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From the PD: Hall vote also cruel reminder to Blues fans

Blues fans have mixed feelings, again, as the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee sorts through its impressive group of worthy candidates.

Al MacInnis, a shoo-in during his first year of eligibility, finished his career as a Blue. His run was cut short by injury and he never did bring a Stanley Cup to St. Louis.

But MacInnis retired here, kept his family here, joined the front office and helped lead the franchise back from the NHL lockout and the Bill Laurie’s bail out. Blues fans rightfully regard Al as a local treasure.

But two other candidates, Scott Stevens and Adam Oates, remind Blues fans of What Could Have Been and What Never Happened for this franchise.

Stevens is almost a mythic figure in these parts. He came, starred for a single season, helped raise hopes for glory and greatness . . . and then abruptly departed as arbitrator-ordered compensation for the Brendan Shanahan signing.

He lasted just one year, but still earned All-Time Great status in the eyes of many fans.

Stevens became the symbol of the Blues’ battle with the NHL. The folks running the franchise at the time, Mike Shanahan and Jack Quinn, had tremendous ambition. They ran the team aggressively and ignored the unwritten mandate from Old School owners.

These two had the temerity to sign Stevens as a free agent, sacrificing five first-round picks to do so. This maneuver was within the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, but it was still bold and unprecedented.

A year later, they made their free-agent play for Brendan Shanahan – thus putting the future of their franchise in the hands of arbitrator Ed Houston. This was the NHL’s chance to slap down an upstart franchise and Houston did the dirty work, forcing the Blues to send Stevens to New Jersey as compensation for Shanahan.

The fix was in. There could be no other explanation for Houston’s bizarre ruling.

I've been sitting here trying to think of an analogous situation in any other team sport to what the NHL did to the Blues in the 1990's. I cannot come up with one. The NFL may have never cared for Al Davis and his "maverick" ways, but I don't think they ever colluded to punish the Raiders as was done to the Blues.

I'll stop here because the rest would just be a string of expletives.

GASL salutes Scott Stevens, the long-time Blue noter that should have been.

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