WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome in. It is just so great to have you with 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:04.900 us today. Absolutely. Glad you're here. Whether 00:00:04.900 --> 00:00:06.960 you are prepping for a big meeting, trying to 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.580 catch up on your sports history, or you're just 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:12.279 intensely curious about how massive organizations 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:14.560 function and sometimes completely dysfunction, 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.600 you are in the exact right place. You really 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:20.960 are. Today, we have a deep dive that feels less 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.899 like a historical timeline and more like, I don't 00:00:23.899 --> 00:00:25.839 know, a Hollywood script that would get rejected 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:29.429 by a studio for being way too unbelievable. Far 00:00:29.429 --> 00:00:31.890 -fetched, right. Exactly. We are looking at a 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:34.289 comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing the 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:36.369 history of the St. Louis Blues hockey franchise. 00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:39.369 And it genuinely is a staggering narrative from 00:00:39.369 --> 00:00:42.170 top to bottom. Our mission for you today is to 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:44.869 explore how a National Hockey League team that 00:00:44.869 --> 00:00:47.030 was essentially designed from day one to be a 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:50.329 lovable loser for a rival city somehow survived. 00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:52.450 Yeah. And we aren't just talking about surviving 00:00:52.450 --> 00:00:54.929 a few bad seasons. We are talking about surviving 00:00:54.929 --> 00:00:58.850 near bankruptcy. A literal abandonment by its 00:00:58.850 --> 00:01:00.990 corporate owners and a half century championship 00:01:00.990 --> 00:01:04.359 drought. A 52 year drought. Right. All to eventually 00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:07.599 pull off one of the most miraculous midseason 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.040 turnarounds in the history of professional sports. 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:13.420 OK, let's unpack this, because to understand 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:16.760 the miracle, we have to start with the incredibly 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:19.400 cynical reason this team even exists in the first 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:21.780 place. Oh, it's incredibly cynical. Right. I 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:23.219 was looking through the source material on the 00:01:23.219 --> 00:01:25.319 early years and it seems like they completely 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:27.819 shattered that lovable loser expectation right 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:31.219 out of the gate. But how did the team even end 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:33.980 up in St. Louis? What's fascinating here is that 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:36.340 the St. Louis Blues were not born out of some 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:38.879 desperate local demand for professional hockey. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:43.040 They weren't. Not at all. Back in 1967, the NHL 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.760 decided to expand from the original 16s to 12. 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:48.239 Now, the owners of the Chicago Blackhawks at 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.799 the time, James D. Norris and Arthur Wurtz, they 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.120 also happened to own the St. Louis Arena. Ah, 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.280 okay. And this building was 38 years old. It 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:58.140 was decrepit. It hadn't been well maintained 00:01:58.140 --> 00:02:01.420 since the 1940s. They desperately wanted to unload 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:04.120 this massive real estate liability. So they just 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.739 needed a tenant. Woos. They pushed the NHL to 00:02:07.739 --> 00:02:10.699 put an expansion team in St. Louis, a city that 00:02:10.699 --> 00:02:12.960 had not even submitted a formal expansion bid 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.159 to the league. Wait, wait. So the owners of the 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:17.400 Chicago team forced the league to put a franchise 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.979 in St. Louis just to get rid of a bad building. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:22.719 Exactly. And their motive went even deeper than 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.469 real estate. How so? Well, the Blackhawks had 00:02:25.469 --> 00:02:28.030 won the championship in 1961, right? They were 00:02:28.030 --> 00:02:31.030 doing phenomenal numbers at the box office. They 00:02:31.030 --> 00:02:33.270 felt that by establishing a team in St. Louis, 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:36.250 they could create a reliable regional rival. 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:39.289 A punching bag. Yes. Essentially a lovable loser 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:42.009 akin to baseball's Cubs and Cardinals dynamic 00:02:42.009 --> 00:02:44.530 at the time. They wanted a team they could just 00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:47.129 beat up on to entertain the Chicago fans while 00:02:47.129 --> 00:02:49.229 simultaneously dumping their crumbling arena. 