St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues' story is one of perseverance rewarded. For fifty-one years, from their founding in 1967 through 2018, the Blues were the NHL's most accomplished franchise to have never won a Stanley Cup. They produced Hall of Famers like Brett Hull, Bernie Federko, Al MacInnis, and Chris Pronger, but the Cup always eluded them - until 2019, when the Blues went from dead last in the NHL on January 3rd to Stanley Cup champions by June, completing the most improbable worst-to-first run in modern hockey history.

The glory of 2019 has gradually given way to a retooling phase as the championship core has aged and dispersed. The Blues face the familiar challenge of post-championship franchises: how to transition from the team that won it all to whatever comes next without enduring a prolonged period of irrelevance. Key pieces from the Cup run have moved on, and the organization is working to develop the next wave of talent while remaining competitive enough to keep the Enterprise Center buzzing. It is a delicate balance, and the Blues find themselves in the middle of the pack - not quite contenders, not quite rebuilding.

Enterprise Center, located downtown near the iconic Gateway Arch, has been one of the NHL's most consistently loud arenas for decades. Blues fans are knowledgeable and loyal, having supported the franchise through every heartbreak with a devotion that borders on the irrational, and the 2019 championship gave them a memory that can never be taken away. The Blues' musical note logo and blue-collar identity are perfect reflections of a Gateway City that takes its hockey seriously, and the franchise's challenge now is proving that 2019 was not the end of an era but the foundation for the next one.