ST. LOUIS — Before this week, the last time T.J. Oshie was in St. Louis was Jan. 20, 2024, when he was playing with the Washington Capitals.
The Blues’ first-round draft pick in 2005 played seven seasons with the club before being traded to Washington for Troy Brouwer in 2015. He won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2017-18. After six more seasons, he sat out 2024-25 with back issues and retired last June.
Now a former player, Oshie was back in town for the Blues’ Hall of Fame ceremony Monday, honoring Barret Jackman, Alexander Steen, Kelly Chase and Al Arbour. He then made his debut between the benches as an ESPN color analyst for Tuesday’s Blues-Carolina Hurricanes game.
“It brings back a lot of really good memories,” Oshie said. “Obviously, you’re upset with the trade and leaving. I thought I was going to retire a Blue. But now looking back, you really appreciate the time that you had here and how special this place is. It’s wild that my first game is here.”
Twenty minutes before the puck dropped, Oshie took his spot for the broadcast a few feet from the Blues’ bench, and fans began tossing jerseys over the glass for him to autograph.
“I can’t say enough about the fanbase here and how much support they’ve given me,” Oshie said. “Even when I came back with Washington, you’d see the No. 74 jerseys out there. I don’t really know how to thank the people that have supported me along the way, and the organization was a massive part of that.”
It was always fun watching @TJOshie77 work at @Enterprise_Cntr.
Good to know some things never change 💙 #stlblues pic.twitter.com/lFcxXJ9U5Z
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 14, 2026
After wrapping up his postgame interview on ESPN on Tuesday, Oshie sat down with The Athletic for a Q&A.
(Note: Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.)
With Kelly Chase receiving the True Blue Award, what was the most touching part of the ceremony?
Oshie: For me, because I’m not around here very much, just seeing “Chaser.” I saw him when I was walking into the lobby (of the Missouri Athletic Club), and just to give him a hug was the most important part for me.
He definitely deserves all the credit that he gets. I got a great reception in St. Louis for the way that I interacted with the fans, and a lot of that came from Chaser, teaching me how to give back to the city and really dive into the fanbase because of how much they love the Blues. So it was great to be here for him getting recognized, and then seeing (Brett Hull) get emotional up on stage shows how much he cares about him.
But for me, it was just being able to give him a hug and say I love him and I’m behind him, as we all are.
You sat next to Garth Brooks at the ceremony. Are you a big fan?
Oshie: Well, this brings Chaser right back into it. Chaser introduced my wife, Lauren, and me to Brooks when he had a concert here toward the end of my career in St. Louis, so I had met him before. My dad (Tim Oshie, who died in 2021), who I called Coach, was a big fan. It’s different in my house these days because the kids control the music in the car, but when I was growing up, Coach controlled the music, so there was a lot “Friends in Low Places” being played in the big old Ford 1970 truck.
Garth Brooks is in town to celebrate our very own Kelly Chase, who’s being honored with the True Blue award at the Blues Hall of Fame induction pic.twitter.com/FDNNkKxnH3
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 13, 2026
You played with Steen and Jackman. What’s one characteristic you appreciated from each?
Oshie: I think (it was) Steener’s demeanor. He was really good at controlling the moment and controlling his emotion. I always loved that about him and really respected that: his ability to read the room and see when you needed to speak up, when you needed to be quiet, when a player needed to be pulled aside, either good or bad, and I translated that when I went to Washington. Steener is not that much older than me, but I looked at him as a leader and a mentor.
Jax, he really is like my big brother. If you think of a big brother growing up, he sets the tone. He’s someone you want to become, the man he is. He was my protector. I liked to play physical and lay some big hits, but I really wasn’t a fighter. So when I’d do that and guys would come after me, Jax was right there with that scary-looking face, ready to beat someone up or take punches for me.
. @TJOshie77 here for the newest Blues Hall of Famer, Jax. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Xjgalg6xNY
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) January 13, 2026
You retired from the NHL because of back issues. How are you feeling these days?
Oshie: I had a good stretch of health there for a while, but most people know I’m pretty competitive, so I played in a pickup basketball game about a month ago, and my back has been on the fritz ever since then. It’s just something that I’ll deal with. When you play the game a certain way, you’re not going to get out of it feeling great.
But if I could do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way because it’s who I am. I wear it almost as a badge of honor because I played the game a certain way and tried to leave it all on the ice every night, and the back is a reminder of that.
You assisted a lot of Alex Ovechkin goals. What was it like being a part of history and watching him break Wayne Gretzky’s goals record?
