In Search Of Least Favorite Blue

by Brad Lee on Oct 28, 2008 9:27 AM CDT

Sasha. Fitting name, dude.

By Brad Lee

Even the most diehard fan has one player on his favorite team that he or she just can't stand.

It might be a guy who is overrated but the coach has an obvious soft spot for him. Or maybe it's a player who you know will choke in the clutch. Or maybe it's a guy you just don't understand why he gets playing time. So while you probably dislike the player a lot, there's always a few times when he does something right for a change and you end up cheering him. Seasons can get really long and sometimes you just need a scapegoat.

There are least favorite players on almost any team. Take Jason Isringhausen with the St. Louis Cardinals for instance. When that fucker was lights out, the fans would go crazy. When he would walk three straight batters with two outs, the fans would go crazy. Now you may have been so fanatical that you booed him and his wife during the World Series parade in 2006, but you probably cheered him before or after when he wasn't a sore-armed flop slinger.

Personally, I thought Ray King was a fun guy to have in the bullpen because he looked like a fan instead of an MLB pitcher. But his last season in St. Louis, he was really good at not getting guys out. It sucked. I wanted him to do well, but I always expected the worst.

Go to a Rams game, the field is full of them. Steven Jackson had the holdout. Marc Bulger replaced the deity. Orlando Pace doesn't like training camp. Leonard Little had that fatal car accident. The same fans who call sports-talk radio and do their best angry man impersonation are the same people standing and cheering when the Rams are winning.

Traditionally with the Blues, I like to dislike the guys who don't do what's expected of them. For instance, take Sasha Khavanov. He was generously labeled a defenseman even though he was adverse to contact and didn't like being in front of his team's net. He'd let the opposition bring folding chairs and a camp stove with them to the goal's doorstep. Sasha wouldn't go near them. He had some offensive ability from the blue line, but he was a liability every time he stepped on the ice. Fuck him.

Mike Eastwood was billed as a faceoff specialist. Unfortunately, I never remembered him winning a key faceoff late in a game. Dude would be put out there with the best players on the team, lose the faceoff and then make a change to get a real player on the ice. I dreaded seeing his slow ass out there to flail at the puck every draw he took.

My buddy Gabe a few years ago was not a big fan of Mark Rycroft. Granted, Mark Rycroft is kind of an obscure, fourth-line player who didn't have a distinguished career in the Note. But Gabe felt strongly about this guy. He actually called Rycroft a waste of uniform material. Those are strong words.

Hey, where did the puck go? In recent years, the Blues have been filled with Least Favorite Players. Eric Brewer has been called a lot of things on the Internets. Emotional, fired up, great leader and inspirational player were never among them. At Game Time, we actually believe he's some sort of android that is void of all human emotion. The guy has never visibly enjoyed playing in St. Louis. Plus he was prone the last few seasons to making mind-blowing mistakes with the puck at his own blue line and in the neutral zone. Gaining the captaincy and not being a really visible fuckup have led the fans to boo him less. He'll never be a fan favorite, but he leads the Blues in ice time for a reason: he's not that bad.

Sister Christian Backman had all the tools in the world, and showed them once every eight games. Good riddance. Hannu Toivonen led the league in awkward photos showing the puck behind him in the net. Dallas Drake was old, slow and breaking down. All were targeted by fans with their displeasure.

This year is a little different. While we're only eight games in (almost 10 percent of the schedule), I don't' have a solid No. 1 Least Favorite Player. They're a bunch of likable players. Sure Cam Janssen can be a moron, but he's actually been successful of late drawing penalties from the other team and not retaliating. Mike Weaver and Roman Polak don't see enough ice time to get criticized. Dan Hinote's hustle makes up for his lack of skill. Lee Stempniak has seen a resurgence with talented linemates. I'm sure at some point someone will emerge from the pack and do something so stupid, his role on the team will be obvious.

Who is your Least Favorite Player in Blues history? How about on the current team? Let me know in the comments.

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Is it even necessary to ask as far as who on this current team is the least liked by the fans? It has to be Captain Eric “Can’t-Play-the-Point” Brewer. It might not be so bad, but they made him the captain.

by Dave S on Oct 28, 2008 10:58 AM CDT reply actions

current: wagner or brewer.

previous winners of the award go to: brewer, cajanek, lalime, osgood, quintal, gretzky,

history, im not old enough to make that sort of commitment.

by NaJaKwa on Oct 28, 2008 11:20 AM CDT reply actions

Where do we start? Vitali Prokhorov? Good for about 30 pts in 3 seasons?

