St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen for his entire career has been haunted by the ghosts of goalies past and present, and now there is a ghost of goalie future.
The ghosts from Allen’s present may have moved into his past but have not gone away. Aside from having at one time another haunted Allen they share more in common than that.
Since Grant Fuhr left after the 1998-1999 season, the Blues have not had an actual number one goaltender and have been mired in a goalie controversy as well. So much so that debating whom should be the starting goaltender for the team has become city’s number one past time.
More from Editorials
- St. Louis Blues Need Kasperi Kapanen To Be On Best Behavior
- Hayes’ Debut And Other Bold Predictions for the St. Louis Blues
- St. Louis Blues Captaincy Is Suddenly A Huge Problem For 2023-24
- St. Louis Blues National Games Cause More Problems Than They’re Worth
- St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn Has To Be An Impact Player In 2023-24
I will preface this by saying that I am not a huge Jake Allen fan. I will also add that I do not blame him for all that has gone wrong with the Blues, and especially not the start of this season. That being said I don’t think the Blues have a real number one goalie on the team right now.
If you at Allen’s stats trend starting with the 2014-2015 season, they have been trending the wrong direction. His goals-against average has gone from 2.28 to 2.78 last year, and his save percentage has gone from .913 to .906.
We will not bring in this year’s stats as the game sample is too small and there are too many other mitigating circumstances. But the trends are not heading in the right direction, but Allen’s and Johnson’s career stats are almost identical.
Chad Johnson has done well the last three games, including the loss, and I think he deserves to keep starting until he shows that he can’t or shouldn’t. Then Allen should be given his chance to play until he encounters problems. Neither goalie should be allowed to flounder for too long.
Johnson being the ghost of goalies present, is playing above his career averages with a SV% of .927 and a GAA of 2.08 which ranks him about 12th in the NHL right now.
Our first ghost of goalies past is Carter Hutton. Granted he probably had a career year last year by being the number one goalie in the NHL in SV% and GAA. By those stats, he deserved more starts. He especially earned a chance in a playoff game, Jake wasn’t bad, but he was not going to win one by himself. Hutton just might have done just that.
Next, let’s visit with Jaroslav Halak, the number four ranked goalie in the NHL right now in both GAA 1.77 and SV% .945. The Blues gave up on him, partially because of the play Brian Elliot, and traded the farm away to Buffalo for highly coveted, impending disaster Ryan Miller and Steve Ott. He was gone by the end of the season. Steve Ott was a nice addition but not worth what we gave up to get the both of them.
Speaking of Elliot, he is playing well for Philadelphia this year with a .909 SV% and 2.67 GAA. Neither of which is going to make him a Vezina Trophy candidate but is respectable and close to Jake Allen’s career stats. The Blues let him walk as a free agent to clear the way for Allen to be the number one goalie.
Then there was Ben Bishop, whom the Blues never gave a chance. He played 13 games in 2 different seasons and was traded to Ottowa for a draft pick that turned out to be Tommy Vannelli. Bishop almost took Tampa Bay to the cup save for an injury his GAA 2.61 and SV% .915 make him about 23rd this year.
The ghost of goalie future is, of course, Ville Husso. While he is a highly touted prospect by both the Blues and scouting services, one has to wonder if he is genuinely not ready for the big time or is being kept in the minors not to pressure Allen.
Husso has posted good stats at every level he has played and had a great year with San Antonio last season. What are the Blues plans regarding goaltending? With Husso in the wings is this Allen’s make or break season? If so it is not starting well for him.
None of these goalies of the past were good enough for the Blues despite having career stats very similar to Allen’s. I would say that of them all only Ben Bishop can take a team to a cup. It shows that the Blues know average but not great goaltending.
I may be the Scrooge of Blues goalies talent, but all the goalies past and present, have one thing in common, being common. The combined career averages of all the past goalies mentioned are better than the career averages of Allen, SV% .916 for them vs .911 for Allen and GAA 2.44 for them vs. 2.63 for Allen.
Neither Allen or Johnson nor the others, are a cup winning goalie. Can you envision either of them sitting on a one-goal lead and carrying the team to a victory in a playoff game? Right now The Blues have to worry about just making the playoffs, which will be challenging enough given the standings. This is true regardless of who is in the net a past, present, or future goalie.
I may have proven Benjamin Disraeli’s statement “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics” correct with the above article but I offer the Blues playoff record as my supporting documentation. I want nothing more than to see the Blues win the cup; I don’t see it in the immediate future.