The St. Louis Blues’ Best and Worst Trades – Hockey Writers – Blues History

Like any other NHL team, the St. Louis Blues have made a lot of good trades and a lot of bad trades. The Blues’ recent trade history is excellent and was a key factor in their success last season. Let’s discuss their three best and worst trades in franchise history.

Bruce’s worst deal

Give up blind love

Two seasons after becoming the ninth overall pick, Rod Brind’Amour was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blues traded him and Dan Quinn for Ron Sutter and Murray Barron.

Barron was a solid defensive presence with the Blues for seven seasons, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game during that time, while Sutter scored 37 goals in 163 games in three seasons in St. Louis.

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Brind’Amour played nine seasons in Philadelphia, scoring 601 points. He then played 10 seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, winning two Selke Trophies and serving as captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup championship team. He finished a long career with 1,184 points, including 452 goals, in nearly 1,500 games. Who knows what would have happened if the Blues had kept him?

Traded Joe Mullen to Calgary

Joe Mullen was traded to the Calgary Flames at the deadline in 1986 after four and a half great seasons with the Blues, scoring 151 goals. Mullen went to the Flames with Terry Johnson and Rick Wilson to play for Eddie Beals, Charles Bourgeois and Gino Cavallini.

Johnson and Wilson spent a lot of time in the minor leagues after being traded to Calgary from St. Louis. After the trade, Beals played 24 games for the Blues and that was it. Bourgeois played 127 games for the Blues in three different seasons, scoring 24 points.

Cavallini performed extremely well for the Blues in this deal. He played nearly seven seasons in St. Louis, scoring 211 points in 454 games.

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However, Mullen won a Stanley Cup with the Flames and scored 388 points in 345 games with Calgary. He went on to win two more Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

Parting ways with Adam Oates

February 7, 1992 was one of the worst days in franchise history. Shortly after signing a four-year contract extension, Adam Oats wanted more money. He saw players like Brendan Shanahan getting paid handsomely and Oats felt he was worth it, and he was.

Brett Hull and Oates were arguably the best duo in franchise history, and it’s disappointing to break up after three seasons.

Rather than try to negotiate the deal again, the Blues traded Oates to the Boston Bruins for Craig Gianni and Stephen Quintal. Gianni excelled with the Blues, scoring 233 points in 186 games over four seasons. Quintal scored one goal and provided 16 assists in 101 games for the Blues.

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I’m never going to say Gianni isn’t a good player for the Blues, but trading Oates was always going to be a long shot at being a winner for the team.

After the trade, Oates continued his path to the Hall of Fame, nearly winning the Hart Trophy in his first full season with Boston. After nearly six seasons with the Bruins, Oats scored 499 points in 368 games. He also played in Washington and a few other places.

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He finished his career in 2004 with 1,420 points in 1,337 games. He currently ranks eighth in NHL history with 1,079 assists. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012. We can’t help but wonder what would have happened to Hull and Oats if the Blues had retained him.

Some of the Worst Trade Honorable Mentions

• Traded Hockey Hall of Famer Doug Gilmore to Calgary for Mike Bullard, Craig Cox and Tim Corkery.

• Traded All-Star goaltender Ben Bishop to Ottawa for a second-round pick.
• Traded Curtis Joseph, one of the best goaltenders in the league, to the Edmonton Oilers for draft picks.

Blues’ best deals

Trade Brett Hull

As one of the best deals in Blues history, this is a no-brainer for me. St. Louis acquired Hull and Steve Bozek from the Flames in exchange for Rob Ramage and Rick Walmsley.

Ramage was a good blueliner, but his production did drop off after the trade. Of his 564 career points, 296 came in St. Louis, spanning nearly six seasons. Walmsley has been a solid goaltender for the Flames, posting a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.21 over the past five seasons.

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Brett Hull played 744 games for the Blues, during which time he became the team’s top scorer with 527 games. In three seasons with Adam Oates, he scored 72, 86 and 70 goals respectively, winning the 1990-91 Hart Trophy with 86 goals.

Hull City also sit second in franchise history with 936 points, trailing only Bernie Fedeko (1,073 points).

Another trade to the Flames, this time for Al McInnis

The Blues have made numerous trades with the Flames throughout their history, and in this case, they acquired another Hockey Hall of Famer, Al McGinnis.

The deal was made in 1994 – the Blues acquired a draft pick in McInnis and Phil Housley and several draft picks. Housley is another Hall of Famer who had some very good seasons after the trade, but the Blues players at the time weren’t quite at McGinnis’ caliber.

McInnis’ best offensive season came in Calgary, but he still contributed a lot to the Blues in the 10 seasons he spent there. He won his first Norris Trophy in 1998-99 and nearly won another in 2002-03 at age 39. He scored 452 points in 613 games for the Blues and was the mainstay of the team’s defense.

By far the best blue line tandem in club history is McGinnis and Chris Pronger – they were so dominant.

Robbery for Ryan O’Reilly Buffalo Sabers

Ryan O’Reilly has only played four full seasons with the Blues and is already one of the best trades in franchise history.

On July 1, 2018, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong completed his best trade to date. He sent Patrick Berglund, Tachi Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka and a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabers for Ryan O’Reilly.

Berglund was a good Blues player and one of the top 20 players in Blues history in goals, but he ultimately left the Sabers and the NHL after playing 23 games in the 2018-19 season. Thompson has emerged as an elite playmaker. He scored 244 points in 331 games with Buffalo. When the trade occurred, Sobotka was already over 30 years old and had 16 points in 85 games with the Sabres.

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O’Reilly was the Blues’ only player who performed consistently in the 2018-19 season and led the team to win the Stanley Cup. O’Reilly was the winner of the Conn Smythe game and was key to the team’s seven-game victory over the Bruins.

In the 2018-19 season, he led the team with 77 points in 82 games and led the team with 23 points in 26 games in the playoffs. In 327 games with the Blues, he scored 269 points.

Some of the best trade honorable mentions

• Traded Krister Olsen to Ottawa for shooter Pavol Demetra.
• Traded Jori Lehtera and several draft picks to the Philadelphia Flyers for key center Brayden Schenn.
• Traded Ron Arter and Ron Stewart to the Montreal Canadiens for two future franchise legends, Red Berenson and Barclay Plager.

Similar to many other NHL teams, the Blues’ trade history has been hit or miss. Doug Armstrong’s recent trade history is very good, with the Schenn and O’Reilly trades being the catalyst for last year’s trades. If the good momentum continues, the Blues will have a winner for the time being.