1998 – 99 St . Louis Blues season Despite the loss of Brett Hull the Blues made the playoffs for the 20th straight season by finishing in 2nd place with a record of 37 – 32 – 13 . Offseason . Realignment came , as the NHL went from four to six divisions . Carolina , Florida , Tampa Bay and Washington were grouped in the Eastern Conference ' s new Southeast Division and Calgary , Colorado , Edmonton and Vancouver moved into the new Northwest Division in the Western Conference . Blues captain Chris Pronger was in midseason form during one of the team ' s voluntary scrimmages in late August . After 90 minutes of exhausting four - on - four hockey with only eight players per team , Pronger was campaigning to prolong the game . The sentiment was nothing new for a man who logged more ice time per game ( 30 : 37 ) than any other player in the league last season . And when Pronger wasn ' t on the ice , it seemed that Norris Trophy winner Al MacInnis was . At 35 , MacInnis had the finest season of his outstanding 16 - year career . He led NHL defensemen in scoring with 62 points , averaged more than 29 minutes per game ( fourth in the league ) and was + 33 on a team whose next - highest mark in that category was center Craig Conroy ' s + 14 . The problem for the Blues was finding four other defensemen they wanted to put on the ice . In training camp the Blues were getting ready for the regular - season wars . During intrasquad games MacInnis and Pronger exchanged slashes - - MacInnis called them " love taps " - - and Pronger fought rookie forward Brandon Sugden and had a nasty mid - ice collision with defenceman Jamie Rivers , who was subsequently lost in the waiver draft . That ill - tempered defense will help goalie Roman Turek , who had sparkling numbers ( 16 – 3 – 3 , 2 . 08 goals - against average ) as Ed Belfour ' s backup in Dallas last season . Turek , 29 , will get his first crack at being a No . 1 goalie now that Grant Fuhr has been shipped to Calgary . Netminding was a problem for the Blues in 1998 – 99 : St . Louis allowed the fewest shots of any team in the league , but its goals - against average ranked only 14th . The scoring load will fall to 24 - year - old forward Pavol Demitra , who broke out last season and led the team with 37 goals and 89 points . His 10 game - winning goals were one behind league - leader Brett Hull of the Stars . Crafty center Pierre Turgeon had a strong postseason ( 13 points in 13 games ) and a solid training camp . The rookie to watch is 22 - year - old forward Jochen Hecht , a German who had two goals in five playoff games after a late - season call - up . He has outstanding size ( 6 ft 3 in , 200 pounds ) and skill and is versatile enough to play any position up front . The Blues are a team with a scrappy attitude , a handful of stars - - count 41 - year - old coach Joel Quenneville among them - - and a future among the Western Conference ' s elite teams . Regular season . Despite the loss of Brett Hull the Blues made the playoffs for the 20th straight season by finishing in 2nd place with a record of 37 – 32 – 13 . Helping to keep the Blues playoff streak alive was Al MacInnis who won the Norris trophy as the best defenceman in the NHL , while Pavol Demitra provided the scoring touch with 37 goals . In the playoffs the Blues would find themselves in a quick hole as they trailed the Phoenix Coyotes 3 games to 1 . However the Blues would rally and take the series in 7 games . However , in the 2nd round the Bleus would be knocked off again as they are beaten by the Dallas Stars led by Brett Hull in 6 games . Hull would go on to score the Stanley Cup Clinching goal for the Stars .