T.J. Oshie Will Always Be A Blues Fan Favorite, Someone Who Helped Set Wheels In Motion For A Franchise Finally Winning Stanley Cup

ST. LOUIS — The 2005 NHL Draft was important for the St. Louis Blues.

It was the draft headlined by Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who is having himself a Hall Of Fame career. But he was long gone by the time the Blues selected Timothy Leif Oshie with the 24th pick. 

That draft was important, but not for the immediate impact that class would go on to make on the franchise, but it was one that would have to be the starting foundation for what would bring the Blues back to from what would turn into come lean years.

Following the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the Blues would go on to have the worst record and fewest points in the NHL in 2005-06 with 57 points (21-46-15). It would start a string of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs three straight years and five of six seasons.

Oshie announced his retirement on Monday after 16 seasons in the NHL:

He began his journey in 2008-09 with the Blues, which happened to be the one season of six starting in 05-06 that the baby Blues made the postseason.

They were swept by the Vancouver Canucks in four games in the Western Conference quarterfinal, but it was the benchmark for the franchise to move back into prominence. It included Oshie, David Backes, David Perron, Patrik Berglund, and Alex Pietrangelo. Then along came Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and Colton Parayko, guys the Blues drafted high and used to become the faces of the franchise.

Oshie, who is now 38 and essentially ended his career with back issues, playing in his final game with the Washington Capitals on April 28, 2024 against the New York Rangers, spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Blues and was part of some of the best regular-seasons in Blues history in teams in 2011-12 (109 points), 2013-14 (111 points) and 2014-15 (109 points). 

The Blues were prominent again, and the winger then-coach Ken Hitchcock always called the “engine of the team” was a big reason why.

And who could forget T.J. ‘Sochi,” as Oshie was nicknamed for putting the United States on his back in the shootout of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia against the home country? He would score four of six shootout attempts that went eight rounds in USA’s 3-2 win:

It was another incredible regular season and international season for Oshie, but the Blues were only able to advance past the first round once and were eliminated in the first round again. And after being upset by the Minnesota Wild in the first round in 14-15, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong felt a shakeup of that young core was needed to move even higher.

Oshie was the one made expendable at the time and was traded to the Capitals for forward Troy Brouwer, goalie Phoenix Copley and a 2016 third-round pick, which would prove to be very important.

“I thought something would possibly happen at the draft,” Oshie said then. “After a couple of days, I just figured that I’d be staying in St. Louis. I got a call from Armstrong today and my initial reaction was a little bit of shock, even though that I knew it was a possibility. Then after a couple of minutes, I started getting excited to go onto the next chapter of my career. 

“… I did feel with the players in that locker room that we were falling short, but if we went back with the same team that we would have hopefully learned from some of our mistakes. But after I saw (Hitchcock) was coming back, I figured there would be at least one or two moves that ‘Army’ would want to make.”

The Blues, with Brouwer, would move on and reach the Western Conference Final before falling in six games to the San Jose Sharks the following season in 2015-16, but at the draft in 2016, the Blues would ship that third-round pick back to the Capitals, along with the 28th pick in the first round to move up two slots to No. 26 and select … Tage Thompson.

And Thompson was used as a piece of the blockbuster trade on July 1, 2018 with the Buffalo Sabres that brought Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues. And we all know what ensued moving forward, the first Stanley Cup in Blues history in 2019.

Perron, Schwartz, Tarasenko, Pietrangelo and Parayko were part of that championship side, and many still to this day feel Oshie belonged as well, but the trade to the Capitals in hindsight may have been best for his career. He won the Cup with the Capitals the previous year in 2018 and couldn’t have been happier for the Blues to win it as well.

“I don’t know if they remember, but I talked to quite a bit the night they won,” Oshie said Oct. 2, 2019, the season-opener and banner-raising night for the Blues after winning the Cup. “It was morning where I was. I was on my way to the golf course actually, but there were basically all the guys that played here when I played. It was a really cool moment and glad they were able to take a couple moments to say hi to me and for me to congratulate them when they were probably at the peak of their celebration.

“I spent a large part of my life here. I was treated very, very well by the organization, by my teammates, trainers and especially the fans. When they were able to get the job done and knowing how that feels to finally do it and another place that had never won the Cup before, I was very, very happy for everyone that stuck it out. I know a lot of times they do the season-ticket holders thing where you stand up and you go all the way back to ’67. Pretty cool for all those fans who have shown support and finally got the Cup, especially the players that have been grinding it out for a while who were always searching for a way to get the job done and they finally did.”

T.J. Oshie may not have won a Cup here, but he will always be remembered as a Blues fan favorite; he finished his career with 695 points (302 goals, 393 assists) in 1,010 regular-season games and 69 points (34 goals, 35 assists) in 106 playoff games. 

His first NHL goal came Oct. 22, 2008 against the Detroit Red Wings:

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