While in St. Louis, Joseph was regarded as an ironman, a goalie who could be depended on night in and night out to be a solid performer in the nets. He set a Blues record for games played (71), wins (36), minutes (4,127), highest save percentage (.911) and most shots faced and saved over the course of the 1993-94 season. You would think he could name his price with that kind of track record. Job security wouldn't be a problem, right?
That was before hockey's version of Monty Hall came to town. General manager Mike Keenan gutted the team starting from the goal out after his first year in St. Louis. Joseph's rights were traded by Keenan to Edmonton, a move that was very unpopular in St. Louis. A man who bled St. Louis blue for five seasons was shipped away, like a bad child to reform school.
"It hurt the way things ended in St. Louis," Joseph said. "I would have liked to stay in St. Louis, especially now that they got Wayne (Gretzky). It's a business though, just like anything else."
It's a rough business. One of the most highly respected and admired goaltenders in the NHL was sent to northern Alberta. Little thanks for a guy who won 117 games for while in the Gateway city.
"They didn't want to pay me what I thought I was worth," Joseph said. "I put in a lot of time with that organization. It was their right to re-sign me or not. Obviously they chose not to."
So it was off to cold and snowy Edmonton, to a team that at the time had a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner between the pipes. A high-priced Conn Smythe Trophy winner at that in Bill Ranford. With the kind of money Joseph was asking for in St. Louis, it wasn't going to be easy for Oilers GM Glen Sather to sign the underappeciated Joseph.
It was so difficult, in fact, that the two sides were at an impasse. It got to the point where "CuJo" sat at home, wasting away his talents. Quite a change for a guy who was used to seeing more rubber than your local tire dealer.
"It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through," said Joseph of his long layoff. "I would just sit at home and watch television. It was awful."
Viva Las Vegas
He would sit around no more. Joseph was determined to play
somewhere. Anywhere. Although trade rumors had been
floating around with teams like Boston, Joseph finally
laced 'em up in that hockey hot bed of Las Vegas, where ice is
used more to keep gamblers' drinks cold than to skate on.
"I definitely didn't think I would ever play in Las Vegas," he said. "But I had to play somewhere or my wife was going to kill me. I was hanging around the house too much."
So his long-awaited return to hockey came as a member of the Las Vegas Thunder. He quickly showed he hadn't lost a thing during his layoff, but carrying the Thunder to the IHL championship wasn't his ultimate dream.
"Vegas was just to keep my skills sharp and to prove to teams that I could still play," he said.
He certainly did that. He had a goals-against average under 2.00 while playing on the strip, and it quickly became clear the IHL was no place for CuJo.
Put me in coach
After weeks of negotiating, the Oilers sent the popular
Ranford to Boston, which originally wanted Joseph in a deal.
That left not only the position open for Joseph, but
allowed Sather to sign him to the contract he desired.
"I'm sorry that it took Billy (Ranford) having to pick up and leave for me to finally join the team, but like I said before, it's a business," Joseph said.
So after a much-awaited debut in an Oilers uniform, Joseph now plays in the obscurity of the Alberta prairies, where the media pressure is about as brutal as the local traffic. Despite the small-town surroundings, Joseph still feels the pressure to perform night in and night out.
"I'm not under the microscope like I was in St. Louis, but there's always pressure," he said. "What pressure the fans don't put on me I put on myself."
Despite playing for a bad Oiler team, Joseph has brought a sense of respectability to a declining franchise. He's not filling a building that's usually half empty, but a few more wins will draw a few more fans.
"We have the talent to turn it around here," Joseph said. "It may take a little time but the fans have to be patient."
Joseph's teammates haven't let his play go unrecognized.
"He's brought us some stability back there," said captain Doug Weight. "It's nice to know you can count on CuJo back there."
So after much ado about where Cujo would finally play, Joseph plays amidst little fanfare. He has played well, posting an 8-9-1 record with a 3.29 GAA. Not Vezina Trophy stats by any stretch, but it sure beats his brief honeymoon in Vegas.
