Is Brett Hull the face of the Blues’ franchise?
THE WATERCOOLER
QUESTION: Brett Hull will enter the Hockey Hall of Fame next week. There are a lot of great names and great players in the long history of the St. Louis Blues. If you had to pick one person historically as the face of the franchise, would that person be Brett Hull?
JEFF GORDON
Brett Hull made the Blues a mainstream attraction during his days here. Scottrade is the House that Brett built. But I would consider Bernie Federko the face of the franchise. His brilliant play kept this franchise going forward through really dark times. Save for a cameo with the Red Wings, he spent his career with the Blues. He has remained heavily involved with the franchise in his retirement. He has old-school ties to the Plagers.
DERRICK GOOLD
I would like to say Al MacInnis, the gentleman from Port Hood with his exceptional play and understated presence, but the face of the Blues was, is and probably always should be Brett Hull. Grinning, of course. Not only is Hull the most charismatic player ever to where the Note, he changed what hockey means to St. Louis. I wish I could remember the exact number: Before Hull arrived there were less than five rinks in the greater St. Louis area. His goal-scoring binges and his panache inspired an exponential proliferation of rinks. Hockey was in because Hull was here. All around the area, you can still find rinks that Hull built. What that meant was hockey took hold in the area as more than just a spectator sport. Couple the increase in rinks with the Blues alumni who became coaches and managers of hockey teams, and suddenly St. Louis was on the map as a source for hockey talent. Starting a few years ago, St. Louis natives started going in the NHL draft. Blues’ Cam Janssen and Ben Bishop are both part products of the rink rage, and they are from an era of young St. Louis-native players that can be considered the Hull Generation. Heck, even Mr. Hockey Andy Strickland, I bet, is a chronic puckhead with an incurable case of mullet envy because of Hull. The Golden Brett didn’t just make watching the game popular with his flamboyant scoring. He made playing the game popular, and for that he’s the face of hockey in St. Louis, Blues and otherwise.
DAN O’NEILL
“Face of the Franchise” is a term that is a little hard to get your arms around. Certainly, there has been no one more dynamic or important to the franchise than Hull. He is the leading goal scorer (527) in Blues history, he is the most colorful/controversial player in Blues history and he is the person most responsible for the team building the Kiel Center (now Scotttrade). Two years before Hull came to the Blues, they were drawing 13,000-14,000. By the time he left, they were drawing 19,000. I have my personal favorites — Red Berenson, Brian Sutter, Mike Liut, Barclay Plager … but there is no question Brett Hull has been the most influential player in the team’s history.
DAVE LUECKING
It’s a tough call because the team has had some great players over the years — guys like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, the Plagers and Al MacInnis — but I’d go with Hull. He brought pizzazz to the franchise, creating a buzz in town only a few years after the team almost left for Saskatoon. His charisma on and off the ice put butts in the seats, at home and on the road.
ANDY STRICKLAND (Hockeybuzz.com, KFNS)
In a way this is a trick question. Is Brett Hull the greatest player to ever play for the Blues? In my opinion yes, but that doesn’t automatically make him the face of the organization. This organization has a lot of faces for me. No one is more recognizable than Bob Plager. Hall of Famer Bernie Federko played all but one of his prolific years here. Then you have guys like Kelly Chase, Brian Sutter, and Al MacInnis. John Davidson is certainly the current face but he’s closer to being the all-time face of the New York Rangers than he would as a Blue.
But what separates Hull from the rest is the impact he made on the sport of hockey in St. Louis. To this day no one has ever had the star power Brett created. He took over the city when he played here and made several of his teammates household names in the city. He was a one-man show unlike any player that’s ever skated for the Blues and made going to games an event. Just like no Cardinal will ever be bigger than Stan the Man, no Blues player can steal the spotlight from the Golden Brett.
Except maybe T.J. Oshie … he’s got a ways to go still.
KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Tough question but I’d have to say no, Hull is not the “historical” face of the franchise. He is certainly the most dynamic scorer and dominating presence the franchise has ever had, but to me the “face” of a franchise has to be more than a guy who lit the lamp a lot while wearing the Blue Note. Hull spent 10-plus seasons here — the best of his career no doubt — but he was also a big part of Stanley Cup winners in Dallas and Detroit, making his legacy a little tougher to read.
The real historical face of the St. Louis Blues franchise is Bernie Federko. He is a homegrown Hall of Famer, he spent 13 of 14 NHL seasons wearing the Blue Note before being traded for Adam Oates and he’s been an integral part of the franchise in the nearly 20 years he’s been retired. He was a great player and has become an ambassador for the team in his retirement. Hull was simply a great player.
I know it was a long time ago but in the beginning years of the Blues the sport exploded in St Louis. It’s a mistake to think that the Blues were a mediocre draw until Hull came along. They packed the old Arena in the early days and the atmosphere was absolutely electric….people paid $2 for Standing Room Only just to be part of it. Gary Unger was nowhere near the player Hull was but he had as much charisma as anyone with the fans. Red Berenson wasn’t as good a player as Hull but he WAS the Blues for several years.
But I have to say I never saw anyone who could finish better in the offensive end better than Hull. He was magic when he got the puck.