1968-69
St. Louis was one of the expansion franchises that was doomed to fail when you talked to the other owners of NHL teams. It was not a major hockey market and never had been. But thanks to GM Lynn Patrick and the innovative coaching of Scotty Bowman, the Blues had made the playoffs and had a finals run under their belts.
In 1968-69 the Blue's were now considered to be the best of the expansion franchises, though they still trailed behind the original 6 teams.
Owner Sid Solomon Jr. was determined to run a first class franchise and thanks to solid trades by Patrick the Blue's now had their cornerstone players when he obtained centre Red Berenson and jerk defenseman Barclay Plager from the Rangers for next to nothing.
In Glenn Hall who the Blue's had picked up in the expansion draft they had a premiere NHL goalie, but there were concerned about his age at 37, so the Blue's drafted Jacques Plante as his backup.
Plante had retired in 1965 due to the illness of his wife. but he had indicated that he wanted to comeback, so the Blue's drafted Plante from the Rangers, Bowman knew that the mecurial goaltender could still play.
Bowman didn't stop there, the Blue's needed scoring so he picked up tiny Camile "The Eel" Henry from the Rangers and Ab McDonald. He then added another complete jerk in Billy Plager who joined his brothers Barclay and Bob. Those moves made the Blue's the best team in the post expansion West Division.
The Blue's declared themselves stating that they could skate any of the Eastern teams into the ice, and they lived up to that. During one week in November the Blue's tied the Bruins in Boston, beat New York in New York and tied Detroit in Detroit.
Because of their success St, Louis fell in love with the Blues and filled the ancient St. Louis arena to capacity. The Blue's rewarded their fans by finishing first in the West. Plante and Hall won the Vezina trophy and Berenson scored 82 points. The Blue's went into the playoffs and destroyed the Flyers in round 1 and wrecked the Kings in round 2. Unfortunately they went into the finals against the Habs for the second time in 2 years in round 2, but the Habs were the premiere team in the league with a deeper lineup, better scoring and a more mobile defence, the Habs routed the Blue's in 4 games.
But it didn't matter that the Blues had lost in 2 straight finals, the NHL had conquered the city of St. Louis.
Trivia
- One year after limiting draft eligibility to 20 years and older, the NHL adopts rules opening the draft to players all over the world.
- The Hockey Hall of fame inducts three new members, Bill Cowley, James Dunn and Jim Hendy.
- 1968 Amateur Draft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_NHL_amateur_draft
- The Canadians replace Toe Blake behind the bench with 30 year old Claude Ruel.
- The Ranger's hire Bernie Geoffrion as their new coach, he does well with a 22-18-3 record but resigns due to ulcers.
- On Oct 16th Toronto rookie defenseman Jim Dorey sets an NHL record with 9 penalties in a game. 4 minors, 2 majors 2 10 minute misconducts and a game misconduct totaling 48 minutes.
- On November 7, Red Berenson scores 6 goals against Philadelphia in Philadelphia.
- On Feb 16, Alex Delvecchio scores his 1000th point.
- The Canadians win the East with a 46-19-11 record.
- The Bruins Phil Esposito shatters the NHL record of 97 points when he puts up 127 points.
- The Big Bad Bruins establish themselves when they score the most goals in the NHL with 303 and the most penalty minutes with 1,297.
- Bobby Hull scores an NHL record 58 goals. But the Hawks and Wings miss the playoffs. Gordie Howe scores 103 points as a 40 year old in a futile effort.
- The Blues take first place in the West with a 37-25-14 record.
- The Penguins and Stars miss the playoffs.
- The Stars start with Wren Blair as the coach and fire him 11 games into the season and replace him with John Muckler who struggles for 35 games and then bring back Blair to finish the season, the Stars didn't make Blair return behind the bench with a bag over his head.
- Jacques Plante leas the league with a 1.96 gaa.
- Flyer/Leaf Forbes Kennedy leas the NHL with 219 PIM.
- Boston's Bobby Orr leads the league with a +65 rating.
- In the East the Canadians sweep the Rangers and the Bruins sweep the Leafs.
- In the West the Blues sweep the Flyers whicle the Kinds beat Oakland in 7 games.
- Montreal beats the Bruins in 6 games in the Eastern Finals.
- The Blues broom the Kings in 4 games.
- In the finals the Canadians dust the Blues in 4 games outscoring the Western upstarts 12-3.
- Montreal defenceman Serge Savard wins the Conn Smythe trophy.
- Phil Esposito leads all playoff scorers with 18 points.
- Esposito takes home the Hart Trophy.
- Alex Delvecchio wins his third Lady Byng Trophy.
- Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall of the Blues share the Vezina Trophy.
- Danny Grant of the North Stars scores 34 goals and wins the Calder Trophy.
- Bobby Orr wins his second straight Norris Tophy.
- Oakland's Ted Hampson wins the Bill Masterton Trophy.
- Bobby Hull and college coach Edward Jeremiah win the Lester Pearson Award.
- Denver repeats as the NCAA champions.
- The Montreal Jr Canadians win the Memorial Trophy.
Debuts
Last Games