Blues Quarter Century Team reaction: Cup winners honored, but one snub stings

On Tuesday, kicking off the 2025 NHL Winter Classic, the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues unveiled their Quarter-Century teams, naming their best players since 2000, voted on by broadcasters and former players.

As each team releases its Quarter-Century squad, we’ll provide analysis on Daily Faceoff as to what the voters got right and wrong. We began with the Blackhawks. Wednesday. Today, we look at the Blues.

THE TEAM

First Team

FORWARDS

Alexander Steen
Vladimir Tarasenko
Keith Tkachuk

DEFENSEMEN

Alex Pietrangelo
Chris Pronger

GOALIE

Jordan Binnington

Second Team

FORWARDS

David Backes
Ryan O’Reilly
David Perron

DEFENSEMEN

Al MacInnis
Colton Parayko

GOALIE

Brian Elliott

WHAT THEY GOT RIGHT

The Blues won their first and only Stanley Cup in 2018-19, which was their 51^st season. The list naturally had to honor the franchise’s greatest moment, so it was no surprise to see seven members of the 2018-19 squad sprinkled across the first and second Quarter Century Teams. I can only assume some people would complain about the Hall of Famer MacInnis landing on the second team while borderline Hall case Pietrangelo cracked the first team, but I think the voters got this right. MacInnis won his lone Norris Trophy as a Blue, but it came in 1998-99 and thus wasn’t counted as part of the sample used in the vote. Also, Pietrangelo captained this team to its lone championship and spent the majority of his prime years with the Blues. Steen and Tarasenko are St. Louis institutions, too. But it was also nice to see Pronger and Tkachuk, who didn’t play on the Cup teams, recognized for their dominance. No NHL defenseman has captured the Hart Trophy as league MVP since Pronger did it in 1999-00. Also: shoutout to reliable 1B goaltender Elliott who posted a .925 save percentage across his 181 appearances as a Blue this century.

WHAT THEY GOT WRONG

Steen was a Blue for much longer and will take over as their GM after the 2025-26 season, but should O’Reilly have been recognized as a first-teamer for making a bigger overall impact? His 2018-19 ranks among the best seasons of any Blue; he captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward. While Backes is one of four players to wear the Blues’ ‘C’ for five or more seasons, he wasn’t one of their top stars ever, nor was he part of the Stanley Cup team.

BIGGEST SNUB

The Blues leader in points per game since 1999-00 among players who logged at least 200 games with the team: the late Pavol Demitra, who passed away in KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl’s tragic plane crash in 2011. He finished top 10 in league scoring three times as a Blue and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1999-00 to boot. You could make a case he had the highest peak of any St. Louis forward in the past 25 years. He should’ve made the list over Backes. Doug Weight was also one of the better playmaking centers in the NHL in the early 2000s and deserved consideration.

VERDICT

The Blues got most of this list right by acknowledging the glory (Gloria) of the 2018-19 team. But to leave off Demitra in favor of good, not great forward in Backes who was beloved but not part of the Stanley Cup year was a curious choice.

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