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:52.060 onto the new St. Louis ownership group. That 00:02:52.060 --> 00:02:55.199 is just wild. A franchise born entirely out of 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.520 a real estate scam and a desire for an easy win. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.039 Pretty much. But the first owners, the Salomon 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:03.039 family, Sid Salomon Jr. and his son Sid III, 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:05.840 they completely defied this expectation, at least 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:08.419 off the ice. They really did. They buy the team, 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.120 they spend millions renovating that old arena 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.080 to expand it to 15 ,000 seats, and then they 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.479 decide to treat their players like absolute royalty. 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:19.219 Which was unheard of. Completely unheard of. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.860 Back then, hockey players were often treated 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:24.639 like expendable commodities. But the Salomons 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.379 were giving players cars. Free cars. Free cars. 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:29.960 They were signing them to massive deferred contracts. 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:31.800 They were even paying for the players to take 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:33.840 vacations down in Florida. That's amazing. And 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:36.379 the players felt so respected that they decided 00:03:36.379 --> 00:03:39.180 the only way to pay the owners back was to leave 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:41.699 everything they had on the ice. So how did that 00:03:41.699 --> 00:03:43.840 actually translate into their first few seasons? 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:47.169 It translated into immediate success. though 00:03:47.169 --> 00:03:51.370 highly unusual success. You see, the 1967 expansion 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:54.669 was structured in a very specific way. The NHL 00:03:54.669 --> 00:03:57.629 put all six new expansion teams into their own 00:03:57.629 --> 00:04:00.090 separate division, the West Division. To keep 00:04:00.090 --> 00:04:02.669 them away from the original six. Exactly. This 00:04:02.669 --> 00:04:04.490 was designed to ensure that the new teams had 00:04:04.490 --> 00:04:06.530 an equal chance of reaching the playoffs without 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:08.949 being instantly crushed by the established franchises 00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:11.770 in the East. Makes sense. So under their legendary 00:04:11.770 --> 00:04:15.009 coach, Scotty Bowman, the Blues came out of the 00:04:15.009 --> 00:04:17.970 gates swinging. They dominated this new division. 00:04:18.189 --> 00:04:20.750 They became the only expansion team to compile 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:23.730 a winning record. And they made it all the way 00:04:23.730 --> 00:04:26.310 to the Stanley Cup final in their very first 00:04:26.310 --> 00:04:28.829 season. That sounds like a complete fairytale 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:30.850 ending for a team that wasn't even supposed to 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:33.569 exist. It does sound like a fairytale. But here 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:36.089 is where the harsh reality check hits. Making 00:04:36.089 --> 00:04:38.589 the final meant they finally had to play the 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:40.610 champion of the established division. The original 00:04:40.610 --> 00:04:44.120 16s. Right. In their first year, they were swept 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.660 by the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens. Ouch. 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:50.420 The next year, 1969, they make the final again, 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:53.600 swept again by Montreal. Oh, man. The third year, 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.740 1970, they make it back, swept by the Boston 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:59.740 Bruins. Three sweeps. That is three consecutive 00:04:59.740 --> 00:05:02.379 trips to the Scaling Cup final in their first 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:05.120 three years of existence. And they did not win 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.819 a single game in any of those series. Just think 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:10.060 about the psychological toll of that. For you 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.000 listening, what stands out to you about that? 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:15.519 To experience massive immediate success, getting 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:17.839 to the absolute pinnacle of your field in your 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:21.620 first three years, only to brutally hit an unbreakable 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:23.779 ceiling every single time. It's devastating. 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:26.279 You are the absolute best of the new guys, but 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:28.740 fundamentally incapable of beating the old guard. