St. Louis Blues Prospect Hoping To Out-duel Canadian Goalies

Normally the World Junior Summer Showcase is not a point of interest for St. Louis Blues fans. An odd circumstance puts a lot more on the line this time.

The St. Louis Blues puzzled a lot of fans with their 2019 NHL Entry Draft when they drafted not one, but two goaltenders. On the heels of drafting a goaltender in 2018, having two talented netminders with decent resumes in the minor league system and two NHL goalies as well as one of the best goaltending stories of all time, it made little sense.

However, goaltenders are almost like running backs in the NFL. You can never have too many.

The comparison ends once they are fully established as we see goaltenders getting some of the highest contracts in the league and RB’s are still expendable. Still, the point remains that the Blues are not the only team that looks to stock up on net help.

As much crap as fans give him, Doug Armstrong is pretty good at having his finger on the pulse of the hockey world. He might have been a little slow to transition his team to more of a speed game, but in terms of talent and how others view that talent, he’s got an eye we don’t give him credit for.

One such example is Colten Ellis. When the Blues selected Ellis with their second pick, the 93rd overall, they knew they were getting a goaltender that was drawing interest deep in the hockey circles.

We need look no further than Ellis’ inclusion in the Team Canada squad for the World Junior Summer Showcase. Normally any player going to one of these tournaments is not of great importance, but this time around it shows how Hockey Canada views Ellis.

In a strange circumstance, the powers that be have been unable to separate the goaltending battle for Team Canada thus far. So, Ellis has been included with four, yes four, other goaltenders to duke it out for playing time in this tournament.

So far, Ellis has not lacked in confidence surrounding his selection. “For me, I just want to prove to them that I’m able and capable of playing on this team,” Ellis said in a piece on the Blues website.

Unfortunately, Ellis was roughed up in his first chance to show his skills, allowing eight goals to Team Finland. On the positive side, Team Canada has people that can tell when a goalie is off and when there are other things at play.

“It was backdoor plays on him, wasn’t really fair for him,” Canada coach Dale Hunter said, as reported by Adam Kimelman. “We weren’t sharp early. They came on us hard and it surprised our guys. You saw the goals in the first period, he had no chance on them, wasn’t his fault.”

If nothing else, the fact Ellis was chosen to face Finland, one of the teams that regularly wins Junior tournaments if Canada fails to, shows they have trust in him. If he was sort of the outsider of the five, you might not throw him to the wolves.

Still, Ellis has to prove he can make the stops even if the defense is not always the best. That’s what Jake Allen did a couple seasons ago and certainly what Jordan Binnington did in the 2019 playoffs.

As the article on the team website points out, Ellis will have at least another shot. Team Canada still has round-robin games against Sweden and the United States coming up.

It might not be announced until the late fall or early winter, but Ellis will have a good idea whether he will be wearing that red leaf on his chest come Christmastime or not based on his next game or two. That’s a lot of pressure, but that’s what the best goalies are all about.