St. Louis Eagles

The St. Louis Eagles were a professional ice hockey team and a former member of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Eagles existed for only one year playing in the 1934–35 NHL season. Founded as the Ottawa Senators they endured financial strain caused in part by being in the NHL's smallest market. The financial concerns forced the Senators to suspend operations for the 1931–32 season. Upon their return to play, the Senators finished in last place for two straight seasons and continued to lose money. Following the second last place finish, the team announced they would not return to Ottawa and hoped to move to a bigger market.

In an attempt to recoup losses and pay debts, the Senators moved the NHL franchise to St. Louis, Missouri, where it was nicknamed the Eagles. (A Senators' team continued in Ottawa in senior hockey.) The expenses of regular season travel to and from St. Louis caused the franchise to lose money and the team was forced to make ends meet by selling players to other teams. After the season, the owners asked the NHL for a second time for permission to suspend operations. This time, the NHL refused the request and instead repurchased the franchise. The NHL dispersed the players amongst the remaining eight NHL teams and terminated the franchise after one season in St. Louis.

The move from Ottawa
The Ottawa Senators were founded in 1883 as an amateur club and turned openly professional in 1907. They were a charter member of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1917, and won the Stanley Cup four times in the NHL's first decade (and seven times prior to the league's formation - including their time as the Silver Seven). In the 1930s Ottawa was the smallest market in the NHL. The 1931 census listed only 110,000 people in the city of Ottawa&mdash;roughly one-fifth the size of Toronto, which was the league's second-smallest market. Despite winning the Stanley Cup 1927 the team lost $50,000 for the season. The Senators asked the NHL for permission to suspend operations for the 1931–32 season in order to help eliminate debt. The league granted the request and during their suspended season Ottawa received $25,000 for the use of its players, while the NHL co-signed a Bank of Montreal loan of $28,000 for the franchise. The Senators returned for the 1932–33 season and finished in last place. Following the 1933–34 season, which the Senators again finished in last place, it was announced that they would not be returning to Ottawa for the next season due to losses of $60,000 over the previous two seasons. The Ottawa Auditorium, owners of the Senators, stated that they needed to be moved to a large city in ordered to protect the shareholders and pay off their debts.

They ultimately decided to move to St. Louis, Missouri and the transfer was approved by the league on May 14, 1934. Thomas Franklin Ahearn resigned as president of the Ottawa Auditorium and Redmond Quain became president. Quain transferred the players' contracts and franchise operations to a new company called the Hockey Association of St. Louis, Inc. Eddie Gerard was hired to coach the new team. The club was renamed the Eagles, inspired by the logo of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company, which was founded in St. Louis. The Senators name and logo remained in Ottawa and would be used by a senior amateur team until 1954. At the time, St. Louis was the seventh largest city in the United States with over 800,000 inhabitants making it over seven times larger than the Ottawa market. St. Louis was denied an NHL franchise in 1932 because travel to the Midwest was considered too expensive during the Great Depression.

Even before the official debut of the Eagles, a problem had arisen for the new NHL club. There was already a professional hockey team in the city, the St. Louis Flyers, playing in the American Hockey Association (AHA). The owners of the Flyers claimed they had an agreement with the NHL which prevented it from settling west of the Mississippi. They threatened to sue for $200,000 in compensation as soon as the Eagles played their first game. Following a visit from the AHA President the Flyers were asked not to go forward with the lawsuit and management did not pursue further legal action and eventually changed home venues.

1934–35 season
At the time there were nine teams in the NHL and they were divided into two divisions, the Canadian and American. Following the franchises relocation the league did not realign and the Eagles remain in the Canadian Division along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, and New York Americans. This left the American division with the remaining four franchises - the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. The core of the Senators' players returned and the team played their games in the St. Louis Arena. The arena was built in 1929 to host the National Dairy Show, but had suffered financially. In 1931 an ice hockey rink was set up to attract new business. Once the Eagles began play the St. Louis Arena gained the distinction of being the only NHL stadium with racially segregated seating.

