The St. Louis Blues have had a goalie carousel between the pipes over the past handful of years, and it begs the question of who the real future is in net.
The St. Louis Blues have already waived their initial backup goalie Chad Johnson at the beginning of the season, and now they are leaning heavily on young goalies to pick up the slack left by the absence of Johnson.
This is just the latest move in a constant goalie shuffle within the Blues organization. The Blues have clearly wanted Jake Allen to take the number one goalie responsibilities and be a brick wall in net.
However, almost like clockwork, every winter Allen goes through a stretch of inconsistencies that make everyone question whether or not he has the capabilities to handle an entire season of work.
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St. Louis has brought in players like Brian Elliot, Carter Hutton, and Johnson to try and solve the issues that have been left as a result of Allen’s poor play in the winter months.
Elliot and Hutton thrived in the backup capacity in St. Louis and have both gone on to earn starting jobs for other teams.
The necessity of going outside the organization to help solve the goaltending situation is notable.
Ville Husso is the prospect that the entire organization and fans have been waiting on to become the Blues next starting goalie for the next five years but has taken his time developing throughout his professional career.
Although his career numbers and an AHLer have been good, this season, in particular, has been both riddled with injuries, and poor performances. Husso has appeared in 20 games for the San Antonio Rampage and has posted a 5-13-2 record with a .885 SV% and is allowing 3.33 GAA.
As a result of these shortcomings by Husso, the Blues were forced to go out and make a trade to solidify their goalie depth. Jared Coreau was brought into to try and right the ship in San Antonio.
Coreau has spent the majority of his career in the AHL within the Detroit Red Wings organization and has only appeared in a handful of NHL games. The 28-year-old has put up similar numbers as Husso since being acquired from Anaheim. In 10 games Coreau is 5-4-2 with a .889 SV% and is allowing 3.15 goals per game.
Evan Fitzpatrick is an intriguing prospect in the Blues organization. He has been in the ECHL, AHL, and NHL at sometime this season but did not appear in an NHL game.
As a result of Husso’s injuries, Fitzpatrick was called up to help fill a void left by Husso. In two games Fitzpatrick allowed 1.80 GAA and had a .913 SV %. In a bigger, more realistic sample size in the ECHL, Fitzpatrick has a 3.11 GAA and a .879 SV% with the Tulsa Oilers.
The most popular choice to take over the goaltending duties for the foreseeable future is current Blue Jordan Binnington. Binnington has posted a 5-1-1 record with a 1.84 GAA and a .924 SV %.
I am hesitant to declare Binnington as the future goalie of the St. Louis Blues, however this season, the Blues need to ride the hot hand and give Binnington every chance to succeed while still keeping Allen fresh.
The best thing to happen for the Blues future between the pipes is the quick development of Husso. He has been one of the top goalie prospects not only in the Blues organization but in the entire NHL.
Next season’s training camp will be an important one for Husso and could find himself in the NHL playing in a similar role that Binnington is currently playing.