Color Them Back

The seats at the Kiel Center are blue, as they should have been from the start. After all, the team that plays there isn’t the St. Louis Fuchsias.

And instead of the garish murals that were displayed along the concourse in a misguided attempt to enliven the atmosphere, the walls have been repainted blue and trimmed with the same white and yellow accents that appear on the team’s uniforms.

The reupholstery and redecorating at the 3-year-old arena aren’t merely cosmetic changes. They symbolize the rebirth of the St. Louis Blues, who have survived the flux and financial ravages of Mike Keenan’s regime as coach and general manager and are again a vital force in the NHL and in their city.

“We created an atmosphere of apathy that everyone who has lived here a long time and been a fan of the team like I was, thought would be impossible,” said Jim Woodcock, a St. Louis native who became the team’s senior vice president for marketing and communications this season. “The organization is 31 years old. We worked very hard during those years to build a good atmosphere, and we cashed it all out in a 12-month period.”

The blue is back, and after several difficult years, so are the Blues.

They begin their best-of-seven playoff series against the Kings on Thursday at the Kiel Center as the favorites after scoring a league-leading 256 goals and compiling a 45-29-8 record, fourth-best in the NHL. Their .695 home winning percentage (26-10-5) was also the league’s fourth best. They drew 23 sellouts to the 19,260-seat Kiel Center, including 18 of their last 19 games.

“Right from the top, they’re doing all the right things,” left wing Geoff Courtnall said of club executives.

There was plenty to be done. Nearly tapped out financially when they fired Keenan in December, 1996--they still owe $13.5 million to players he acquired but are no longer with the team--the Blues were also losing fans. After two consecutive losing seasons at home, attendance last season fell 17% from 1994-95, and no wonder. The Blues, with an aging roster of expensive players and no apparent direction, lost to Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.

“Sixteen months ago, this was a mess,” said Joe Micheletti, a former Blues player who is a commentator on the team’s telecasts. “People weren’t showing up. People who were season-ticket holders for 15 years had given them up. They’ve turned this thing around in a hurry.”

General Manager Larry Pleau, hired last June after eight seasons with the New York Rangers in charge of player development and personnel, and Coach Joel Quenne-ville, an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche until the Blues hired him in January 1997, shut the revolving door Keenan had set spinning. Keenan made 29 trades and acquired 23 players through free agency or waivers in 29 months; Pleau signed nine free agents last summer but made only two trades. He didn’t make another deal until deadline day, when he made two good but not huge moves.

“I was trying to stabilize things to the point where there was some consistency in how we were trying to do things. And keeping an open mind was important,” Pleau said. “I know there were players who, when we talked last summer, we didn’t think would be part of the hockey team from hearing how they played before. [Defenseman] Jamie Rivers wasn’t expected to make our hockey team. [Goalie] Jamie McLennan was another one. Between stability and keeping an open mind, I think some of the players have responded pretty well.”

Said Courtnall: “We have a lot of communication with management, which is something we didn’t have in the past. Joel Quenneville has done a great job of being on an even keel. We’re relaxed and allowed to have fun, but we know if we don’t perform, he comes down on us, which is the way it should be.”

It wasn’t that way under Keenan. His heavy-handedness, especially his threats to bench or demote youngsters, created a climate of anxiety instead of igniting a drive for excellence. He also alienated fans by trading Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph and by losing Wayne Gretzky to free agency after he sent the Kings three players and two draft picks to get hockey’s all-time leading scorer.

“He has high expectations, and if they’re not met every day, he wants to make changes to meet them. In this business that’s difficult to do quickly,” Courtnall said. “It leaves the guys in the room in an uneasy position.”

Certainly, Keenan made some good trades and his prodding spurred defenseman Chris Pronger’s progress and resurrected goalie Grant Fuhr’s career. However, most players lived in a state of tension and near-rebellion. “Nasty is the right word for it,” Brett Hull said of the atmosphere around the team.

That has been replaced by a sense of tranquillity and community, inside the locker room and out.

Keenan didn’t want players to walk through the team offices, but they’re again welcome to go in and chat with executives, assistants and sales people. Keenan limited players’ public appearances, but such activities are again encouraged. Former players have also been welcomed back, reestablishing a link to the club’s past. “A lot of things went into this outside of hockey that had a lot to do with attitude, with stability,” Pleau said.

To lure fans, prices were reduced on 63% of the arena’s seats--some by only $1 but others by as much as $21--and $15 tickets were designated for family plans at every game, not only against teams that are weak draws. It didn’t hurt that the Blues had an 8-1-1 start at home. “If the product is there on the ice, fans are going to come,” Courtnall said.

The product has been there, and the fans have come back in droves.

