Breaking Down The St. Louis Blues Goalie Group

The St. Louis Blues will enter the 2023-24 season with a different goalie tandem for the third time in as many seasons, as Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer will look to anchor the goal for the Blues this season.

There was a time not too long ago when the Blues had one of the best goalie duos in the NHL. Ville Husso and Binnington’s pairing was dynamic, and each player saw themselves take control of the Blues’ net at different times throughout the season.

Fast forward to 2023, and there are big question marks about how far Hofer and Binnington can take the team. Even more pressure is placed on the duo as the Blues are coming off one of the worst seasons in a decade.

Hofer enters the season as a much bigger unknown than Binnington, as the 23-year-old enters the season with just eight NHL games under his belt. He has fared well in his limited time in St. Louis, posting a 4-2-1 record with a .900 save percentage while allowing 3.18 goals per game.

Hofer was drafted in the fourth round by the St. Louis Blues in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and has dominated every level of competition so far in his young professional and amateur career.

The goaltender has won two gold medals for Team Canada, both in the World Championships and the World Junior Championships. He has been an IIHF, WHL, and AHL all-star over the last four years.

His regular season for the Springfield Thunderbirds was as dynamic as it gets, posting a 27-15-5 record in the AHL while saving .921% of the shots against him and only allowed 2.50 goals per game.

It will be interesting to see how head coach Craig Berube deploys his goalies to begin the season. The Blues don’t play back-to-back games until October 26 and 27, when they travel to western Canada to play the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

Binnington will do everything he can not to lose his starting job again in 2023-24. If the Blues see it necessary to place Hofer in a full-time role over Binnington, then the season may already be lost.

Binnington, like his defense in front of him, had a mediocre season last year. He finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 27-27-6 record and allowed 3.31 goals per game while stopping just .894% of the shots against him.

The former Calder Trophy runner-up was once regarded as the next best thing when it came to young goalies. Now, the six-year $36 million contract is looking worse by the year.

He still has all the talent necessary to be a dominant goalie in the NHL. He led the team to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2019, and without the stellar play by the goalie, the team would’ve gotten bounced early in the postseason.

If both Hofer and Binnington play to the level that they are capable of, then the St. Louis Blues will have a dynamic tandem just like they had with Husso, Brian Elliot, Jake Allen, and other great backup goalies.