Watching the Blues and Devils skate on Scottrade Center ice Tuesday Night, I couldn’t help but think back to one of my all-time favorite Blues’ players, and I couldn’t help but think, “What might have been?”
Scott Stevens wore the Bluenote for only one season, but he did so wearing the “C”. The Blues gave up two first round draft picks and $100,000 in signing the 6”2’, 215 pound defenseman, a restricted free agent from the Washington Capitals, in the summer of 1990. The contract was to last for four years with the Blues.
The Blues already had the likes of a young Brett Hull paired with Adam Oates. The 90-91 season would be the season in which Hull would net 86 goals, and Oates had 90 assists. In addition, a young goaltender, Curtis Joseph, split time between the pipes with Vincent Riendeau. The bottom line is the Blues had a deep roster and they finished with 47 wins, 22 losses, and 11 ties good for 105 points. That is a points percentage of .656. They would lose in the 2nd round of playoffs to the Minnesota North Stars.
In that one season, we saw what Stevens could do. He scored 5 goals and assisted on 44. What we saw was a big, strong offensive defensemen who could move the puck, or move the body from in front of his own net. And, he could drop the gloves when needed!
One of the best memories came March 17th, 1991. It was at the old Chicago Stadium, and it became known as the St. Patrick’s Day Massacre. A complete line brawl had already erupted, when Stevens and Dave Manson skated out from the corner to slug it out at center ice. Other players stopped fighting just to watch that bout!
It all came crashing down on July 25th, 1991. That was the day the Blues added to their depth, signing 22-year-old Brendan Shanahan from the New Jersey Devils. Shanahan, as Stevens had been the previous summer, was a restricted free agent. Since the Blues did not have the draft picks to give up as compensation, they offered current players and future draft picks. That wasn’t good enough for the Devils. They wanted Scott Stevens. An arbitrator ruled in their favor.
The Blues went on and had a solid decade. Stevens and Shanahan would both end up in the Hall of Fame, and Stevens would win three Stanley Cups with the Devils. I’ve always wondered, how many Cups the Blues would have won if they had Hull, Shanahan, Oates, Joseph, and Stevens as the nucleus through the 90’s.
