CHICAGO – As the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks gear up for the 2025 NHL Winter Classic, it’s worth revisiting a fascinating piece of hockey history: The Blues franchise, as St. Louis knows it today, might not exist without a helping hand from their cross-state rival.
The St. Louis Blues joined the National Hockey League during its first wave of expansion in 1967, when the league doubled from six to twelve total teams. While this marked the birth of the NHL Blues franchise, St. Louis’ hockey roots run much deeper.
Before the Blues, St. Louis hosted several professional and minor league hockey teams at the storied St. Louis Arena. That included a short-lived NHL franchise known as the St. Louis Eagles, which folded in 1935 after just one season. At the time, the NHL was a smaller, less-stable league that fought to survive economic hardships during the Great Depression.
Over time, the NHL consolidated into six flagship franchises that were later dubbed the “Original Six.” That group included the Chicago Blackhawks, a proud franchise founded in 1926.
According to archives from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an NHL on ESPN TikTok explainer video, and a St. Louis Blues report, the Blackhawks built strong ties with the St. Louis region and gradually laid the groundwork for a longer-lasting professional hockey footprint in St. Louis.
James D. Norris, longtime co-owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, purchased the St. Louis Arena in the 1940s. Under his leadership, the Blackhawks used the arena to host various preseason games and develop minor league hockey teams.
For many years, the Blackhawks struggled to draw fans to Chicago. Franchise leaders saw their presence in St. Louis as a strategic effort to bolster the team’s broader fan base, aiming to boost ticket sales in Chicago and St. Louis alike.
After winning a Stanley Cup in 1961, fan support began to boom for the Blackhawks back home. But by then, the aging St. Louis Arena posed a challenge. Without an NHL team to support it, the arena faced an uncertain future with its very existence at risk.
Fortunately, the NHL began exploring expansion around that same time, and the Blackhawks saw an opportunity to back a new NHL team in St. Louis. The Blackhawks saw such a plan as a win-win scenario, relieving the franchise of the St. Louis Arena’s upkeep costs and establishing a natural nearby rivalry.
James Norris and his younger brother Bruce Norris, former governor of the Detroit Red Wings, strongly advocated to bring a team to St. Louis in the 1960s. Their lobbying efforts won support from other “Original Six” leaders and paved the way for the Blues to join the NHL for good.
Viewed as a major metropolitan market, St. Louis quickly proved its value to the league. Upon the Blues’ arrival, the St. Louis Arena became the NHL’s second-largest venue by capacity, and the Blues made the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three seasons.
While the Blackhawks may hold bragging rights in the all-time regular-season series (155-130-35-11 vs. the Blues) and in playoff matchups (eight head-to-head playoff series wins to the Blues’ four), their contributions to the founding of the St. Louis Blues are a critical, and often overlooked, part of hockey history.
As the Blues and Blackhawks meet outdoors on New Year’s Eve, it’s another chapter in a spirited rivalry built on competition and intertwined legacies.
Puck drop for the 2025 NHL Winter Classic is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. TNT will carry the live game broadcast, which will also be available to simulcast on truTV and stream on Max.