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Today marks the deadline for St. Louis Blues’ ownership bids

Los Angeles Kings v St. Louis Blues

ST. LOUIS, MO - JANUARY 18: St. Louis Blues fans celebrate a goal by Patrik Berglund #21 of the St. Louis Blues against the Los Angeles Kings at the Scottrade Center on January 18, 2011 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

Dilip Vishwanat

There are a handful of NHL teams hoping to find a new owner in the near future, but the St. Louis Blues’ situation hasn’t received a whole lot of attention. That makes sense, too, because the perception is that the process could be much smoother than the headache-inducing struggles suffered by the Phoenix Coyotes of the world - at least relatively speaking. Of course, just because something should be simple doesn’t mean that everything will flow like smooth jazz.

With that always-lingering potential for chaos in mind, we’ll be keeping an eye on news about the Blues’ ownership situation. Today will be a good day to do so, because August 22 marks the deadline for hopeful new ownership groups to submit their bids to purchase the club from current owner Dave Checketts. The hope is that the Blues can get a prospective owner in place for approval by September 20 - the latest round of the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings - but that remains to be seen.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford reports that former potential Coyotes owner Matt Hulsizer and current Blues minority owner Tom Stillman are among the most prominent candidates bidding for the Blues. Rutherford focused on noted (and deep-pocketed) hockey enthusiast Hulsizer in his story on the bidding.

Hulsizer, however, never lost his love for hockey, and two months after pulling out of a complicated deal to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, he could be joining “the club” in St. Louis. According to sources, Hulsizer has already made one offer to buy the club, and although it was unsuccessful, he remains interested.

A relative unknown in NHL circles two years ago, Hulsizer would be a slam-dunk to gain NHL approval. In December 2010, the league’s 10-member Board of Governors’ executive committee unanimously approved his application to buy the Coyotes.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly labeled the group’s conversations with Hulsizer as “a very good interview.”


Not many details about other potential owners have surfaced at this time, but the Blues are a team in a respectable market and with a lengthy history in the NHL. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like the Blues are one of the healthiest teams that have gone up for a sale in quite some time, with strengths that make them comparable to the recently sold Buffalo Sabres.

Rutherford points out that it’s possible that the team will receive offers after today’s deadline anyway, so it’s a fluid situation. We’ll keep an eye out for details on this still-developing story, whether a frontrunner emerges today, later this week or some other time in the near future.