My Three Favorite Random St. Louis Blues Of All Time

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The St. Louis Blues have plenty of big names that everybody loved. Sometimes we end up with a soft spot for the guy nobody’s heard of or was barely here.

The St. Louis Blues might not have the length of history of some franchises, but they’ve got plenty of all-time greats. Whether it’s Brett Hull, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis or any number of fantastic players, those are the names we all remember and loved.

However, even the lesser known players get some love too, though it might be by fewer people. There have always been guys that were barely in St. Louis that still left their mark on individual fans.

Sometimes you would see a jersey walking around the St. Louis Arena or Scottrade Center (now Enterprise Center) and wonder why in the world they bought that. It was a name that just kind of puzzled you as to why anyone would want that.

Adding interest to it, it was usually a name that they had to get custom made. They weren’t selling too many in the souvenir shops.

Even though we all likely judged that person, the truth is we all have our odd favorites. Sometimes it’s a guy that was barely here long enough for them to stitch the name plate on the jersey.

Maybe it’s a player that barely scored any goals, but still had an impact. Maybe there’s any number of reasons a person might like a certain player.

This idea came from our competitor site, St. Louis Gametime. Their main blogger, hildymac, had a soft spot for Rick Zombo. If you want to know why, you can check out her article.

But, it got me thinking about who mine were. I couldn’t pick just one, so I figured I’d list a few.

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.

Scott Stevens

Anyone who has read my articles long enough knows of my unashamed man-crush on Scott Stevens. Though I appreciate the skill and speed today’s defenders have, Stevens was the epitome of what I viewed an NHL defender as.

Stevens definitely doesn’t fit the mold of the guy who was not a superstar, since he was a five-time All-Star, three-time Stanley Cup winner (albeit with another team) and a Hall of Fame inductee. Still, he was in St. Louis so briefly that he barely registers as a member of the organization for many.

Stevens was that rare breed of player that could do it all. Of course, he was not as flashy or purely talented as someone like Bobby Orr, but we forget that Stevens was no slouch offensively.

With St. Louis, he had 49 points. With Washington, before coming to St. Louis, he regularly scored double-digit goal totals and had a then-career high of 72 points.

Petr Nedved

Here’s where we really get into the true random players. Petr Nedved was one of those players earmarked for stardom and then, similarly to today’s players with talent but something missing, he bounced around the league like a hot potato.

In reality, I don’t have a solid reason why I liked him. There was something about when the Blues picked him up that had me excited as a kid, though.

Maybe it was based on hockey cards. Around 1991, I was really into collecting hockey cards and I would arrange them by team.

As guys moved around the league, I would do my best to move their cards to the appropriate team page, even if it was a card from another team.

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So, in theory, there was plenty to be excited about when the Blues got Nedved. He was coming off a season where he exploded for 38 goals and 71 points at just 21 years old.

He came in and got 20 points in 19 games for the Blues after signing just prior to the trade deadline. He had been in a contract dispute with Vancouver that season and missed most of the year.

As with many on this list, his stay was too brief. He didn’t score a goal in the playoffs and definitely was not a Mike Keenan style of player, whom the Blues brought in as coach that offseason.

Nedved was quickly dealt to the New York Rangers for Esa Tikkanen and Doug Lidster. Tikkanen would get an honorable mention on this list, as he ended up being a favorite of mine, but I still was not happy they gave up on Nedved.

Maybe it was for the best. His career went up and down.

He scored 45 goals and 99 points in 1995-96 with Pittsburgh, but that might have had as much to do with playing with the Penguins as anything. He returned to New York after two seasons in Pittsburgh and had some good years.

I continued to follow him a bit, but it was hard to root for anyone on a New York team.

Scott Mellanby

I never really had that teenage angst moment where you’re rebelling against your father or your parents for reasons only a teenager can understand. Maybe that’s part of why I liked Scott Mellanby.

Mellanby, for reasons still unknown today, was not liked by my dad. I think it mostly had to do with him not having heard of Mellanby very much.

To him, it was a Blues team that was trying to build a championship contender adding an old player. It didn’t make sense to him, so he pushed back against it and nicknamed him melon-head.

I loved the signing. For me, it had more to do with having followed the 1996 season so closely.

Mellanby had the legend of killing the rat in the Florida Panthers locker room going for him. In hindsight, it was quite dangerous, but I loved seeing all those rubber rats being flung onto the ice when Florida would score.

Though he doesn’t often admit it, even my dad had to appreciate Mellanby a little during his time with the Blues. While he was often in a third, or sometimes even fourth, line role, he was still productive even in his 30’s.

In four seasons in St. Louis, he scored 62 goals and 137 points. In 2002-03, he turned back the clock scoring 26 goals and 57 points when he was 36. Mellanby was one of the Blues best players in the 2002 playoffs, scoring seven goals in 10 games. Him being one of the team’s best might have been part of the problem, but you still ask guys to step up and he did.

Mellanby played until he was 40 and continued to be productive for the Atlanta Thrashers. The Blues let him walk in free agency as they were slashing payroll in an attempt to sell the team at the time.

Though it made sense given his age to let him go, Mellanby would have been seventh and eighth on the team in scoring had he stayed his final two years and still put up the same point totals.

Next. NBC basically dictates when the 2021 NHL season will end. dark

He was not here long and he didn’t have quite the impact he did in Florida, but Mellanby was a good player who helped some really good Blues teams in the early 2000’s. He’s not remembered by all, but he’s one of my random favorites, for sure.

Who are your favorite Blues that aren’t household names or were only here briefly. Let us know on social media or in the comments.

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