How about Dan Quinn? He was part of one of the worst trades in Blues history.

An easy answer is almost any player the Mike Kennan brought in: Brian Noonan. Adam Creighton. Stephane Matteau.

by JGB on Oct 28, 2008 11:22 AM CDT reply actions

How about every terrible goaltender this organization tried to convince us would be a prime #1 goalie?

Brent Johnson
Fred Brathwaite
Roman Turek

ugh.

by Adam on Oct 28, 2008 11:25 AM CDT reply actions

As a season ticket holder in 301, and a regular purchaser of Gametime before every game, I must say my least favorite on the team now has to be “Mr. Roboto” Eric Brewer. I have never seen a guy make so many mistakes and really show no remorse or guilt for making those mistakes. I can’t tell you the number of times during the games 60+ I have been to over the past 3 years, where I wish another number 4 would apear on his back and the name plate magically change to Pronger. I know Prongs was a train wreck when he first came to town but, Chopper took him under his wing and made him in to one of the most domonite players in the league and one of the toughest to play against. If Mr. Checketts had bought this team a year sooner, we wouldn’t have had to go through the past 3 season of “Brewer you suck” echos from fans in the crowd. But the worst all-time for me has to be Mike Eastwood. I remember me and my dad both making jokes about how he must have been giving Coach Q good head to be playing in the lineup on a consistant basis. I mean that guy was terrible. He looked like he was always going to fall down and really never served his purpose as a key faceoff specialist. He just looked plan goofy out there.

by jaymac on Oct 28, 2008 11:26 AM CDT reply actions

Lalime…uck.
I’m gonna get flamed for this. Great player for the Blues, but I just couldn’t be a fan of his, Hull.

by tab on Oct 28, 2008 12:13 PM CDT reply actions

Gotta disagree on the Khavanov assessment. Yeah, he wasn’t a physical player, but he had great awareness out there.
Completely agree on the Mike Eastwood assessment. Hated that guy.
But my least favorite of all time is probably Adam Creighton.

by hullnoates on Oct 28, 2008 12:30 PM CDT reply actions

Current Roster: Sorry to sound like a broken record but …the top honor goes to Brewer. But I have been on the fence about McClement the last couple of seasons. I keep hearing, he’s going to break out and become a real threat. But i think the best we’re going to get is his 2nd season total of thirty-some points.

Past Notes:
#3-Rudy Poeschek

Roman Turek

and the top honor in my book

#1-Matt (I can barely skate or make/receive a pass) Walker

I’ll catch crap for this but, I was always a fan of a much hated Blue Jeff Finley. I thought that he was a decent defensive minded D-man, just not as productive as the other D on the team. But, on multiple fan boards and site people really seemed to hate him.

by Cyco13 on Oct 28, 2008 12:40 PM CDT reply actions

JGB wrote:

Where do we start? Vitali Prokhorov? Good for about 30 pts in 3 seasons?

—————

You seem to have “conveniently” overlooked several facts:

1. Prokhorov’s “three seasons” in the NHL added up to the equivalent of one season (83 games).

2. In the only extended playing time he ever got with the Blues, he scored 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4395

3. Prokhorov’s misfortune waas to have been a Blue at the same time that Mike “I’m A Complete Asshole” Keenan was running the show. Keenan wouldn’t have played the KLM Line intact, let alone Prokhorov or any other Russian, because he was too busy kissing the asses of the grinders who used to play for him, and scouring the waiver wires for every 6’3, 225-pound 35-year old he could find.

You want to bag on Russians, fine… try Igor Kravchuk or Yuri Khmylev (both Keenan acquisitions, BTW). Prokhorov was more than adequate as a player, and would have been a good supplemental scorer on this team if anyone else but Mike “I’m A Complete Asshole” Keenan had been running the organization at the time.

As for least-favorite Blues, Osgood gets my vote. Wins Cups in Detroit, sucks pus-dribbling ass while in the ‘Note. A classic example of a player’s individual success being 100% dependent on that of the team, whereas a guy like Legace actually makes a mediocre team better when he’s in the net.

by Brian Weidler on Oct 28, 2008 1:01 PM CDT reply actions

Brewer is number one at the moment

But in the past, I’ve hated

Cory Stillman (We want Conroy back!)

