The Blues pulled out a miraculous win over Phoenix in Game Seven and now have to take on the no. 1 seeded Dallas Stars.

Welcome back, Brett Hull! You now have to prove all of your critics wrong.

When Hull left the Blues, numerous fans criticized him for leaving the St. Louis area for an abundance of reasons.

Some said Hull may have left because he was a greedy, self-proclaimed hockey superstar. He left the Blues because of the lucrative contract offer he received from the Stars. Money might have meant more to Hull than loyalty. He wanted his name to be heard around the league as a player who helped the Stars win the Stanley Cup.

The second reason Hull may have left was because of the laid-back approach the Blues took in pursuing an extension of Hull's contract.

He could have been so hurt by the terrible Blues management that going elsewhere was the right and only thing to do.

Well, enough with all of the Hull talk.

This series that the Blues and the Stars are battling through is not about Brett Hull versus the Blues. It is about two teams with a rivalry with one another.

The Stars would still be a solid team without Hull, and the Blues are still an average team looking towards the future with blossoming stars.

This rivalry is about the tough, grinding style of play that these two teams exhibit while playing against one another.

The grit and sweat of players along with the blood and fights that occur is what makes this feud good for the National Hockey League.

The Mike Modanos and the Chris Prongers are what makes this series so good. The talented goal-scoring of Hull against the widely spread out scoring of the Blues, with Pierre Turgeon and Pavol Demitra leading the charge, makes this series closer than it looks on paper.

I do not want anybody to overlook the Blues just because they do not have the powerful scoring punch of old. They do not have Doug Gilmour, Bernie Ferderko, or even Wayne Gretzky anymore, but the style and the system that Head Coach Joel Quennville has implemented works.

Look for this series to be a tightly-checked, low scoring contest, and do not overlook the possibility of a Blues/Detroit semifinal matchup.