Bleedin' Blue
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St. Louis Blues Top 10 Players of the 2010 Decade

By Todd Panula

ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 19: Vladimir Tarasenko #91 of the St. Louis Blues moves the puck up ice against Jordan Weal #43 of the Montreal Canadiens at Enterprise Center on October 19, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 19: Vladimir Tarasenko #91 of the St. Louis Blues moves the puck up ice against Jordan Weal #43 of the Montreal Canadiens at Enterprise Center on October 19, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /
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St. Louis Blues
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 08: Jake Allen #34 of the St. Louis Blues minds the net against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on March 08, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blues defeated the Blackhawks 2-0. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Jake Allen

There are plenty of fans that refuse to give any kind of credit to Jake Allen. He has benefited from having good teams in front of him, but was also the main cause for the Blues not getting far enough.

That’s a bunch of bull. However, it becomes impossible to change the narrative once enough people have bought in. It doesn’t help that the goaltender is always the easiest person to blame.

Regardless of all that nonsense, Allen is one of the best goaltenders the Blues have ever had, last decade or not. The proof is in the pudding.

You don’t win games based on the team in front of you alone. A great team helps a lot – just ask Chris Osgood – but you still have to have the talent to win a game on your own.

Allen has won a lot of games. In fact, if not for the Blues ridding Jordan Binnington a little too much and the season ending due to a pandemic, Allen might have taken over the top spot for wins all time in Blues history. He is currently in second place behind Mike Liut.

You don’t get 148 wins based on luck alone. We can argue whether Allen could have ever led a team by himself, but that’s not really the era we play in anymore anyway.

Allen did hit a major roadblock from 2017 through the end of calendar 2018. Even so, he found a way to be effective.

Allen had three shutouts in 2018-19 and regularly had four or more prior to that. His career best was six shutouts, which came in 2015-16.

If not for an injury, Allen might have been the goaltender that helped the Blues reach the Western Conference Final that season. His detractors will say the Blues would not have made it that far with him, but we will never know. I believe they would have.

In 2016-17, Allen was the only reason the Blues advanced past the first round. He beat the Minnesota Wild almost single-handedly that season.

Allen’s status with Blues fans will always be divisive. However, proving to be one of the winningest goaltenders in team history makes him one of the best of his decade for sure.

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