Keith Tkachuk (I felt we gave up waaaay too much for a guy that never performed well in the playoffs and had also been a contract holdout before, but I will admit it’s almost impossible to hate him at all this season)

Doug Weight (I loved his loyalty towards the Blues and thought he was one of the classiest players in the game, but everytime he went into the offensive zone he would try to stick handle around 3 players and force a turnover and it was annoying as hell)

Lalime (he was just terrible)

Fuhr (We had a pretty good team in front of him those years and he really wasn’t an NHL caliber goaltender anymore)

by Nacho Philosophy! on Oct 28, 2008 1:01 PM CDT reply actions

Valeri Bure
Osgood
The “Keenan” guys

by Poor College Student on Oct 28, 2008 1:25 PM CDT reply actions

Oh…and Cajanek…can’t forget Cajanek

by Poor College Student on Oct 28, 2008 1:29 PM CDT reply actions

Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I just threw his name out there as a frustration of wasted talent from the early-to-mid 90’s.

I guess could be wrong about Prokhorov, being a offensive minded player during the Kennan Era. I guess that’s why no other team touched him after his release with from the Blues.

by JGB on Oct 28, 2008 1:33 PM CDT reply actions

Eric Brewer (duh!)
Rienhard Divis
Patrick Lalime
Tom Barrasso
Rory Fitzpatrick

Forgetable nobodies like Mike “I-tried-to-kill-my-agent” Danton, Simon Gamache, Timofei Shishkanov from the Sillinger deal, Ville Nieminen, Glen Metropolit, Mike Glumac

by david on Oct 28, 2008 1:50 PM CDT reply actions

Harry York, Blair Atcheynum, Denis Chasse, Daniel Corso, J.J. Daigneault, Dallas Eakins, Chris McAlpine, Joe Murphy (and the rest of the “Keenan guys”), Pascal Rheaume (his sister was way hotter, and way more talented), and Reid Simpson.

There’s a special dislike for Scott Young.

Oh, and Sean Hill. Fuck Sean Hill.

by Lee Norwood's Left Testy on Oct 28, 2008 2:05 PM CDT reply actions

i love that blues fans are now almost in total agreement that brewer sucks so bad that we can’t trade his ass. There are still some fucktards out there that think he’s good though.

by NaJaKwa on Oct 28, 2008 2:36 PM CDT reply actions

Brewer: The good news is he’s not that bad.
The bad news is he’s not Pronger

by Poor College Student on Oct 28, 2008 3:00 PM CDT reply actions

Jamie Rivers

by Andy on Oct 28, 2008 3:34 PM CDT reply actions

Nacho Philosophy! Says: October 28th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Keith Tkachuk (I felt we gave up waaaay too much for a guy that never performed well in the playoffs and had also been a contract holdout before, but I will admit it’s almost impossible to hate him at all this season)

I can echo this entirely. I didn’t pay for a post-lockout game or come back as a season ticket holder until they traded him to Atlanta. (Joke was on me — they re-signed him after I was too deep into payments on season tix to back out).

I’m actually starting to like the guy this season because he is finally the power forward we expected him to be. He is also the team leader we need. He’s got a nose out of the doghouse in my book.

by Milo on Oct 28, 2008 5:08 PM CDT reply actions

@ Lee Norwood’s Left Teste: I think you misunderstood the directions. Looking for the most hated Blues, not the most obscure Blues. Dallas Eakins?? Jesus Christ. Surprised you didn’t include Jim Montgomery and Geoff Sarjeant!

by hullnoates on Oct 28, 2008 5:13 PM CDT reply actions

Andy, you better hope that Mrs. Red Berensen never comes across you in a dark alley.

by Chris Gift on Oct 28, 2008 5:39 PM CDT reply actions

He may not be on salary, but he has his own “special” jersey.

That’s enough to include “Towel Boy” in my book.

Fuck him

by Poor College Student on Oct 28, 2008 6:28 PM CDT reply actions

current least favorite: Eric Brewer
contending: Jay McClement

previously: Chris Pronger, Marc Bergevin, Pierre Turgeon, Brendan Shanahan (for his first year)

by pdub on Oct 28, 2008 6:55 PM CDT reply actions

“Lee Stempniak has seen a resurgence with talented linemates.”

I’ll believe this when I see it. One assist in four games does not a resurgence make.

It seems like Stempniak and McClement go through periods where they are just daring each other not to score. At least Boyes’ goal in the Detroit game may be an indication that the rest of the team has officially decided to stop passing to Jay during 2 on 1’s. Seriously, why is he always the other guy on nearly every 2 on 1?

