St. Louis Blues: Jake Allen Quickly Becoming The Blues All-Time Best
By Jason Martin
St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen is third all-time in wins in Blues history with 117. He could pass Curtis Joseph by the end of the season, needing only 21 wins to move into second place.
Jake Allen is entering his sixth season in a St. Louis Blues uniform and his third as the Blues number one goaltender. The 28-year-old is coming off of a 27 win season and posted a SV% of over .900
Allen, in addition to creeping up on the all-time wins record, will also become tied for the longest tenured goalie in Blues history when he takes the ice October 4 against Winnipeg for his sixth season.
There has been talk among Blues fans that the team needs to move on from the goalie but the front office has stood with him for his entire career. The team has had goalies in their system and on their NHL roster but have continued to stick with Allen even through his struggles.
Names like Ben Bishop, Brian Elliot, and Carter Hutton have all come to St. Louis to work alongside Allen, but despite some great success from the backup goalies, the Blues have stuck with Allen as the primary netminder.
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Allen took over as the true number one goalie starting in 2016. He started 60 games for St. Louis and won 33 of them, including some impressive playoff performances against the Minnesota Wild.
The biggest question facing the Blues goalie is whether or not he can be consistent throughout the entire season.
During the past two years, Allen has not been able to put together a full season and has had issues with consistency.
This seems to come at the same time every year during the winter months. Starting in December and lasting toward the all-star break in January, Allen has been sent home during these bad stretches to get his mind right ahead of the playoff push in previous seasons.
If Allen can put together a full season, he has shown that he can be one of the top goaltenders in the NHL. He will have to be more consistent this year because the Blues will not have the solid backup goalie like they have had in the past.
The Buffalo Sabers and the Blues switched backup goalies in the offseason, Carter Hutton signed with Buffalo as an unrestricted free agent for three years. Chad Johnson signed with the Blues for one year and a cap hit of $1.75 million.
Allen could be the key to the Blues success in 2018, and he will have to step up and be the goalie the Blues have trusted in for the last six years. He will have a better team playing in front of him and that should help with his consistency issues.
Allen could have a career year and pass Mike Liut (151 wins) for first all-time in Blues history. He would need 34 wins to do so and it would be a career high for Allen. His career high is 33 wins in 2016 when he was first given the reigns as the number one goalie so it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.