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:31.779 That kind of repetitive heartbreak has to leave 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:34.079 a permanent mark on the culture of an organization. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.480 It certainly did. And it set the stage for a 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.519 tremendous hangover in the 1970s. I bet. Because 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:42.899 all of that generous spending by the Salomons, 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:45.819 the cars, the Florida vacations, those massive 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:49.040 deferred contracts, it all came due just as the 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.379 team's on -ice performance began to slip. The 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:54.100 bill comes due. By the late 1970s, the franchise 00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:56.300 was on the brink of total financial collapse. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.720 At one point, the financial situation was so 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:02.180 dire that the Salomons had to cut the team's 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:05.149 entire staff down to just three employees. Three 00:06:05.149 --> 00:06:07.589 people running an NHL team. Yes. One of them 00:06:07.589 --> 00:06:09.850 was Emil Francis, who was serving as team president, 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:11.949 general manager, and head coach simultaneously. 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:15.629 Talk about wearing many hats. Just running an 00:06:15.629 --> 00:06:17.949 entire professional sports franchise by yourself. 00:06:18.269 --> 00:06:20.490 He was basically doing everything. And Francis 00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:22.910 had to go out and beg for a corporate bailout. 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:25.670 He goes to the St. Louis -based pet food giant, 00:06:25.850 --> 00:06:28.870 Ralston Purina, and convinces them to buy the 00:06:28.870 --> 00:06:32.730 team, the arena, and an $8 .8 million debt just 00:06:32.730 --> 00:06:35.670 to save the franchise. Right. So Ralston buys 00:06:35.670 --> 00:06:38.889 them in 1977. They rename the arena the Checker 00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:41.290 Dome, and the chairman publicly states he only 00:06:41.290 --> 00:06:43.949 bought the team out of a sense of civic responsibility. 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:46.649 Which is a very fragile foundation for running 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:49.029 a professional sports team. Very fragile. The 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:51.189 team gets back to being competitive on the ice, 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:54.149 making the playoffs in 19... which kicked off 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:57.430 what would become an incredible 25 -year postseason 00:06:57.430 --> 00:07:00.149 streak. But off the ice, the corporate takeover 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:02.589 was a disaster. How bad was it? Ralston Purino 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:05.769 was bleeding an estimated $1 .8 million a year 00:07:05.769 --> 00:07:09.290 on the team. By 1983, a new chairman, William 00:07:09.290 --> 00:07:11.689 Steeritz, takes over the company. He doesn't 00:07:11.689 --> 00:07:13.829 care about hockey. What did he care about? His 00:07:13.829 --> 00:07:16.769 personal sporting interest is horse racing. He 00:07:16.769 --> 00:07:19.050 looks at the balance sheet, sees the Blues as 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:21.459 a massive money pit, and puts them immediately 00:07:21.459 --> 00:07:23.680 on the market here's where it gets really interesting 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.899 yeah because Nobody in St. Louis had the cash 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:29.060 to meet the asking price. Nobody local could 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:33.480 afford it. So in 1983, a group led by Bill Hunter 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.220 steps up. Hunter wants to buy the team and move 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:38.860 them to his hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:41.620 Saskatoon. The fans are stunned. The players 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:44.439 are entirely distracted. During a game against 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:46.860 the Edmonton Oilers, brochures were actually 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.439 distributed in the arena titled Saskatchewan 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.060 in the NHL. Can you imagine? To be playing professional 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.649 sport, look up into the stands and... see marketing 00:07:54.649 --> 00:07:56.750 materials for the city your team is about to 00:07:56.750 --> 00:07:59.610 be relocated to, it is pure chaos. Absolute chaos. 00:08:00.069 --> 00:08:02.930 Ralston Purina authorized the $12 million sale 00:08:02.930 --> 00:08:05.949 to Hunter's Group and promptly fired 60 % of 00:08:05.949 --> 00:08:08.550 their remaining employees. Wow. But then the 00:08:08.550 --> 00:08:10.910 NHL Board of Governors stepped in. They voted 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:14.050 15 to 3 to reject the sale and transfer. They 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.410 cited that Saskatoon, a relatively small market, 00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:19.189 could not support an NHL franchise. Wait, let 00:08:19.189 --> 00:08:21.389 me push back on that for a second. Sure. Hockey 00:08:21.389 --> 00:08:24.240 is practically a religion in Canada. Why would 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:27.680 the NHL turn down a rabid Canadian market just 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.180 to save a failing corporate setup in Missouri? 