The goaltending will be the team’s biggest strength
This one should go without saying, as it’s easy to argue Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer put up better and more consistent results than the Blues forwards and defensive rotation. Both reached a 0.913 save percentage, and while we expected nothing less from Binnington despite coming off a couple of down seasons, Hofer was especially impressive since 2023-24 served as his first major test.
Now that Hofer knows what it’s like to play for an extended timeframe, every Blues fan should be curious to see what he will do in his age-24 season. But because he’s so young and even ahead of most goaltenders his age, it’s more than okay to be optimistic that the young netminder will enjoy an even greater 2024-25 season.
As for Binnington, his bounce-back campaign should be reassuring, as his 0.913 save percentage, 2.84 GAA, three shutouts, and 0.600 quality starts percentage served as a turning point from a pair of ultra-pedestrian seasons. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, Binnington finished with just an 0.897 save percentage, a 3.24 GAA, a sub-.500 quality starts percentage, and four shutouts in 97 starts.
The timeshare worked well for Binnington, and Hofer should take a few more games from the former in 2024-25, resulting in even better results.