“We had priced out the genuine, blue-collar, working-class fan whose idea of a night out is going out to a tavern, coming to a game and going back to the tavern,” Woodcock said. “We essentially told fans, ‘You’re not wanted in the gleaming, new Kiel Center and it’s all about escalators and suites.’ You never, never can lose sight of where we got today and the working-class fans who were so loyal to this team.”

Players wanted loyalty from management too.

“It’s a funny thing in sports. Nobody wants to believe it, but stability is probably the one thing that gives you a certain amount of success,” Pleau said. “It doesn’t bring you everything, but it does bring you a certain amount of success, no matter how good or bad you are. From there, it’s another step altogether.”

The Blues have taken a step up, thanks to Quenneville’s team-oriented defensive system. In its reliance on four lines and every defenseman, it appeals more successfully to players’ pride than Keenan’s shouts.

“We’ve been good defensively. I think people have overlooked that,” Fuhr said. “We play well at both ends of the ice, and everybody’s contributing, not just one or two guys.”

The Blues’ obvious strengths are the unflappable Fuhr--a five-time Stanley Cup winner with Edmonton--and their defense. Steve Duchesne, whose 56 points ranked fourth among defensemen, and veteran Al MacInnis, renowned for his blistering shot but also solid defensively, are the biggest names. Pronger, who led the NHL with a plus-45 plus/minus rating, is making a name for himself and will win the Norris Trophy soon, if not this season.

Several lesser-known players were equally important to the team’s defensive cohesion and generated a surprising amount of offense. The checking line of Blair Atcheynum, Scott Pellerin and Craig Conroy neutralizes opponents and scored a combined 98 points, giving the Blues an extra dimension. “Last year we tried to rely too much on one line,” Pronger said. “We struggled to score goals.”

Not anymore. Courtnall--the Blues’ top goal scorer with 31--Slovakian center Pavol Demitra and Jim Campbell have speed and creativity and rookie Pascal Rheaume helps defensively on the top line with Hull and Pierre Turgeon.

Their success hasn’t come at a high price. Rheaume was acquired in the waiver draft and Blues scouts spotted Atcheynum and Pellerin in the minor leagues and signed them as free agents. Demitra, lost in Ottawa’s minor league system, was acquired for a spare defenseman. Campbell, discarded by the Mighty Ducks, was also a free agent. Conroy, Demitra, Campbell, Pellerin, defensemen Chris McAlpine and Rudy Poeschek and enforcer Tony Twist each earn $650,000 or less, but their performances have been priceless.

“The way this team has played is a lot like L.A.,” Pleau said. “We’ve kind of emphasized what a team is all about, depending on 24 guys instead of two or three.”

The extent of the Blues’ renaissance will depend partly on how they fare in the playoffs. Hull, MacInnis, Duchesne and Courtnall can become walkaway free agents July 1, but a serious run at the Stanley Cup might persuade them to stay. For now, though, they’re not thinking about dollar signs.

“Not that we’re overly concerned with what anybody believes, but to get respect you have to do it in the playoffs,” MacInnis said. “We’re healthy now and everybody in the dressing room wants the same thing. We’ve really had a great bunch of guys here and it’s going to be fun.”

Said Fuhr: “It’s been fun. It will be a lot more fun if we’re successful in the next few months.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NHL PLAYOFFS

Kings vs. Blues

(Best of seven)

* Thursday: at St. Louis, 4:30

* Saturday: at St. Louis, 4:30

* Monday: at Kings, 7:30

* April 29: at Kings, 7:30

* May 1: at St. Louis, 4:30

* May 3: at Kings, noon-x

* May 5: at St. Louis, 4:30

x-if necessary

Kings vs. Blues

The Kings finished 0-3-1 against the St. Louis Blues in the regular season:

OCT. 9, at ST. LOUIS, L, 3-2 (OT)

* Brett Hull scored all of the Blues’ goals and former King Steve Duchesne assisted on all three. Yanic Perreault and Jozef Stumpel scored for the Kings, who converted one of two power-play opportunities, the only time they scored a power-play goal against St. Louis in the four games.

NOV. 27, at ST. LOUIS, T, 2-2

* Stumpel and Luc Robitaille scored for L.A. Hull, frustrated by his inability to score or even get a decent shot, picked up a 10-minute misconduct penalty for arguing with the referee. The Kings failed to convert on two power-play opportunities.

FEB. 28, at FORUM, L, 5-2

* In perhaps their worst performance of the season, the Kings blew a 2-1 lead by giving up two goals during a 10-second span late in the second period. L.A. managed only 19 shots against Blue goalie Jamie McLennan, subbing for an injured Grant Fuhr. Kings were scoreless in five power-play chances.

APRIL 16, at FORUM, L, 7-3

* In a game marred by fights, L.A. gave up three goals in the first period and was dominated on both ends of the ice. The Kings failed to score in seven power-play chances, making them an embarrassing one for 16 during the season against the Blues. St. Louis, meanwhile, converted on seven of 20 opportunities.