Awesome video. I'm a Wings fan who was only 9 years old when I watched Stevie Y score that goal and now its forever in my memory. Its kind of funny that the Wings did kind of the same thing in 2002 when they won. It would have been even crazier if Gretzky had gone to Detroit instead of LA and the Wings would have been able to draft Bure like they tried to do.
I turned 14 the Blues first season in 1967 so have followed them closely all the way and remember this season well. Wayne Gretsky planned to retire in St. Louis with Brett Hull as they got along well, but could not take the personality of Mike Keenan. Mike Keenan did have his points wanting grinders to dig pucks out of the corners and tougher defensemen as he looked at the cause of the many Blues playoff failures. I sure do not remember so many changes so you sure did good mentioing them all. Reminds me of a Cardinals GM of the 1950s named Frank Trader Lane who went too far when trying to even trade Stan Musial and was eventually released. Keenan also wanted forwards like Brett Hull to play defense. I believe Shane Corson hit the post just prior to the Yzerman goal who let it fly from way out but Casey could not handle it. With so many changes I can see why team chemistry was a problem, but they almost beat Detroit. St. Louis also lost Gretsky and Brett Hull due to Mike Keenan. I think most of therir playoff faiilures came from not having enough on defense except for Mac Innis and Pronger and not enough for a goalie until 2019 with Jordan Binnington. Now if they had only let a young Scotty Bowman just run the team all himslef in their early years. Who would have known he was a HOF coach. Thanks for placing on RU-vid.
@@reggiepathak9684 Good point. I do remember Jon Casey played pretty well at this time but Grant Fuhr had all that playoff experience already from Edmonton and was missing from this playoff for the Blues.
Keenan dismantled the Blues, got rid of fan favorites like Shanny and CUJO but I get what he was doing. “Just Win Baby”, but be hated. Pronger turned out to be a great Blue though. As much as I hated seeing Shanny leave. 2019, worth the wait. And we got to see a very drunk Brett Hull celebrating under the Arch. Better late than never….WE WENT BLUES!!!
To be fair, if it were anyone else, the Blues get past this round and probably win the cup. But. It was the Bowman Wings. The same Wings that were strong in the 96-97 and only got stronger to be one of the best NHL rosters in the history of the league in 2002.
Keenan was a one may wrecking crew. He may have had success previous to his time in St. Louis but he sure screwed up in St. Louis. We lost some greater players because of him including Curtis Joseph. I couldn't in the end be angry about the Shanahan trade because we got Pronger but at the time it was horrible.
I guess I’m the guy who would’ve not had Shanny on the team at all. Because if Shanny wasn’t signed, we’d still have Scott Stevens. Hard to argue over great players though. Shanahan was a beast, but the whole Janney thing helped close that book. But, that’s just my thought on that. I do agree the MK was the worst thing that could’ve happened during that time. He set us back. Another MAJOR problem the Blues have always had, is the lack of steady ownership. A long time owner with a vision would have solved so many of our setbacks.
@@operatingengineer520 I know there were setbacks with MK but he was trying his best to get a winning product on the ice. The NHL decided to punish the Blues for doing everything in their power to finally get a winner. They were upsetting the financial scheme of the NHL.
I can’t stand Keenan and he was a trash coach and GM but his trade tenure in STL looks pretty good, minus the Joseph trade. Pronger for Shanahan was a great deal, MacInnis for Housley was a steal, and the Gretzky trade ended up good…and would have been great had Keenan not pushed him out.
Even if the Blues beat the Red Wings with a healthy Fuhr, the Blues would have had to go against Colorado. That would've been a great series but I think Colorado still wins That Blues team was loaded with talent. What a killer powerplay line the Blues had with Macinnis, Hull, Courtnall, Pronger and Gretzky.
That's what I have stated many times. But there's always some dope that thinks they somehow would have beaten the Avalanche with a backup goalie. I guess they selectively forget what the Avalanche did to the Panthers.
if fuhr played they ha dda chance to beat the avs. Avs were younger andmore explose but the playoff experience gretzky hull courtnall corson macinnes would of been something. The goaltending in 96 at that point was the same both guys would of played great against each other. Avs were more explosive but where the blues had the advantage was the 3rd and4 line muckers and grinders. Noonan meatteau creighton, zezel anderson mactivish leech that would of been a tough team for hte avs to beat
@@reggiepathak9684 Fuhr was a shell of his former self at that point. Go look up his stats. He was only around 20th in save percentage that year. And all the Blues teams had loads of "playoff experience" all the years before that. And they still crashed and burned in the playoffs.
@@fantasticvoyage262 he had more shots and saves then any other goalie in the league. He got injured in the final few games or he would of started all games so broduer edged him out in mins played barely but when i looked at the stats of both goalies fuhr face 400 to 500 more shots then broduer did that year. Broduer wouldnt get 5 2 on 1s with the devil system in a month and grant fuhr might get that one game. Blues were not that good defenisively pronger was slowly coming around but he was still being booed every time he touched the puck because fans were mad they traded him for shanahan. Pronger started coming around end of regular season time in the playoffs. Blues had a chance to say fuhr was mediocre was an understatement, fuhr actually got some votes for hart trophy that year. Fuck the stats mike keenan kept making moves all throughout the year and it was hard to get the team to gel but they were starting to playoff time. Who cares about the stats, if it wasnt fuhr they dont even make the playoffs
