Jordan Binnington’s rough night raises new questions for Blues

So, Jordan Binnington had a rough outing against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

That statement is like saying water is wet.

The two egregious miscues by the St. Louis Blues netminder added insult to injury in the 6-1 shellacking the club got following their fantastic 4-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars the night before.

That performance against Dallas featured Joel Hofer in the crease. Jim Montgomery went to Binnington in the second leg of the back-to-back set, and, well, we all saw what happened.

To be fair, the game was already getting out of hand for the Blues. It was 2-0 after 20 minutes, with the Blues managing just four shots on goal in the first period. The game was 3-0 at the time of the first awful mistake.

Of course, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen made a heck of a play in batting the puck down. But that wouldn’t have happened if Binnington had wrapped the puck around the boards like he was supposed to. Instead, he tried to get cute, and the relentless Avalanche forecheck made him look silly.

All right, so that was a one-off. Well, guess again. Another miscue led to the Avalanche’s final goal of the night.

That was bad enough. In fact, it was surprising to see Montgomery leave Binnington in the crease. But we can suppose there really was no other choice.

With the overall awful performance from Binnington, it’s fair to ask if this is a sign of a much larger decline coming. After all, if Binnington can’t keep the Blues in the game against a top opponent like Colorado, the Blues may have a massive problem on their hands.

Blues may need to go shopping for a backup goalie

If we assume that Binnington’s best days are behind him, it would mean that the Blues may need to go shopping for a backup goalie. This would have to be a netminder who can relieve Joel Hofer, who is now clearly St. Louis’ number-one guy.

And even if the Blues could find someone to take over for Binnington as Hofer’s understudy, what do the Blues do with Binnington? Could a stint in the AHL be an answer? After all, we’ve seen veterans take some time off in the minors, work on their fundamentals, and get back into shape.

That may seem like a bit of an extreme at this point. But there may be no other way out. Unless the Blues can somehow pull off a Connor Hellebuyck trade, there is no real upgrade for Hofer out there. So, the next-best solution would be to find someone who could provide enough cover, should Hofer need to take time off.

And considering how this season figures to play out, the Blues will need someone who can split the load as close to 50/50 as possible.

Yes, Binnington will get plenty of other chances. But you have to wonder if the water level has just risen uncomfortably high for Binnington and the Blues. The last thing the club needs right now is to struggle out of the gate while burning Hofer to a crisp early in the season.

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