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The St. Louis Blues Will Ride Division-Best Goalies To Title

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) /
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With Jake Allen and Jordan Binnington, the St. Louis Blues have the best tandem in the Central Division, and it should be enough to propel them to a division title in 2020.

The St. Louis Blues fell one point shy of tying the Nashville Predators atop the Central Division. With Jake Allen and Jordan Binnington returning for another season, there’s no reason to believe they can’t compete again next season.

St. Louis, without question, has the best goalie duo in the Central Division, and the only team that can come close to matching is the Predators with Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros.

The 2018-19 season in the net was basically split in two with Allen playing the first half of the season, while Binnington took over duties in January.

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Most of the Blues success was credited to Binnington because of his stellar play in net. However, Allen was still a valuable asset to the team and proved to be the consummate teammate during the postseason.

Goaltending is not the only thing that guarantees a team’s success during the regular season, but Blues fans have seen what lackluster goaltending leads to and it’s usually not a successful season.

Looking around at other teams inside the Central Division, there are quite a few teams that may be facing difficulties in the crease in 2020. The Blues have two goalies that are capable of being starters, while other teams struggle to have one goalie put up good numbers.

There are, however, outliers, most notably the Dallas Stars’ Ben Bishop. The St. Louisan is a Vezina Trophy candidate year after year, and as long as he can stay healthy, he is one of the league’s best goalies.

Unfortunately for Dallas, there is not much help in the backup department. Dallas currently has Anton Khudobin as their backup goalie, and while I don’t like to disparage NHL players, I would much rather have Allen on my team as number my number two.

Some teams are less fortunate as the Stars or Predators. The Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche have less than ideal situations.

Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford has been battling injuries over the last handful of seasons and has been in and out of the lineup. Chicago did, however, sign Robin Lehner to a one-year deal to provide some insurance.

Colorado, meanwhile, will go into the new season with Phillip Grubauer. To his credit, Grubauer was able to get his club to the second round of the playoffs, eventually falling to the Sharks in seven games.

The Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild both have all-star caliber goalies. However, we did see Connor Hellebuyck display some deficiencies during round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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A full season of Binnington should be very intriguing for Blues fans, and if St. Louis can deploy Allen correctly, the two could be one of the best tandems in the entire NHL.

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