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Are The St. Louis Blues In The Midst Of Another Goalie Controversy?

By Jason Martin |
ANAHEIM, CA - JANUARY 23: St. Louis Blues with goalies Jake Allen (34) and Jordan Binnington (50) on the ice after the Blues defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5 to 1 in a game played on January 23, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - JANUARY 23: St. Louis Blues with goalies Jake Allen (34) and Jordan Binnington (50) on the ice after the Blues defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5 to 1 in a game played on January 23, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The St. Louis Blues have been in a constant state of a goalie identity crisis over the last five years, and so far in 2019, it has been more of the same for the Blues.

It is no secret that both St. Louis Blues goalies Jake Allen and Jordan Binnington have both played very well over certain points in the season. However, saying that there is a goalie controversy would be incorrect, Binnington is the number one goalie.

Going into 2019, Binnington was fourth on the Blues goalie depth chart behind Allen, Chad Johnson, and Ville Husso. He was seemingly three injuries away from making an appearance in the NHL, and lucky for him, that’s precisely what happened.

Johnson was signed as a free agent after spending his previous season as a Buffalo Sabre. The journeyman goalie was projected to be a competent backup to Allen, which would allow him to thrive as the backup goalie.

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Instead what transpired was a disastrous start to the season. It is unfair to place all of the blame on Johnson, as the Blues as a whole were awful in October.

However, recording two wins in seven games started will get anyone in this league fired, and it inevitably happened to Johnson.

Lucky for Binnington prised prospect Husso was still having issues developing and was not yet ready for NHL action.

Enter Binnington. Binnington had only appeared in one NHL game before this season, coming in relief in a regular season game in 2015-16. However, no one seemed to tell him this as all he has done is steal the show and has been a brick wall in net for St. Louis.

In his first career start against the Philadelphia Flyers on, Binnington became one of two goalies to earn a shutout in his first NHL start, setting the expectations very high for the 25-year-old.

Binnington won his first three starts at the NHL level, allowing just three goals total in those three games against Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Dallas. Moreover, Binnington led the Blues to earn points in five straight games that he started in net.

He also has not slowed down since coming to St. Louis. Binnington is 6-1-1 in eight games started for the Blues with a 1.86 GAA and a .922 SV %. I do not think it is a huge coincidence that the Blues have begun to turn their season around, at the same time that Binnington took over the starting job.

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Binnington performing at such a high level can only mean good things for the St. Louis Blues. It will also give Allen a chance to regain some of the composure that he seemed to lose toward the end of the first half of the season.

One thing is clear, the Blues will need both goalies to be at their best if they want to grab hold of one of the eight playoff spots in the Western Conference.

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