The St. Louis Blues shocked the hockey world with their miraculous run to a Stanley Cup title in 2019. The team had the worst record in the league halfway through the season, but everything turned around when they added a 25-year-old rookie goalie to the starting lineup. This historic rise from worst to first has many hockey fans around the world interested in the full history of the Blues franchise.
The St. Louis Blues quickly found success after entering the NHL in 1967. Head coach Scotty Bowman took the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first three seasons. Unfortunately, the Blues failed to win a single game in their first three Stanley Cup Finals appearances. Despite this promising start, the franchise nearly collapsed a few years later. Poor decisions by ownership put the Blues in financial hardship for nearly two decades. The team finally hit rock bottom after finishing the 1978-79 season with only 48 points.
The financial troubles for the Blues continued throughout most of the 1980s, but the team still found a way to win on the ice. St. Louis won their division in 1981, 1985 and 1987, but they did not have much success in the postseason. The franchise turned a corner in the the 1990s. An influx of money from new ownership helped the team get a new arena. They were also able to acquire several star players including Bret Hull, Al MacInnis and Brendan Shannahan.
St. Louis was the only franchise in the NHL to make the playoffs in every season during the 1980s and 1990s. Their impressive playoff streak finally ended at 25 seasons in 2004. Despite consistently having one of the best teams in the league, the Blues never made the Stanley Cup Finals during this long streak. Once the playoff streak ended, the Blues were forced to spend the next six years rebuilding.
St. Louis’ rebuilding efforts finally started paying dividends during the 2011-12 season. The Blues lost the fewest games in the league that season, but that did not stop them from collapsing in the playoffs. After coming up two games short of the Western Conference championship in 2016, the Blues finally ended their playoff woes with a Stanley Cup victory in 2019.