In their first game the Eagles succumbed to a late rally by the defending Stanley Cup champion Black Hawks losing 3–1. They registered their first win in the next game winning 4–2 over the Rangers. Following the win the Eagles went on an eight game losing streak. After the first 13 games the Eagles posted a 2–11–0 record placing them last in their division. Gerard resigned as head coach and was replaced by George "Buck" Boucher, the coach that Gerard himself had replaced after the franchises last season in Ottawa.

Under Boucher's coaching the team showed improvement posting a 3–3–3 record in the first nine games. However, the early losing streak had already damaged the fan base. Their inaugural game drew 12,622 fans, but attendance quickly diminished. In early January of 1935 the team cut ticket prices to the lowest in the league in an attempt to bring out fans. By February the financial state of the team forced the Eagles to essentially sell leading goal scorer Syd Howe to the Detroit Red Wings. Officially, the trade broke down as such - Detroit received Howe and Ralph Bowman in exchange for Teddy Graham and $50,000. At the time it was considered a large sum of money. Likewise Frank Finnigan was sold to the Maple Leafs. The Eagles were unable to maintain the early success under Boucher, and finished last in the Canadian division with a record of 11–31–6. With only 84 goals scored, they were the lowest scoring team in the league. Only the Montreal Canadiens allowed more goals during the season, surrendering 145 to the Eagles' 144.

The end of the Eagles
By season's end the Eagles ownership had lost $70,000 due primarily to the cost of traveiling from the Mid-Western United States to Eastern North America. An attempt to stabilize the franchise by selling off its players netted $58,000. The owners had hoped to move once more to save the franchise. There was interest from Cleveland and also in a return to Ottawa, but neither came to fruition. As a result the ownership again petitioned the NHL to allow them to suspend operations for a year. This time the NHL refused. The Eagles were put up for sale. When no one purchased the team the NHL bought the franchise and player contracts for $40,000, and opted to play as an eight-team league. If the NHL ever resold the franchise proceeds were to go to the Ottawa Hockey Association. The NHL distributed the players under contract with St. Louis through a dispersal draft. Teams selected players in an order based on the previous season's standings. Teams with the lowest point totals selected first. The Chicago Black Hawks did not participate in the draft. Eighteen of the twenty-three players under contract were selected with the remaining players being placed in the minor leagues. The players were distributed as follows:


 * New York Americans: Forwards: Pete Kelly, Eddie Finnigan
 * Montreal Canadiens: Goaltender: Bill Beveridge, Defenseman: Irv Frew, Forwards: Paul Drouin, Henri Lauzon
 * Detroit Red Wings: Forward: Carl Voss, Goaltender: William Peterkin
 * New York Rangers: Forward: Glen Brydson, Defenseman: Vernon Ayres
 * Montreal Maroons: Forward: Joe Lamb, Goaltender: Bill Taugher
 * Boston Bruins: Forward: Bill Cowley, Defenseman: Teddy Graham
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: Forwards: Gerry Shannon, Cliff Purpur, Jim Dewey, Defenseman: Mickey Blake

In 1938, the Montreal Maroons attempted to move to St. Louis. They were denied by the NHL due to the high travel costs that plagued the Eagles. The NHL eventually returned to St. Louis in 1967, when the league doubled in size from the Original Six. The new team was named the Blues and they joined the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Oakland Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the new expansion.

Players
Twenty-nine players in all represented the Eagles during their lone season of existence. The last active player who played with the Eagles was Bill Cowley, who retired in 1947 after his final season with the Boston Bruins. He was also the only player in franchise history to start his career with the Eagles and be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Syd Howe was the only captain of the team during its existence and the two players were the only Eagle's players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Carl Voss led the team with 18 assists and 31 points Howe led them in goalscoring registering 14, despite being traded midway through the season. The totals were much lower than the NHL leaders as Charlie Conacher of Toronto led the league with 36 goals and 57 points, while Art Chapman of the Americans led for assists notching 34. Bill Beveridge was the only goaltender the team used during the season. Out of his 11 wins three were shutouts.

The list of players in the history of the team is presented below.
 * Goaltending