The St. Louis Blues have already handed over the reigns with Joel Hofer emerging as the clear number one goaltender, and Jordan Binnington settling in behind him in a backup role. With that shift, the attention is slowly turning to the goaltending pipeline to see who could eventually takeover as the future backup to Hofer. That is where two sixth-round picks are making an early case that the organization’s goaltending pipeline is far from bare.
A gold medal and losing record
Love Harenstam, 19, was the Blues’ 179th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, arrived in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan last season and quickly made the league look more than manageable. He finished with a 1.81 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a .920 Save Percentage (SV%) in 32 games for Södertälje SK, and the league took notice awarding him as Goaltender of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Best Junior, and an MVP Finalist.
The team in front of him made his 2025-26 season performance all the more impressive. Södertälje struggled offensively and to close out games, and Harenstam finished with a 14-18 record.
On the World Junior international stage, he was named the tournament’s best goaltender and a a tournament All-Star as Sweden won the gold.
Through 12 games this season, he has a 2.18 GAA and a .917 SV% with two shutouts as Södertälje sits in 5th place in the league.
Another season in Sweden
At 6-foot-2, Harenstam is not an overly large goaltender by today’s standards. His game is built on quickness as he plays in a butterfly style, and a willingness to battle for every puck. With that playstyle, he is able to deliver on many of the difficult saves that could pass other netminders by.
Staying in Sweden for another year has allowed Harenstam to continue building consistency against grown men before a hopeful move to North America ahead for the 2026-27 season. At this point, there is no rush and the organization can continue to be patient with his development. For a sixth-round selection, his trajectory has held among the highest in the system.
Cranley making most of his chances
The Springfield Thunderbirds backup goaltender, Will Cranley has experienced a bit of a lengthy path to the professional stage. Selected 163rd overall in 2020, the 6-foot-4 netminder has spent most of the past two seasons in the ECHL with the Florida Everblades. Due to injury, he earned a bit of an extended look with 10 games in the AHL where he managed a 6-4 record with a 3.03 GAA and .892 SV%.
Now with the Thunderbirds full time, Cranley has a 2-0-3 record with a 1.22 GAA and a .957 SV% through four games played, including his first shutout in the AHL. While those numbers could fluctuate a little as the season moves along, Cranley is proving that he could be deserving of a few extra looks in net.
Reinforcing the goaltending pipeline
Harenstam and Cranley could offer the Blues a mixture of short-term and long-term options in the NHL one day. Out of the two, Harenstam is the one with the higher ceiling, but is still refining his game, while Cranley is further along in his development and already competing for meaningful minutes in the AHL.
While neither goaltender is knocking on the NHL door at this time, both trending in the right direction as the organization looks not just at the 2026-27 season, but what their goaltending pairings could be over the next decade. What’s easy to see though is that this Blues organization has several goaltenders developing who could push their way to NHL starts in the coming seasons.
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