Oshie: You get there to Washington, and you hear everybody talk about how he’s going to slow down. Gosh, back then, he was going for his 500th goal.
To see where he’s at now (917 goals), I’m not surprised. He just can’t surprise me with anything he can do because I don’t put any limits on him. He’s an incredible person, an incredible teammate. My daughter wears No. 8 now for her hockey team, and Ovi calls her or sends her a video on her birthday every year.
There’s some players that change this game, and if you have the privilege to be part of that, those are things that you tell your grandkids.
Blues fans were happy to see you win the Stanley Cup in 2018. How much more does it mean now, after losing your dad in 2021?
Oshie: It’s incredible because we played out (the scene of winning the Cup) in the driveway so many times as young kids. I didn’t score the game-winning goal in overtime, like we practiced when we were kids. But for my dad to be there during that run, and for people back in St. Louis to be happy for us, that was great.
St. Louis was actually the first place we got him checked out and found out that he had the gene for Familia Alzheimer’s (disease), which is an aggressive one. His memory was slipping, and there were people at Enterprise Center — throughout the concourse — who could see that he would forget where he was going, and they’d help him get to me on the event level. Half the people I see at the rink, they come up and say how much they miss my dad.
So winning the Cup for my whole family, especially for Coach, now that he’s not with us, it was really amazing.
And I was so happy that St. Louis and a lot of my old teammates won it right after us in 2019. I FaceTimed them at 6 a.m. the morning after, and they were still awake. They passed the phone around the whole room, and what a cool thing — I was able to watch them having the celebration of their lives. It turns out the trade worked out for both of us. It would’ve been awesome to be on that team and bring the first Cup back to St. Louis, but coming full circle, what an amazing experience.
We’ve seen you in the studio, and now you’re broadcasting between the benches. Where do you see your future in the game?
Oshie: I don’t know that it is. I’m so thankful to ESPN for giving me my shot on TV, and Monumental Sports for letting me do the stuff with the Capitals on the TV side. I really enjoy it, and there’s so many good people at ESPN. I was on with (John Buccigross) tonight. I’ve been with Steve Levy a lot, who’s been a great mentor for me. They’re just great people, and it’s fun to work for them.
I am a competitive person, though, and so I’ve always imagined that I would get behind a bench at some point. But the coaches are gone more than the players, and I’ve got young kids, so I don’t think that’s in the cards for me right now.
With the Olympics coming up, your shootout goals from the 2014 Sochi Olympics will certainly be replayed a lot. Does it still seem surreal?
Oshie: It really does because I had the time of my life in that shootout. There’s probably nowhere on Earth that I’m more comfortable and not stressed than in a shootout. So, for the moment to happen when I’m on the team, having a lot of shootout success in the NHL that year, everything just kind of aligned.
How does Team USA look for Milan? And what’s your take on leaving the Dallas Stars’ Jason Robertson, a fellow shootout star, off the roster?
Oshie: I think the team looks good. I think we’ve added offense without sacrificing our hard-nosed defensive identity. I think Canada is the absolute favorite, and they should be — the amount of Stanley Cups, and the amount of points, they have combined on their team, they’re the team that everyone is chasing — but I think the U.S. has as good of a chance as ever to try to take them down. They’ve also got the goaltending.
Leaving Robertson off, a shootout guy and a guy that’s having a great year, I can’t speak too much to that because when I was selected, there were people who thought Brandon Saad should’ve gone. In the movie “Miracle,” I don’t know if Herb Brooks said it in real life, but in the movie, he said, “I’m not looking for the best players; I’m looking for the right ones.” I don’t know what that means for Robertson, but I know that they have a plan with who they selected and they’re confident in it.
NHL’s best shootout performers
Best shootout percentage since 2022-23, minimum 15 attempts, through Tuesday:
It’s been a struggle for the Blues this season, but this was a pretty impressive win. What did you think?
Oshie: I thought they were phenomenal. I thought Carolina came out pretty well, which you wouldn’t think would happen on a back-to-back for them, but it happens more than you think because you have that momentum from the night before.
But I thought Joel Hofer was phenomenal in net. He made a ton of huge saves, and what really stood out for me were the guys that were blocking shots. It looked like more of a playoff mentality from the Blues — guys just sacrificing the body — and then the difference from what we’ve seen most of the year, when their offense had struggles, is that when they did get their chances, they buried them.
I know we’re getting toward the second half of the season here, and they’re in a tough spot points-wise, but this is something that you can build on. You can fight back and put my Steener in a tough position to say, “Hey, these guys are showing up, let’s keep the pieces here.”