As the St. Louis Blues are preparing to enter their 58th campaign in the National Hockey League, let's take a little look back at their two previous captains. One is currently still the sole leader of this franchise on the ice, and one that brought the single most important thing back to the 'Lou.
Let's take a look at the former and current tenure of Ryan O'Reilly and Brayden Schenn.
ROR and Schenn
O'Reilly and Schenn have both spent a number of years of their long careers with the Blues organization, and likewise, have spent the same amount of time as captain. O'Reilly was the captain of the Blues from 2020 through 2023, before Schenn was given the role from 2023 to the present day.
Both have shown strong leadership skills both on the ice and off. O'Reilly was a physical being on the ice, constantly sticking up for his fellow teammates. Schenn recently showed his bravado during last season's trade deadline by not waiving his no-trade clause to join the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were heavily pursuing him.
In terms of winning, there is no edge here as both were main contributors to that 2018-19 Stanley Cup winning team. Comparably, both had great runs as captain, and Schenn is ready to help push this team with high expectations to another level in the next few seasons.
Foundation for a legacy
What is important here is that there has been a foundation set for a long-standing legacy of captains. This was established long before ROR was named captain, with Alex Pietrangelo and David Backes wearing the "C" for a long duration as well.
Once Schenn is stripped of that iconic letter, whether he plays out the rest of his days as a Blue or a trade eventually comes down, the Blues are in very good hands with picking the next man up. Robert Thomas would be a solid pick. Additionally, Jordan Kyrou and Jimmy Snuggerud are two young choices to have a lengthy tenure as captain.