Blues present Jofa Tkachuk helmet to player of the game

The St. Louis Blues have had plenty of awards to recognize the team’s player of the game.

There’s been an old Carhartt cap, rubber rain boots, even a hot dog hat. In the team's most memorable season, it was a pair of game-used gloves from Blues legend Bobby Plager awarded after each win in 2018-19.

This season, the Blues are sticking to used equipment from St. Louis legends.

This time, it’s an old Keith Tkachuk helmet.

Like every other team, the Blues give out the game puck to the player of the game, but according to Captain Brayden Schenn, it often gets lost, and he wanted to do something more special.

“For us to toss around Big Walt's helmet at the end of a game, it's fueled something better than getting the game puck,” he told stlouisblues.com. “It gets guys hooting and hollering after a big win.”

The decision to ask Tkachuk for the helmet came pretty naturally.

“We’ve always talked about history and the culture of the St. Louis Blues and all of the great players that have came before us that have played,” Schenn said. “Keith Tkachuk, he was a heart-and-soul guy here for many years. He wore the Blue Note proudly.”

‘Big Walt’ spent nine seasons with the Blues. In that time, he scored 427 points and recorded the sixth-most goals in franchise history (208). Tkachuk and his family still live in St. Louis, where he works as the Blues’ Director of Recruitment.

Blues forwards Robert Thomas and Kevin Hayes asked Tkachuk to loan the old-school Jofa bucket to the team. Tkachuk wore it during the 2017 Winter Classic Alumni Game at Busch Stadium, but doesn't actually recall where he got it.

Thomas, who lived with the Tkachuk family as a rookie, awarded the first helmet of the season to goalie Jordan Binnington, who made 30 saves in the Blues’ Oct. 14 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken.

The ethos of the award is based in the very things that made Tkachuk a great player: teamwork, competitive spirit and toughness. In his case, especially toughness.

“Not everyone’s going to play like Keith Tkachuk, we all know that,” Schenn said. “I think it’s just playing as a team and buying in, playing selfless and tough together…Some guys are going to have nights with big saves or goals or whatever that are going to get the helmet.”

It’s also just a cool helmet.

“Keith’s just a legend in this town,” Schenn said, “and we’re lucky to have his helmet in the room for the year.”