It’s a feeling short of hate, its hard to hate anyone wearing the blue note, but I cringe and shake my head extra hard every time Lee Snakebitniak doesnt convert when it really seems like he should or Jay McCementhands manages to not put the puck on net on the odd man rush.

by bzgea2 on Oct 28, 2008 8:42 PM CDT reply actions

alexi kasatonov. the offensive d-man the blues traded for to get them over the hump. just before keenan got here

Yuri Khmylev (for a second, 3rd and the right to a goon) during the keenan years. I’m not sure what he was supposed to provide, but we gave him 9 games over two seasons to do it.

Timofei Shishkanov

the scrubs with expectations i guess. you go out, you get them, you talk them up and they are a pile of crap on a stick we aren’t supposed to notice?

however i suppose the odd-ball would be Wayne Gretzky. hate probably is too strong. i just don’t consider him a blue. much less a blues captian. if i did i suppose i would hate him. Of all the players in blues history he has to represent the expectations, the promise, the failure, and the aftershock of a heady and dreadful 3 year period. perhaps of the entire franchise to date.

hard to hate stevens for the blues cheating, hard to hate the team dumping people for babysitter fondling, there is no player to hate in the ralston parina draftless year (although maybe i should hate tom barrasso, opicked 5th, the spot the blues shoudl have had.

by Childhood Trauma on Oct 28, 2008 9:54 PM CDT reply actions

obviously cam on the team today. maybe korci. maybe even koci more than cam. blues go out and get a guy they can’t use and everyone in the room knew he was worthless. how do the blues not know? i mean seriously. how could they not know what they were getting?

by Childhood Trauma on Oct 28, 2008 9:57 PM CDT reply actions

Glenn Featherstone

I was young, but I’ve never heard my old man talk so much trash about a single athlete in any sport. Spent a couple years really hating that guy.

by chris on Oct 28, 2008 9:58 PM CDT reply actions

Petr “What mean ‘effort’?” Cajanek. Here is a player who when he actually tried, was a solid 2-way player and was good for some points. The problem is he only gave a full effort when he felt like it…which wasn’t very often. Hell, it took him clearing waivers (twice) during the 05-06 season before he came back and strung together a series of games where he scored points. Even that effort didn’t seem to last more than a few games.

As far as current players, I’ll have to go with the majority here and say Brewer. Making an occasional mistake is fine…but at least show some frustration with yourself, if it’s even only after you reach the bench. Hell, I don’t even think I’ve seen him smile when he’s scored a goal. Show me something that let’s me know you aren’t just human tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

by Dan on Oct 28, 2008 10:46 PM CDT reply actions

Echo again. Walt needs to at least play like this for half a season before I even begin to forget the young talent we gave up for his old overrated ass.

Previous least favoite was Weight. Another guy we traded too much for. Anyone noticed he played his best hockey before coming to St. louis and now seems to be getting better again afte rleaving St. Louis.

by Pagan on Oct 28, 2008 10:48 PM CDT reply actions

Tony Hrkac!!!

“but he’s a Hobey Baker winner!!!”

by JGB on Oct 28, 2008 10:51 PM CDT reply actions

JGB, Peter Sejna falls into that category as well.

How about Aaron Downey?

by ZouBlue on Oct 28, 2008 11:12 PM CDT reply actions

On another note, I ran into a rare pic of the golf cart Erik Johnson was driving when he was injured. It can be seen Here. I knew there was something wierd about that “accident”.

by Dan on Oct 28, 2008 11:20 PM CDT reply actions

Harry York? But he won rookie of the month in October 1996! …and a certain #37 clown jersey hangs in my closet. Yes, I do hang my head in shame.

How about Terry “IHL Scoring Champ” Yake? The guy always seemed to be waaaay over his head, ie on the top 2 lines. Injuries, the general lack of scoring depth on those late 90s teams, and a little bit of the ol’ Eastwood treatment has him at my most hated. Effin’ Terry Yake.

go blues

by DT on Oct 28, 2008 11:57 PM CDT reply actions

Mike Kitchen
Jason Marshall
Tony Hrkac
Mike Eastwood almost ran over my friend in his Ferrari to avoid signing an autograph so that’s hatred enough
but most of all I hate: Joe Murphy

by Dooks on Oct 29, 2008 12:24 AM CDT reply actions

I don’t know if I’m more surprised that Mike Eastwood has a Ferrari or that someone wanted Mike Eastwood’s autograph.

by gallagher on Oct 29, 2008 12:31 AM CDT reply actions

I remember it being a niiice car, but didn’t remember what exactly it was. I checked back with my friend and he said it was an Eclipse.

the only reason he wanted his autograph is because he was trying to get the whole team

by Dooks on Oct 29, 2008 1:34 PM CDT reply actions

Not that I really minded the players themselves, but it sucked when Keenan tried re-invent the Oilers. Huddy? MacTavish? Anderson? Noonan(ranger)? Were these guys really necessary?

