The highlight of the 1996–97 St. Louis Blues season was, after losing Wayne Gretzky the Blues were in turmoil as an ugly public feud between Brett Hull and coach Mike Keenan developed. This was the last season until early 2009, that a huge Blue note would appear at center ice.
Offseason
On July 21, Wayne Gretzky's short tenure with the Blues ended when he signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent, rejoining longtime Oilers teammate Mark Messier.
Regular season
The Blues were in turmoil as an ugly public feud between Brett Hull and Coach Mike Keenan developed, as the Blues got off to a slow start. On December 19 the Keenan era would come to a sudden end as he is fired as GM and Coach. Eventually he would be replaced by assistant coach Jim Roberts.
Roberts' stint as interim head coach lasted nine games, as the team would hire Colorado Avalanche assistant coach Joel Quenneville to serve as the team's head coach. The change worked with Quenneville behind the bench as the Blues recovered and made the playoffs for the 18th straight season with a 36–35–11 record. However, once again the Blues would make a quick exit in the playoffs as they are beaten by the Detroit Red Wings in 6 games.
Final standings
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
Playoffs
The Blues lost 4 games to 2 to the Detroit Red Wings in the first round.
Schedule and results
Regular season
Playoffs
Player statistics
Scoring
- Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blues only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blues only.
Goaltending
Awards and records
Awards
Milestones
Draft picks
St. Louis's draft picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
See also
- 1996–97 NHL season
Notes
References
