How Many Games Can Carter Hutton Play?
The focus of the Blues goaltending situation is going to be placed on Jake Allen. Perhaps it would be better to think of it in terms of how many games Carter Hutton can actually play in.
For the sake of argument, let us assume Allen stays healthy the entire season. Even if he does, he is not going to start 70 games or more.
For his part, Hutton has played in 40 games before. Only once though. Outside of that, Hutton has not played in more than 18 games in a season.
The Nashville Predators have a history of producing very good backup goaltenders. Still, the Blues must figure out what a reasonable number is for Hutton to shoulder.
That number can change over the course of a season. Injuries or poor play alter those types of things.
It’s fine to show the kind of confidence in Allen the Blues have shown. They need to be just as confident in Hutton though.
He is not going to be goaltender 1b like Brian Elliott was. Hutton needs to be able to play at least a solid 20-25 games.