00:08:30.620 --> 00:08:32.820 It's a great question, and it really comes down 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:35.559 to the business of the league at the time. The 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.039 NHL was trying to secure larger American television 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:43.519 footprints. trading a major U .S. media market 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.460 like St. Louis for a much smaller Canadian market 00:08:46.460 --> 00:08:48.960 like Saskatoon, regardless of how passionate 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:51.759 the fans were, was viewed as a step backward 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.500 for the league's overall broadcast leverage. 00:08:55.179 --> 00:08:57.799 The owners voted to protect the league's market 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:00.059 size over a quick cash out. That makes total 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:02.019 sense from a business perspective, but Ralston 00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:03.980 Purina did not take that rejection well, did 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:05.740 they? They went completely nuclear. Nuclear. 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:08.120 This is a masterclass in corporate negligence 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:11.250 and leverage. Ralston files a $60 million federal 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:14.070 antitrust lawsuit against the NHL. Good grief. 00:09:14.269 --> 00:09:16.269 Then they just wash their hands of the team. 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:19.350 They publicly announce when the 1983 NHL entry 00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:22.710 draft happens. Ralston Purina doesn't even send 00:09:22.710 --> 00:09:24.789 a representative. Yeah. They skipped the draft 00:09:24.789 --> 00:09:27.590 entirely, forfeiting all their picks. A multi 00:09:27.590 --> 00:09:30.809 -million dollar sports franchise. And the owners 00:09:30.809 --> 00:09:33.750 just ghost the draft. Just didn't show up. It's 00:09:33.750 --> 00:09:36.210 unimaginable in today's multi -billion dollar 00:09:36.210 --> 00:09:38.809 sports landscape to just not show up to pick 00:09:38.809 --> 00:09:41.470 your future players. The NHL then sues them back 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:45.110 for $78 million, accusing them of maliciously 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:47.590 collapsing the team. It's a total mess. And the 00:09:47.590 --> 00:09:50.029 NHL Board of Governors officially terminated. 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:51.879 the team. They take control of the franchise. 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:54.519 The league president announces that if they can't 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.480 find a buyer by August 6th, they're going to 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:00.539 dissolve the franchise entirely and hold a dispersal 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:02.399 draft. Right, meaning all the St. Louis players 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.580 would just be auctioned off to other teams. The 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.379 Blues were days away from ceasing to exist. But 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.679 with 10 days to spare, a St. Louis businessman 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.679 named Harry Ornist buys the team at the 11th 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:14.840 hour. And this is where the resilience of the 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:17.789 franchise really begins to harden. Ornist saves 00:10:17.789 --> 00:10:20.789 them, but he has to run the team on an extreme 00:10:20.789 --> 00:10:23.629 shoestring budget. Extremely tight. During most 00:10:23.629 --> 00:10:26.730 of his tenure, he only had 26 players under contract 00:10:26.730 --> 00:10:29.789 in the entire organization. For context, most 00:10:29.789 --> 00:10:32.769 NHL teams at the time had over 60 players under 00:10:32.769 --> 00:10:35.090 contract to fill out their major and minor league 00:10:35.090 --> 00:10:37.210 rosters. Yeah, that's a massive difference. And 00:10:37.210 --> 00:10:39.850 he's asking players to defer their salaries just 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:43.080 to keep the lights on. Yet they stayed. According 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:45.539 to team captain Brian Sutter, the players wanted 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:47.600 to stay because St. Louis reminded them of the 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:49.480 rural Canadian towns where many of them grew 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.259 up. They fought for this city. And against all 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:55.840 odds, that scrappy, survivalist mentality kept 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.340 them highly competitive. Which transitions us 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.159 perfectly into the late 1980s and the 1990s. 