St. Louis Blues Prediction: Jake Allen Will Not Be Traded

Everywhere you look, fans seem to be asking when Jake Allen will be traded away and what the haul will be. Those people better not hold their breath, since they might be waiting a long time.

Though things have calmed down for St. Louis Blues fans after winning the Stanley Cup and training camp having already started, there are always flames to be fanned. Even with a Stanley Cup in their pocket, the goaltending issue seems to be a never ending one.

At least, for once in a very long time, Blues fandom is on the same page about the starter. Even those of us in the Snake’s camp realize that Jordan Binnington is the 2019-20 starter.

Binnington earned that spot with one of the hottest runs we have ever seen in the blue note and perhaps in the NHL. However, even those that bow down and kiss his feet need to realize he is still unproven.

I want Binnington to succeed. You want him to succeed. However, winning a championship is not a guarantee of long-term success.

Look no further than J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks. Giguere is not exactly like Binnington in that he was in the league for quite a few seasons before really bursting on the scene. Still, he was nothing special until the 2002-03 season where he won 34 games.

Giguere went up and down the next couple of seasons, but proved to be one of the primary reasons the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007. Giguere was fine in the season after that, but fell off the map following that year.

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The Ducks were fortunate enough to have Jonas Hiller coming into his own right as Giguere was starting to slip. That is exactly why the Blues should not and will not trade Jake Allen this season.

Regardless of what the noisy throng on social media would have you believe, Allen has been a steady starter throughout his career. He has had his blips and bumps, but anyone who thinks all goaltenders don’t have those, to some degree, is too far within the Blues forest to see the trees of the rest of the league.

Hall of Fame goalies had bad games and bad stretches. It just does not make good talk radio or hot take social media posts to point that out because it does not fit the easy, lazy narrative that Allen is the worst thing ever.

2017-18 was a bad year for Allen, but not coincidentally, it was one of the worst defensive teams the Blues have had in quite some time. They were not bad and better than most, but 222 goals allowed cannot all be pinned on Allen.

The Blues had an injured Jay Bouwmeester and we saw how good he could still be when healthy. The Blues also had Mike Yeo as coach and that seemed to impact everyone.

Fans quickly forget that Allen single-handedly beat the Minnesota Wild in 2017 too. During that playoff run, Allen had a minuscule 1.96 goals against and eight of his 11 starts being labeled as quality starts. A sane person would not blame Allen for the fact the team’s lack of a power play cost them against the Nashville Predators.

Fans also like to think all other goalies are better simply because of name or what their teams have done. Through their first six seasons in the NHL, Allen’s numbers are a lot closer to a Cup champion and league favorite than many would believe.

Through their first six years, Allen has just as many shutouts as Carey Price. He has a better goals against than Price and while his save percentage is the lowest of those three, the difference is minute.

The bottom line is you need two goaltenders in today’s NHL. No offense to him, but the Chad Johnson experiment proved that you need someone that is capable of starting as your backup, not just someone who can fill in a game or two.

If nothing else, the Blues have proven a tandem can work time and time again. St. Louis won the Jennings Trophy when Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott were at their best. When they leaned on one or the other, they faltered.

Elliott and Allen and Allen and Carter Hutton all worked. What is so wrong with Binnington and Allen?

Ville Husso might still be the goalie of the future, but he is not the goalie of today. He had a mediocre/bad year with San Antonio last season. Do you really want to thrust him into the fire of the NHL?

As good as we think and hope Binnington is, he has never played a full NHL season as the sole starter. Whether his minor league career or elsewhere, it has been forever since Binnington was the only starter and not sharing time, so trying to force him to play 60-plus games is not fair or realistic.

What sort of return would the Blues honestly get for Allen? If he is as bad as many fans believe, there would be no return and you’re still depending on Husso as your backup instead of giving him games in the AHL.

I am sure the Blues kicked the tires on trade options, if for no other reason than courtesy to Allen and how good a teammate he was. Either there were no starting options for him or the team did not believe they would get good value for him.

Thus, he remains with the Blues. Thus, unless the Blues are near the bottom of the playoff picture, Allen will not go anywhere at all this season.

At this juncture, the Blues might as well stand pat. They have a formidable goaltending duo, either of which can perform in the playoffs and both are on reasonable deals.

Stop this nonsense about paying $4-plus million to both your goaltenders. They still earn under $9 million total.

The New York Rangers have more than $9 million tied up in their goaltenders. The Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens have more than $11 million tied up in goaltending. Boston has $9.75 invested in goaltending.

The main difference is New York and Montreal are paying obscene money to their starter and having to scrape the barrel for understudies. Chicago, Boston and St. Louis all have players ready to carry the load if there is an injury, which often happens.

So, while this article will not stop the unending social media blitz about who the Blues should trade Allen for, let us all stop being video game GM’s. It is not as simple as plugging in Player A for Player B and hitting send and it all works out because you took the restrictions off the computer.

The Blues were smart to hold onto him. You do not trade an asset coming off a slightly down year if you can avoid it. Instead, they kept him and allowed him a chance to prove himself once again and he will be motivated to do.

Allen is going nowhere and that is what is best for the Blues. If Binnington stays healthy and can shoulder as much work as the Blues try to give him, so much the better.

If Binnington can be 75% of what we saw in the playoffs, that is good enough. Allen is more than capable of winning the lion’s share of the games he is given and he will, if for no other reason than to present himself as a strong piece that teams should look to acquire.

Next. Time to honor the Presidents Trophy team. dark

So, those of you brave enough to have Allen jerseys need not look to store them in the closet yet. Allen will be here until the trade deadline and, I predict, beyond that. Just get used to the idea.

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