It will be strange to see Martin Brodeur in a St. Louis sweater, and there’s every chance that it won’t last long. In hockey, we call this having a “cup of coffee.”
If that’s the case, it won’t be the first time the Blues have had a big name come in for a relatively short stint.
THE SKATERS
Wayne Gretzky The Great One was traded from the Kings to the Blues in 1996 for Roman Vopat, Patrice Tardif, Craig Johnson and a first-rounder. He played 18 regular season games scoring 21 points and helped St. Louis defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last playoff series Maple Leaf Gardens ever hosted. Gretzky and the Blues lost to Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings in the second round and No. 99 went to the New York Rangers in the summer.
Peter Stastny The second-highest scoring player of the 1980s behind Gretzky signed as a free agent in March 1994 after playing for newly independent Slovakia at the 1994 Winter Olympics. He played 17 games to end the season and retired after six games in 1994-95.
When his son Paul was a member of the Colorado Avalanche, Stastny ripped the organization for trading Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and a pick to the Blues for Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and a pick, saying the Avs had “destroyed the team.” Paul is now in his first year of a four-year contract with the Blues.
Jack Carlson Carlson played 112 games for the Blues over two seasons between 1982 and 1984, but he’s best remembered for missing his big acting break. The brother of Jeff and Steve Carlson, otherwise known as the Hanson brothers in arguably hockey’s best film Slap Shot, Jack had to give up his role in the movie to Dave Hanson after he was recalled by the WHA’s Minnesota Fighting Saints during the 1974-75 season.
Petr Nedved The Blues were Nedved’s second NHL team after defecting from Czechoslovakia in 1989 and going No. 2 overall to Vancouver in the 1990 draft. Nedved was playing in a midget tournament in Calgary when he decided to stay in Canada instead of returning home. “When I made the decision…to stay, I had 20 bucks in my pocket and that was it,” he said. Nedved played 19 games for St. Louis in 1993-94, scoring 20 points.
THE GOALTENDERS
Tom Barrasso The two-time Stanley Cup winner, best known for his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, played six games for the Blues in 2002-03—the last season of his 20-year career. He signed a one-day contract with Pittsburgh in 2003 and retired a Penguin.
Jim Carey The “Net Detective” finished out his career in St. Louis, playing four games in 1998-99. Carey was the Vezina Trophy winner just three years earlier with the Washington Capitals, but was out of the game at the age of 25.
Jacques Plante After three years in retirement, the man who popularized the goalie mask was enticed to sign with Scotty Bowman’s Blues and played 69 games over two seasons. At 40 years old, Plante teamed with another legend in Glenn Hall to win the Vezina Trophy in 1969.
COACHES/MANAGERS
Craig MacTavish/Dallas Eakins Two members of today’s struggling Edmonton Oilers played briefly together in St. Louis with MacTavish on the ice for 63 games between 1995 and 1997 and Eakins playing 16 games in 1995-96. MacTavish won three Stanley Cups with the Oilers earlier in his career, while Eakins’s claim to fame is having caught Teemu Selanne’s glove during his celebration after breaking Mike Bossy’s rookie scoring record.
Jim Nill Known today for graduating from the University of Ken Holland and reconstructing the Dallas Stars, Nill played 61 games for the Blues during the 1981-82 season after being drafted 89th overall by the club in 1978. He didn’t finish even one season in St. Louis before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1982. Nill finished his career in Detroit.