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:03.259 This was a period of incredible consistency, 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:07.159 defined by the arrival of a true superstar. In 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.889 1988, they traded for Brett Hall. The Golden 00:11:09.889 --> 00:11:12.190 Brett. The Golden Brett. A nod to his legendary 00:11:12.190 --> 00:11:14.850 father, Bobby Hull, who was the Golden Jet. He 00:11:14.850 --> 00:11:16.889 completely changed the dynamic of the team. He 00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:19.750 was an absolute scoring sensation. In the 1990 00:11:19.750 --> 00:11:24.509 to 1991 season, he netted 86 goals. 86. He was 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:27.090 awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, proving he 00:11:27.090 --> 00:11:29.230 was the most valuable player in the entire league. 00:11:29.629 --> 00:11:31.629 Just to put that goal -scoring tear in perspective, 00:11:32.190 --> 00:11:34.610 The source material notes that only Wayne Gretzky 00:11:34.610 --> 00:11:37.149 ever found the net more than Hall during any 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:39.570 given three -year period in NHL history. That 00:11:39.570 --> 00:11:42.330 is elite company. Hall was the centerpiece. But 00:11:42.330 --> 00:11:45.409 the front office also brought in huge Hall of 00:11:45.409 --> 00:11:48.149 Fame caliber talents like Adam Oates, Brendan 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:51.590 Shanahan, Al McInnes, and eventually Chris Pronger. 00:11:51.649 --> 00:11:54.090 And that collection of talent fueled something 00:11:54.090 --> 00:11:55.990 historic. They were just an absolute machine 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:59.360 in the regular season. Exactly. From 1980. all 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:01.799 the way to 2004, the St. Louis Blues made the 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:05.379 playoffs for 25 consecutive years. 25 years. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:07.840 That is the third longest streak in North American 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.360 professional sports history. They even won the 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.500 President's Trophy in the 1999 -2000 season with 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:16.720 a franchise record 114 points, proving they were 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.659 the absolute best team in the league over the 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:20.360 course of the regular season. But there is always 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:22.720 a but with this team, isn't there? Making the 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.039 playoffs 25 years in a row is an incredible feat, 00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:27.600 but it also means 25 years of final results. 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:31.009 Yes. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:12:31.129 --> 00:12:33.710 you have a franchise that survived near extinction, 00:12:34.009 --> 00:12:36.649 built a quarter century of playoff consistency, 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:39.470 boasted some of the greatest players to ever 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:42.250 lace up skates, and yet they couldn't win it 00:12:42.250 --> 00:12:45.330 all. Not once. During that entire 25 -year streak, 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:47.970 they never once made it back to the Stanley Cup 00:12:47.970 --> 00:12:49.950 final. They only even reached the conference 00:12:49.950 --> 00:12:52.789 finals twice. The stigma of never being able 00:12:52.789 --> 00:12:55.009 to take the next step became a heavy psychological 00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:57.450 weight on the organization and the fans. That 00:12:57.450 --> 00:13:00.070 is a very specific type of sports fandom to endure. 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:03.289 Year after year of hope, buying tickets, cheering 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:05.610 for absolute legends, dominating the regular 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:07.909 season, and then bracing for the inevitable spring 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:10.250 collapse. They were the perennial contenders 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.330 who always broke their fans' hearts. Fast forward 00:13:12.330 --> 00:13:14.809 through the 2000s and 2010s, and you see more 00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:17.490 ownership changes, rebuilds, glimmers of hope. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:19.840 followed by crushing early round playoff exits. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.440 It felt like a curse. It really did. Which brings 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.919 us to the 2018 -2019 season. The stage is perfectly 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.440 set for the most absurd script of all. Let's 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.399 set the scene for this because it is staggering. 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:34.100 It's January 1st, 2019. The St. Louis Blues have 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:37.919 a record of 15 -18 -4. They are in dead last 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.460 place in the entire National Hockey League. Dead 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:42.659 last. They had already fired their head coach, 00:13:42.860 --> 00:13:45.360 Mike Yayo, in November, replacing him with an 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.460 interim coach named Craig Berube. The season 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:51.139 is universally considered a complete wash. The 00:13:51.139 --> 00:13:53.840 situation looked totally hopeless. But then a 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.559 rookie goaltender named Jordan Binnington emerges 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.460 from the minor leagues. Right. The team completely 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:02.659 buys into Berube's hard -nosed demanding system. 