecting opponents.

Just to show you how much the guy fought, in six seasons with the Blues, he only failed to cross 100 penalty minutes once. In his rookie season with St. Louis, he had 124 penalty minutes in 28 games!

In his final season, he averaged barely over five minutes on the ice per game and still got 149 penalty minutes. He played in a different era and many fans today aren’t accustomed to “old time” hockey.

But, though given the name, Twist was only a goon in the sense that he didn’t have much true hockey ability. He didn’t disrespect the game and look to hurt people though. He was taking care of his own.

In a documentary on fighting, Brett Hull said there’s no Brett Hull without Tony Twist and Kelly Chase. That’s why we loved him, even if I didn’t understand why people bought his jersey at the time.

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