Oh, and fuck Stephen Leach.

by Stlchapman on Oct 29, 2008 5:40 PM CDT reply actions

I will have to think about all time (Lalime, Khavanov, and Brent Johnson will make up the top three for sure though), but I think Brewer has got an early lead for this season.

by Greg on Oct 29, 2008 8:29 PM CDT reply actions

Bergevin!!! Come on! Terrible.

by Bluesy on Oct 29, 2008 11:19 PM CDT reply actions

Remember the early 90s the Russian experiment: Vitali Karamnov, Igor Korolev, Vitali Prokhorov

by CK on Oct 29, 2008 11:42 PM CDT reply actions

I hate Eric Johnson’s golf cart

by Dooks on Oct 30, 2008 12:59 AM CDT reply actions

ck- again these were organizational issue, not players. it may seem the russians sucked (although one made an ok career for a while) the reality is the blues underscouted these players. there were persistant reports that prokhorov had been scouted once and apparently that was during his best ever. he was never higher than 4th on his own team in scoring (and the top 3 were basically never drafted, so go figure).

so it is a bit like gretzky i suppose. if you hate the palyer in these cases what you really end up hating is the disfunctionality of the blues. combined with hype (ken wilson screaming, more than once, “THe Russians are coming!!!!”), and the eventual failure of whatever game plan the blues might have had

by Childhood Trauma on Oct 30, 2008 9:58 AM CDT reply actions

Current as far as that “Ahh shit, so-and-so is on the ice” feeling? I don’t have a good enough sense about this year’s team yet. Ask me at the start of the season and it’s Janssen, but he hasn’t Hollweged anyone yet, and although he has limited skill, he hasn’t hurt the team yet.

All-time, I would have to say that it’s Khavanov. Allergic to contact, prone to trying one man rushes through the entire opposition when he’s the last man back on the ice, and absolutely zero mean streak.

Lalime comes in second. How someone with several years of NHL experience can suffer such an Ears-like meltdown is beyond me. And then he comes back here in a fucking Blackhawk uniform and impersonates an NHL goaltender, something that was far beyond him while he wore the note?

Backman comes in third. All that skill… and not a clue about how to play defense in the NHL. Frustrating.

As far as the Blues goaltending follies go… picking on Fuhr isn’t fair; he was always a much better playoff goaltender than regular season goaltender, and if it hadn’t been for that asshole from Toronto taking a dive at him to take him out of the series, maybe we’re not bitching about that Yzerman goal.

Brent Johnson – talent, mental outlook to play goalie-good. Dedication to the craft of goaltending-shitty. You know it’s bad when your own teammates question the goaltender’s work ethic.

by The Goalie Guy on Oct 30, 2008 10:07 AM CDT reply actions

Two Words – Wayne Gretzky!

Two More – Valeri Bure!

F@ck I hate those guys, I hate their combined six weeks as Blues and I hate their no talent actress wives.

Police Acedemy 6 Sucks…I hate Turgeon as well.

For some reason Brent Johnson always reminded me of Rick Ankeil…maybe we should have sent him down for like three years and made him a forward.

by Fronick on Oct 30, 2008 12:49 PM CDT reply actions

Nobody here remimbers Rod Seiling. WTF

by Waxman on Oct 30, 2008 2:54 PM CDT reply actions

a couple more of my hatreds, not mentioned yet:
Rick Zombo
Rudy Poescheck
Stephane Matteau

by Dooks on Oct 31, 2008 4:04 PM CDT reply actions

Blues I cant stand….
Current – Eric Brewer and his once a game “Oh fuck” moments. Watching him blow that breakaway in the preseason game against the Leafs was one of the biggest “Oh my fucking God, how can you fuck that up?” moments in recent history.

Past 5 Years: Petr Cajanek, talk about false hope and waste of fucking talent.

90s Fuckups: All of those Sergei Federov wannabes we drafted. Fuck those fruit Euros. Also Adam Oates for wanting his contract renegotiated every five minutes. Had he stuck around…..would we still be waiting Lord Stanley?

Side Note – Since we are doing a most hated Blue….shouldnt we have a most memorable/Favorite Blue thread?

by Big G-Man on Oct 31, 2008 10:11 PM CDT reply actions