It has been a long time since the St. Louis Blues had a true superstar on the team. The 2019 Stanley Cup champions were built upon depth and Jordan Binnington turning into a brick wall.
And while the Blues may still not have a superstar on the roster, they have some pretty good young players who could turn into some of the best players in the league. Well, maybe.
Earlier this week, Daily Faceoff released their projections of the top 30 NHL players in 2030. And there were no St. Louis Blues to be seen.
It's not shocking to not see a member of the Blues on this list, but there are certainly a few players who could make their case.
First and foremost is Joel Hofer.
The 25-year-old goaltender has posted a .907 save percentage (SV%) and 2.71 goals-against average (GAA) in an era where the league average SV% is hovering around .900. And if you take out his first two seasons, when he had a .900 SV% in eight games, he's posted a .909 SV% in 61 games (55 starts) over the last two seasons. That, of course, includes the .913 SV% season in the 2023-24 campaign.
The underlying metrics show Hofer in an even better light.
Among 52 goalies who have played at least 3,000 minutes in the last two seasons, Hofer has the ninth-best goals saved above average per 60 minutes at 0.20. That's ahead of some of the best goalies in the game like Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin.
The five goalies included on the list are Jake Oettinger, Filip Gustavsson, Yaroslav Askarov, Igor Shesterkin, and Jeremy Swayman. Those guys are all good goalies in their own right, but Hofer has proven a lot more than Askarov in the NHL, and he's only getting better. Hofer wasn't even among the honorable mentions of Lukas Dostal, Dustin Wolf, and Spencer Knight.
Although he's currently the backup to Jordan Binnington, that will very likely not be the case come 2030 -- or even 2028. Hofer is clearly going to take over in net in the coming years, and the Blues are developing right along with him.
Put some respect on Joel Hofer's name.