The Long and Winding Road (to the cup)

The Blues journey started in the off-season before season 9. GM John Hanson took over a struggling St. Louis franchise, who the year before finished 11th in the West with a paltry 66 pts. GM Hanson stated at the time “I am never one to rebuild…we are gonna compete right away.”
After making a blockbuster with Toronto for, then franchise Center, Eric Staal the plan was set in motion. Some veteran GM’s told GM HAnson that he would be better served to take a patient approach, nonetheless, he made trades and was able to get the lowly Blues into the playoffs that first year…and every year since.
Season 9 saw the Blues improve their winning pct%  (from 400 to 602%) and points from 66 to 99.
Even with the improvement St Louis lost to Edmonton in the 1st rd. 4-2
In season 10 St Louis leveled off with 97 pts and again finished 5th in the West. Season 10 saw the Blues win their first playoff series, under GM Hanson, by beating Calgary 4-2. They lost in the next round 4-2 to Colorado.
Season 11 started with a decent roster and big hopes, but soon turned when the team wasn’t performing up to expectations. GM Hanson realized a new approach was needed. “I called it mini-tanking” GM Hanson stated. The plan was to build and then sell off at the deadline to maximize profits. This plan went through season 12 and 13.
All told seasons 11-13 (97,97 and 94 pts)were all first round exits. But by trading away key pieces they had finally built enough assets to truly make a run and compete with the big boys of the DHL.

Season 14 saw the Blues win their first division championship and lead for the Presidents Cup nearly wire to wire, until a red hot Oilers team and a collapse in the last 10 games cost the Blues a Presidents Trophy.
And yet another 1st round exit 4-1 to the LA Kings.
FRUSTRATION MOUNTING!!

Season 15 saw a turn for the better with a trip to the Western Conference Finals. St Louis finished with a 110 points. They rolled to the conference finals only dropping one game in the first two rounds and then BOOM lost to the Pasi lead Red Wings (eventual cup winner).
Season 16 and 17 were more of the same early playoff exits.

Season 18, on the back of the 1st line of Niklas Backstorm, Alex Ovechkin, Corey Perry, Kris LeTang and Dan Hamhuis. And second liners Zach Parise and Logane Couture along with stud goalie Tuukka Rask the Blues finally made the Cup finals only to lose to the ,Sidney Crosby led, Boston Bruins.
Season 19 and 20 nearly caused GM Hanson to resign.
Season 19, St Louis won the division with 110 points and lost in the 1st rd to Calgary.
Then came season 20:
123 points, division title, one of the most dominate teams in DHL history. Led the DHL in goals and Goals against. won the the Presidents Trophy by 14 points…….and you guessed it a first round loss. This time there was some serious second guessing as whether to continue, but with the encouragement of a few GM’s (Adrian, Commish, Jon,Alex and Boston Mike) I decided to stay and it payed off.

Season 21 did not start out very good…2-9-2 the first 13 games had me wondering whether or not I made the correct decision and if I did…whether or not to blow the whole team up and start over…I decided to do something that I had rarely done and stay the course and be patient.
It payed off and with the waiver wire addition of Clarke MacArther the team started to play better and better.
Good enough to win the division and again face the San Jose Sharks, who just a year earlier had almost made me quit. The series went to game 7 and the Blues prevailed. They then advanced past the Wild and Vancouver to meet the New York Islanders in the finals. The Blues finally prevailed and swept past the Isles to claim their first DHL Cup. It truly has been a long and winding road for the Blues to win a cup.

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