St. Louis Blues Jake Allen Is Fine Despite Fan Narrative

By Todd Panula |

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 27: Jake Allen #34 of the St. Louis Blues makes a save on a shot from the San Jose Sharks at Scottrade Center on March 27, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/NHLI via Getty Images)

The St. Louis Blues are making the necessary calls in an attempt to improve their team this offseason. This constant narrative that the team needs to trade Jake Allen is tiring though.

The St. Louis Blues have been searching for the goaltender that will lead them to the promised land for years. Whether you have been a fan of this one or that, technically all of them have been failures. Even the greats like Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante did not bring Lord Stanley’s Cup to St. Louis.

There have been some very good ones along the way. Curtis Joseph was a fan favorite, but had a habit of not taking that next level in the playoffs. Roman Turek was one of the best regular season goaltenders in team history, but almost single-handedly cost the Blues a run at a Cup.

Take your pick. The history is full of guys that fans liked and did not get it done and even fuller of guys that did fine but fans hated because they did not win either.

Recent history is even rockier. The latest in this category is Jake Allen. While this is an exaggeration, it feels like there has been a very vocal portion of the fan base that has been against him from the start.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My opinion is not popular with Blues fans either. Brian Elliott is and always has been a glorified backup. He can be your 1b, but he can’t carry the load.

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That applies to Carter Hutton now too. He’s done a fantastic job in St. Louis, but there is a reason no team has allowed him to be the starter. That reason has nothing to do with the Blues either.

So, we circle back to Allen. Take a moment to search any post or Twitter feed regarding the Snake and you’d think he was the offspring of the devil, in the flesh. Who hurt you people? It was not Allen.

The Snake has certainly had his ups and downs. Even an apologist, such as myself, cannot deny he has shown some big inconsistencies the past couple seasons.

This narrative that he has cost the Blues or he cannot win is simply false though. He has won, he can win and we don’t have to look too far for proof.

If you look at Allen by himself, he has already shown an ability to get hot at the right time. In 2016-17, he basically beat the Minnesota Wild by himself.

In that series, he faced 113 shots in the first three games alone and only allowed three goals. The only game in that series the Blues lost, they failed to even score a goal.

Allen’s magic wore off a little in the next series, but he was facing eventual Stanley Cup finalist Nashville. It was always going to be difficult for the Blues to win that.

Prior to that, his struggles have been somewhat situational. He had a good 2015-16, but got injured and Elliott caught fire. There was no reason to ever go back to Allen full-time in that year. That does not mean that Elliott was the full-time answer going forward.

In 2014-15, Allen’s time was also more limited. He only played in 37 games, but went 22-7-4. He was not great in the playoffs against Minnesota, but neither was the team in front of him. That is the key phrase right there – the team in front of him was not very good either.

There is where we look outside the franchise for proof that Allen is doing fine. Corey Crawford, love him or despise him (like most good Blues fans should), has won Stanley Cups. In fact, he has two rings with his name on them.

The similarities start from the start. The Blackhawks had a fantastic run with another goaltender, like the Blues did – in fact, they won a Cup with Antti Niemi. However, Crawford was seen as the goaltender of the future, despite being one year younger than Niemi.

Crawford was not laser focused out of the gate. His first two playoff years as THE guy saw him go 5-8 with 2011-12 featuring a save percentage of .893.

If you compare their careers through the same point, Allen is actually better in the playoffs and the regular season. In the playoffs, Allen has a .922 save percentage and 2.10 goals against in his first four seasons. Over that same period in his career, Crawford is at .911 and 2.34. Allen also has a better Goals Against percentage, which is relative to the other playoff goaltenders of the time.

Even in the regular season, Allen’s numbers are better.

The Snake has a better goals against and save percentage. His winning percentage is slightly lower, but that’s because he played almost twice the games.

You will have people that argue their overall numbers are different. Again, that is not really the case.

Even in 11 seasons with one of the best teams we have seen in recent history, Crawford’s numbers are not far and away better. In most categories, they are marginally different.

The point is, Allen is on a similar career track to Crawford. Chicago won with Crawford because he got hot in the playoffs, but also because they had a boatload of talent in front of him.

Crawford does not lead the Blues to the Cup in those same years. Conversely, Allen likely wins titles if he is on those Chicago teams.

So, this idea that the Blues will never win with Allen is disturbingly wrong. The Blues might never win because they don’t have enough scoring or competent defending at the right time.

None of this is to say the Blues could not make an upgrade in goal. If you make a competent deal that brings in a better goaltender, fine. That does not automatically make the team a contender, however.

Hockey history has far more average goaltenders that won than not. Taking nothing away from any of these guys, but names like Chris Osgood, Tom Barasso or J.S. Giguere won just as much because of their teams as their own play. Put those same guys on lesser teams and they are not championship goaltenders.

Even the best of all time had greats in front of them. Marty Brodeur does not win without Scott Stevens. Patrick Roy does not win without Joe Sakic or Peter Forsberg. The Blues don’t have future Hall of Fame players on this roster right now, or not enough anyway.

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The Blues need to focus on the five-man units on the ice, the coaching system putting those guys in place and the team chemistry. This issue of always thinking a goaltender will solve all the team’s woes is maddening.

Jake Allen can win and he will win. He just needs the right team in front of him.

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