There have been so many players who started strong and tailed off in NHL history, and the St. Louis Blues are no strangers to that. Over the last 59 seasons, thousands of players have come and gone with the Blue Note on their chest, and some have fallen into this category.
Let's go over three of the biggest names to show themselves off as being great players, only to really disappoint as their tenure continued with the Blues.
3. Jori Lehtera
This could be a two-hit wonder, but both seasons were not fantastic enough to really amaze the Blues fandom. Jori Lehtera got a late start to the NHL, playing his first game with the Blues in 2014-15 at the age of 27. It got off on the right foot, with a 14-goal showing alongside 30 assists for a respectable 44 points.
The next season, he fell off a bit with nine goals and 25 assists for 34 points, but had a nice playoff run with three goals and six assists in 20 games. And that was that.
The 2016-17 campaign was a dud for Lehtera, and he would then get picked up by Philadelphia and then bounced out of the league after five NHL seasons amidst some legal troubles in his home country of Finland.
2. Brad Boyes
Brad Boyes was drafted by Toronto, traded to San Jose, and appeared for a short while with Boston before making his mark with the Blues at 24 years old. He had a fantastic showing in his first full season with the team, scoring 43 goals and adding 22 assists for 65 points in 2007-08.
Then, he had a similarly great year in 2008-09, with 33 goals and 39 assists for 72 points. But then came the falloff, as he never sustained the same kind of success in the next season and a half before being traded again. The former all-time leading scorer in Erie Otters history had only 14 goals and 28 assists in his final full season with the Blues in 2009-10.
Such a strong start with the Blues was wasted as he would only eclipse one more season at over 20+ goals before retiring after the 2015-16 season, in Toronto.
1. Wayne Babych
Wayne Babych was drafted and played with the Blues in the late 1970s and into the mid 1980s. He had some success early on, with a 26-goal and 27-goal season in his first two years. In 1980-1981, he peaked with a masterful 54-goal performance, and that would be the highest of highs for him.
After that, he would only eclipse the 20-goal mark once more in 1984-85 with the Pittsburgh Penguins before retiring after the 1986-87 season with Hartford. Babych had a good run with St. Louis, but it was not sustainable for the long term.
The first 50-goal scorer in Blues history, who helped immortalize the "Kid Line" with Bernie Federko and Brian Sutter, Babych is a Hall of Famer in this organization's eyes, but that short bit of success was engulfed by a large drop-off.
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