The 1996 Blues
- Thread starter WingsFan95
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ForsbergForever
Registered User
- May 19, 2004
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Mike Keenan put that team together and he tore it apart. Hull constantly feuded with him and Gretzky didn't resign with the Blues after three months with the team. They had the big names but I think that there was just so much turnover of personnel that there was no real chemistry. Maybe if Gretzky had had comeback the next season and had time to work on his game with Hull they could have had something...The Blues also had and traded Dale Hawerchuk and Esa Tikkanen in 95-96 so it seems the 80s were well represented.
jkrx
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- Feb 4, 2010
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Should be noted that Keenan aquired players and then drove them out of town, like in the case of Gretzky/Corson incident.
Hank Chinaski
Registered User
Intriguing yes, but you could say the same about the free-spending Rangers teams of the late 90s and early 2000s.
I remember watching a fair bit of them that year, and what really stood out was their lack of team speed. Played in some awful clutch-and-grab games that were a hallmark of that era. They were a mediocre .500 team for nearly the entire season, and were it not for the stellar play of Grant Fuhr, they might very well have missed the playoffs. They went 7 games with a Red Wings team that was starting to lose steam, and I have a hard time believing they would've been able to match up with the Avs. To me the Fuhr question is moot, because Jon Casey was outstanding in his place (other than getting lit up in one of the Red Wings games, game 2 IIRC).
As another poster mentioned, there was the perceived negative effect that Mike Keenan had on the team, though I remember quotes from Brett Hull and Chris Pronger to the effect that Keenan basically galvanized the players through a collective hatred for him.
I remember watching a fair bit of them that year, and what really stood out was their lack of team speed. Played in some awful clutch-and-grab games that were a hallmark of that era. They were a mediocre .500 team for nearly the entire season, and were it not for the stellar play of Grant Fuhr, they might very well have missed the playoffs. They went 7 games with a Red Wings team that was starting to lose steam, and I have a hard time believing they would've been able to match up with the Avs. To me the Fuhr question is moot, because Jon Casey was outstanding in his place (other than getting lit up in one of the Red Wings games, game 2 IIRC).
As another poster mentioned, there was the perceived negative effect that Mike Keenan had on the team, though I remember quotes from Brett Hull and Chris Pronger to the effect that Keenan basically galvanized the players through a collective hatred for him.
WingsFan95
Registered User
The Blues had many great teams in the 1990s But mindblowing Chemistry destroying trades at deadline destroyed any Cup hopes.
Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
- 78,417
- 52,617
Keenan's management of the 1996 Blues is perhaps my most hated example of team building, that is completely mortgage the future for a last ditch attempt at glory. In a funny way, their opponent in the first round, the Toronto Maple Leafs did the same thing, but had less success. Basically he tried to do what the Rangers did in 1994 by loading up on Dynasty era Oilers and Blackhawks foot soldiers and did so by trading youngish, popular stars like Curtis Joseph and Brendan Shanahan. The resulting roster loaded up with greybeard and muckers guys like Matteau, Creighton, Huddy, Hudson, Kravchuk, Noonan, Anderson, Gilbert, McRae was just as unglamorous as you could get.
Hank Chinaski
Registered User
