With Joel Hofer unofficially becoming the starter for the St. Louis Blues, many fans have raised questions about Jordan Binnington's future and who could replace him when the time comes.
Hofer's possible promotion came to the surprise of no one, given how poorly Binnington had been performing through the entire first half of the season. For comparison, over his last 10 starts, Binnington has gone 3-7 with a save percentage of 0.882 and -5.3 goals saved above average. In contrast, Hofer has gone 7-3 in his last 10, posting a save percentage of 0.932 with 1.0 goals saved above average.
It's clear that Hofer has earned the nod between the pipes right now, but if the Blues end up trading Jordan Binnington, who could replace him and serve as backup for Hofer?
The Springfield Thunderbirds Hopefuls
The obvious first choices to be called up for the Blues would be the current two goalies for St. Louis's AHL squad - Georgi Romanov and Vadim Zherenko. How have they performed this season down in Springfield?
Romanov is a name some hockey fans may find familiar due to a short stint in the NHL last season for the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks have a tendency to make even the best goalies look subpar, so it's best that we focus on what he has done for the Thunderbirds this season for the most relevant data. He has posted a 0.905 save percentage with a 5-5-4 record this year in Springfield.
Zherenko has been with the Blues organization and worked his way through their talent pipeline since he was picked in the 7th round of the 2019 NHL Draft. This year for the Thunderbirds, Vadim has a 7-7-3 record with a 0.912 save percentage. Zherenko has been great for the AHL squad so far, and despite Romanov's NHL experience it would be surprising if the Blues didn't call up Zherenko first given his long tenure with the organziation and his impressive numbers for the T-Birds.
The Ellis-Phant In The Room
This wouln't even be a conversation had the Blues not lost highly rated goalie prospect Colten Ellis to the Buffalo Sabres in early October. The Sabres claimed Ellis off of waivers after St. Louis intended to send him down to the AHL to continue to develop for the day one of Hofer and Binnington needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, this eliminated a lot of depth that the Blues had cultivated at the goalie position, causing this discussion to be a contentious one when it should've been simple.
While Ellis has seen success in Buffalo, he hasn't been a revelation like many Blues fans feared. There is no reason to think one of Romanov or Zherenko wouldn't be able to slot in as the backup for St. Louis if and when that time comes. For now, all Blues fans can do is watch and wait while GM Doug Armstrong weighs his options for this team.