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:06.009 They rattle off an 11 -game winning streak between 00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:08.210 February and March. Incredible. They go from 00:14:08.210 --> 00:14:10.669 worst in the league to clinching a playoff spot. 00:14:10.850 --> 00:14:12.929 They're only the seventh team in NHL history 00:14:12.929 --> 00:14:15.309 since the 1967 expansion to make the playoffs 00:14:15.309 --> 00:14:17.809 after being in last place on New Year's Day. 00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:19.289 And they didn't just make the playoffs to be 00:14:19.289 --> 00:14:22.289 a feel -good story. They systematically exercised 00:14:22.289 --> 00:14:25.440 52 years of demons. They really did. They battle 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:27.440 through the Western Conference, defeating the 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.919 San Jose Sharks in the conference finals. And 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.220 then on June 12, 2019, they find themselves in 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:35.620 Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:38.840 Bruins, the exact same franchise that swept them 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:41.500 in 1970 to start their legacy of heartbreak. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.799 Full circle. And they win 4 -1. The poetic justice 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.000 of that victory is incredible. Ryan O 'Reilly 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.440 was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, the MVP of 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:53.809 the entire postseason. proving his value in the 00:14:53.809 --> 00:14:56.330 most critical moments. So well -deserved. After 00:14:56.330 --> 00:14:59.590 52 years, the oldest franchise to never win the 00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:02.409 Cup finally gets to lift it. They were the last 00:15:02.409 --> 00:15:05.350 of the surviving 1967 expansion teams to win 00:15:05.350 --> 00:15:07.809 it all. It was so monumental that the state of 00:15:07.809 --> 00:15:10.549 Missouri passed a law making the Blues the official 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:13.049 state hockey team. That is the ultimate payoff 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:15.049 for a fan base. And what strikes me about that 00:15:15.049 --> 00:15:17.769 2019 run is the vibrant culture that fueled it. 00:15:17.830 --> 00:15:20.090 The traditions of this team are so deeply woven 00:15:20.090 --> 00:15:23.070 into the fabric of the city. Absolutely. The 00:15:23.070 --> 00:15:26.159 fan culture is organic and fierce. For instance, 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:28.779 the live music is a huge part of the atmosphere. 00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:31.879 The team's organist, Jeremy Boyer, plays a Glenn 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:34.840 Miller arrangement of W .C. Handy's classic song, 00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:37.440 St. Louis Blues, before games and at the end 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:39.940 of periods. And the fans are so dialed in. When 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:41.980 the organist plays, when the Saints go marching 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:44.980 in after a goal, the whole arena replaces the 00:15:44.980 --> 00:15:48.100 word Saints with Blues. I love that. Or how about 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:51.259 the towel guy, Ron Dorshall, sitting up in Section 00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:54.730 314 since 1990. Every time they score, he rings 00:15:54.730 --> 00:15:56.549 a bell, the crowd counts the goals out loud, 00:15:56.629 --> 00:15:58.669 and he throws a towel into the stands. It's electric. 00:15:59.009 --> 00:16:01.049 Or during the national anthem, when the singer 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:03.429 gets to the home of the brave, the entire arena 00:16:03.429 --> 00:16:06.110 drowns him out by shouting, the home of the BLOEs. 00:16:06.450 --> 00:16:09.929 And that 2019 run introduced two new musical 00:16:09.929 --> 00:16:12.090 phenomena that became legendary in the city. 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:15.500 The first was Laura Branigan's 1982 pop hit, 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:17.759 Gloria. Oh, of course. A couple of players heard 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:21.220 it playing in a bar in Philadelphia in January 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:23.240 that year, right when they were at their lowest 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:25.500 point. They started playing in the locker room 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.360 after every home win, and it became the anthem 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.879 of their entire Stanley Cup run. And then there's 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:32.840 the beautiful mistake with John Denver's Country 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:36.440 Roads. In February of 2019, during a game where 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:38.299 they were blowing out the Nashville Predators, 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:41.019 the arena entertainment director played Country 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:44.279 Roads. But he miscalculated the timing. Play 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:46.559 resumed on the ice before the chorus was over, 