Les Blues de St. Louis ont presque déménagé | Voici ce qui l’a arrêtéhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKYeQtfUl98 🏒 Bill Hunter (1920-2002) bâtisseur, promoteur et visionnaire du hockey canadien. Fondateur des Edmonton Oil Kings et force motrice derrière la WHA. A créé les premiers Oilers d’Alberta/Edmonton. A presque amené les Blues de St. Louis à Saskatoon en 1983. Connu pour son ambition implacable, sa grande personnalité et sa mission de toute une vie visant à développer le jeu dans les Prairies. Cette vidéo plonge en profondeur dans un morceau fascinant de « l’histoire canadienne », explorant la quasi-« relocalisation dans la LNH » des Blues de St. Louis en « Saskatchewan ». Il s’agit d’une histoire captivante pour les amateurs de « hockey », qui montre à quel point Saskatoon est sur le point de fonder sa propre équipe de « hockey sur glace ». Cette décision met presque en évidence les luttes souvent invisibles derrière les « équipes de hockey » professionnelles et leurs réalités financières.
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Do you think the Blues would have worked in Saskatoon, and do you think Bill Hunter was jilted? Please let us know what you think.
they had jerseys made up it was the blue note and Saskatoon over top and had home or road uniforms . it was reported that the Devils almost moved sometime in the 90s to Nashville before they got a team . think how different the NHL could have looked if they moved and where would the 4th expansion team have gone from the late 90s .
One place where the Caps were almost sold and moved to was Saskatoon in 1982. Others places was Seattle or Tacoma, Washington or merged with the Colorado Rockies and moved to New Jersey. Fortunately for Washington, owner Abe Pollin got almost all his demands and they stayed in DC.
Even if the Blues had relocated to Saskatoon, they would have moved again in the mid-1990s when a number of the smaller market—all former WHA teams—moved to their current homes.
Bill Hunter said he would have had a new arena opened in time for the 1983 -84 season, the sale was agreed upon in January 1983, no way a new arena would have opened up that October
As a young Blues fan, I was devastated when I heard they were moving. So glad this didn’t work out. St. Louis supported the heck out of the team, but Ralston had zero passion for the team.
I was attending Bible College in Saskatchewan during this time. It was exciting times. People were jubilant and giddy with anticipation. Great jokes began to emerge as people could imagine all kinds of headlines in the papers: "The Saskatoon Blues will be changing their name to the Saskatoon Blue Berries." "Saskatoon is really struggling tonight, the Blue Berries are really in a Jam tonight!" They were fun times. And of course everyone believed the team would have no problems surviving, because the rest of the province would support the Blues like they support the Riders.
Could they have survived the tough times when Winnipeg and Quebec lost their franchises? Not sure, but it sure would have been a fun ride!
Saskatoon ( & every other city in Saskatchewan for that matter) is a god damn shlt hole. If you thought Winnipeg & Ottawa have a hard time attracting players in today's market….can you imagine the difficulty trying to convince players to spend a couple of winters in Saskatoon? Especially back in 1983!
This is big boy sports…where players aren't making 50k a year+ a hoodie like the CFL – which is 1 step up from a flag football league.
I can name 5 Canadian cities off the top of my head where the NHL would place a team before Saskatoon would even be a thought. London, Hamilton, QC, Halifax & Mississauga/Bramladesh
They would have been supported the nhl never gave it a chance. Same thing with hamlton.
If Saskatoon is too small for the NHL then Green Bay is too small for the NFL.
There was Big talk about them moving to Milwaukee Wi also.
They probably wouldn't have survived the mid nineties. Players were starting to make serious bank then. I'm guessing They would have followed the Nordiques and Jets.
The team would have folded just like the Winnipeg jets did for the same reasons. Just quicker
What a fascinating pc of history
Would not have happened. And had it, would quickly be moved. Simple economics.
Western Canada had alot of big dreams during the 80's, I remember listening to the evening radio sport shows, and they were talking about all the western cities getting MLB baseball, and the CFL, morphing into the NFL.
Hunter didn't start the WHA, that was Dennis Murphy.
The name Toonberries was joked about at the time!
They would have lasted until about 1994. With the new arena in St. Louis, I think they would have moved back then.
The Blues is not going anywhere
It's ironic that you mentioned the Calgary Flames as one of the western Canadian teams opposing Bill Hunter's relocation plans as they themselves had just moved to Calgary from Atlanta in 1980. On a different note, one opponent you did not mention was William (Dollar Bill) Wirtz, the owner of the Chicago Black Hawks and the powerful Chairman of the NHL's Board of Governors. Nothing got done in the league in the 1980's without his approval – including franchise relocations.
We are missing one big thing here. The state of the city of St. Louis itself. Downtown St. Louis is becoming a ghost town. The 40 story AT&T tower has been abandoned for years, both TV stations that were downtown have relocated, crime is through the roof, and the population of the city keeps shrinking decade after decade (2/3 lost in 60 years). Rumor has it the Cardinals want to leave town, despite the fact that the taxpayers gave them a new stadium less than 25 years ago. They just finished their worst season in decades. The bottom line here is that nobody wants to go to the blues game and get mugged or have their car broken into. Downtown St. Louis is no place for anything anymore.
The real reason the NHL blocked the sale of course was what happened in Regina 3 years prior 😊
Damn, the NHL was rough back then. Cold hearted.
Saskatoon!
I really wish to a large degree the NHL would stop trying to make ice hockey happen in markets that naturally just aren't a good fit.. Aka the American Southeast and Southwest.. Unless there's snow on the ground or a critical mass of expat Canadians and Northern US migrants? There's no natural demand… Saskatoon, Hamilton, Quebec City on the other hand? Would be instant successes as long as the Loonie doesn't nosedive against the Greenback but unfortunately we've been down this road before…Every time is trades more than 10c off theirs? The economics start to wobble significantly.. And not just professional sports but ESPECIALLY professional sports… And concert tickets..
Those creatures you see on the Ralston Purina logo at 2:24 were not the Blues management, but the mascots for Freakies cereal, a short-lived cereal of the 1970s (and briefly revived in the 1980s). Ralston made some of the stranger cereals of the era, and also made tie-in cereals for movies, such as for Batman (1989). My wife has a magnet of the blue one, Snorkledorf, and I thought about filling in the set but prices are kind of high online.
If they ever got a team I doubt they survive the 1990s
Oh, yes he was, and so was the entire province of Saskatchewan.
The NHL needs to stop screwing Saskatchewan.
They would've had Brett Hull anyway!