St. Louis Blues: What Now For Ville Husso?
The St. Louis Blues have sorted out their minor league goaltending situation with two re-signings prior to the weekend. Or have they?
Going into this past week, and for awhile before that honestly, we all thought we had a decent grasp on what might happen with goaltending prospect Ville Husso if the chips fell a certain way. Well, they did fall that way but it actually doesn’t feel as cut and dry as you might think.
The St. Louis Blues re-signed Jordan Binnington to a one-year, two-way contract early on Friday and then complemented that by giving the same structured deal to Pheonix Copley later that evening. So, the Blues retained their two goaltenders for their AHL affiliate from last season and surely that put everything into place, right?
As Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. The Blues appear to have high hopes for Husso. While they are in no need to rush him along, they are in need of seeing what he’s got since they signed him to a three-year entry-level contract.
Most of us figured, myself included, if the Blues brought back Binnington and Copley that they would likely put Husso in the ECHL. How much sense does that really make though?
The Blues do not currently have an ECHL affiliation, so there is no direct pipeline to send him through. While it might be advantageous to be able to choose which team Husso would be loaned to, you also have to ask what kind of competition Husso would get in that league.
Taking nothing away from the guys who ply their trade in the ECHL or the fans that support those teams, but is it really any better than the top Finnish league?
Yes, there is a cultural difference between the sport in Europe and Scandinavia than it is in North America. However, is Husso going to be any more tested in what amounts to AA hockey than he was playing at home?
My head tells me no. Perhaps I’m underestimating the ECHL. Maybe it would provide a challenge for the young puck stopper. However, despite the fact that he’s still very young, he is 21 and it seems he needs to be taking a definitive step up from the league in which he already competed in.
So then, what’s the answer? Do you honestly run with three goaltenders in the AHL?
It’s not a widely used practice, but it’s not unheard of. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins carried three goaltenders for a while when Marc-Andre Fleury returned from injury this past season.
If you think all three goaltenders would get enough work and be productive enough splitting minutes, then perhaps that’s the route you take. It does not come without dangers though.
Mike Berube is the Chicago Wolves new coach. While he has a good working relationship with the Blues’ current staff, he is employed by the Wolves. He has no goal other than to win games for the Wolves and get his guys promoted no matter who the affiliate is.
That’s the downfall of not owning your affiliate like the Blues did in Peoria. They can say what they would like to happen and in a good partnership there is a certain amount of acquiescing, but Berube or the Wolves would be under no real pressure to keep a three-man rotation going.
So, you could waste a year of Husso’s development if Binnington or Copley had a good start to the season and the young Finn never even saw much playing time. It really is quite the quandary.
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On the one hand, Husso seems too talented to play at the ECHL level and really get much out of it. While he still has much to learn and room to get better, it just doesn’t seem like the league to do it in when it doesn’t seem better than the league he already came from.
On the other hand, if he’s not guaranteed solid starting minutes or at least his fair share in the AHL, then are you actually benefiting the player or your own long-term plans? The answer seems to be no or at least is unclear.
I don’t have any solid information to base it on, but I think the Blues may roll the dice with three goaltenders in Chicago. The fact that the ECHL doesn’t seem like a step up for Husso and that the Blues don’t have a definitive affiliate seems to put a wrench in sending him there.
While I admittedly don’t know the rules of such a move, they could loan him back to the Finnish league or another top European league, but if you even thought that might be a possibility, then why even give him his entry-level deal yet?
Perhaps they were afraid he’d re-enter next year’s draft with no contract, but if you don’t think he can compete with what you have then how big a deal would that be? No, he came to North America to get to play. At least he seems to believe he’s here to stay.
“I played three years in the Finnish League,” Husso said. “I learned a lot of things and I feel like now I’m ready to come over here.”
“I feel now that I’m ready to play in North America. It’s going to be fun to come here, but so different than Helsinki. ”
The idea of trying to rotate three goaltenders isn’t very palatable at all. However, unless Husso is going to just sit behind the other two, I think he may land in the AHL. At the very least, I think he’ll get an invite to the Blues’ fall training camp and they will see how things pan out with all three playing against NHL level talent.
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Husso needs to play and I think the Blues will make the best decision based on that. Still, I’ve swung around and will be surprised if he does not spend the majority of the season with the Wolves of the AHL.