00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:48.860 so he had to cut the music abruptly. But the 00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:51.860 fans didn't care at all. Not even a little. They 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:55.919 kept singing entirely a cappella so loudly that 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:58.639 the Fox Sports broadcast picked it up loud and 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.580 clear on television. It was pure magic. It became 00:17:01.580 --> 00:17:04.000 a staple, played at the 15 -minute mark of the 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.380 third period at every home game since. It's a 00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:09.259 testament to a fan base that never gave up, even 00:17:09.259 --> 00:17:11.500 when the corporate entities running the team 00:17:11.500 --> 00:17:14.279 actively tried to. And that identity is still 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:17.519 evolving today. Looking ahead to the 2025 to 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.640 2026 season, the franchise announced they're 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.660 returning to their original 1967 colors, that 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:26.819 classic vibrant blue and yellow. They're also 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:29.480 entering a new era of broadcasting, transitioning 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.440 to a radio and television simulcast that marks 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:34.960 the end of John Kelly's remarkable 20 -year tenure 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.940 as the TV voice of the blues. The organization 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:40.900 is constantly bridging its chaotic past with 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:43.730 its present. So what does this all mean? We've 00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:45.970 covered mob -connected original owners trying 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:48.410 to dump real estate, billionaire pet food companies 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:50.970 skipping drafts, 86 goal seasons, a quarter century 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:54.049 of heartbreak, and last place miracles. What 00:17:54.049 --> 00:17:55.970 is the takeaway for you listening to this right 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:58.250 now? The St. Louis Blues are the ultimate case 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:00.769 study in institutional resilience. Whether you 00:18:00.769 --> 00:18:03.269 are running a business, leading a team, or just 00:18:03.269 --> 00:18:05.509 navigating the severe setbacks in your own life, 00:18:05.910 --> 00:18:08.299 the Blues prove a fundamental truth. You can 00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:10.599 be designed to fail from the start. You can be 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:12.740 abandoned by your financial backers. You can 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:14.980 suffer decades of heartbreaking near misses that 00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:16.579 make people doubt you will ever break through. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.960 But if you cultivate a strong community, honor 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:22.700 your history, and capitalize on sudden momentum, 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.410 like an interim coach and a rookie goalie, You 00:18:26.410 --> 00:18:29.329 can rewrite a 52 -year legacy of failure in a 00:18:29.329 --> 00:18:31.569 matter of months. That is incredibly powerful. 00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:33.509 You are never as far from the mountaintop as 00:18:33.509 --> 00:18:35.930 you think you are. Precisely. And this raises 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:37.529 an important question, something to leave you 00:18:37.529 --> 00:18:39.890 pondering long after we wrap up today. Okay. 00:18:40.730 --> 00:18:42.630 If we look all the way back to the very beginning, 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:47.049 to that 1967 NHL expansion draft, the St. Louis 00:18:47.049 --> 00:18:49.849 Blues were on the clock to make their first round 00:18:49.849 --> 00:18:52.809 draft pick, their first major decision as a professional 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:55.390 sports franchise. And what did they do? What 00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:58.250 did they do? They passed. They opted not to pick 00:18:58.250 --> 00:19:00.710 anyone in the first round. So I leave you with 00:19:00.710 --> 00:19:03.069 this thought. How does an organization that completely 00:19:03.069 --> 00:19:06.890 skips its first ever draft pick survive to build 00:19:06.890 --> 00:19:08.890 a legacy that commands the devotion of millions 00:19:08.890 --> 00:19:12.329 and lasts over half a century? It defies all 00:19:12.329 --> 00:19:15.809 logic, and yet that is the exact magic of sports. 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:18.440 It truly is. What an incredible journey. Thank 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:20.039 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:21.839 We loved putting this together just for you, 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:23.980 and we hope you walk away today with a new appreciation 00:19:23.980 --> 00:19:27.339 for the beautiful, chaotic, and completely unpredictable 00:19:27.339 --> 00:19:30.660 history of the St. Louis Blues. Until next time, 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.319 keep learning, keep questioning, and we'll catch 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:34.819 you on the next deep dive.