ST. LOUIS — The answer was right underneath our noses.
The 53-year search for the St. Louis Blues’ first true franchise goaltender has finally come to an end. And he’s looking to build on his legacy in the team’s first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 49 years.
Since the Blues’ inaugural season in 1967-68, the goaltending position just couldn’t stay filled for longer than a season or two. From Glenn Hall to Jacques Plante to Ed Staniowski, the Blues’ crease saw more strangers stroll through than Lambert Airport.
The organization thought they had a mainstay in Curtis Joseph. They thought it again with Roman Turek. And Brent Johnson. And Jaroslav Halak. And yes, Jake Allen.
But these all turned out to be stopgaps for the next name to come through. Whether it was through trade, free agency or player development, the answer was always the next guy. This is showcased when looking through the Blues’ all-time goaltending records.
One of These is Not Like the Others
In the regular season, the Blues’ all-time wins leader is Mike Liut at 151 victories. Shutouts belongs to recent Blue Brian Elliott with 25. Even a seemingly unimpressive statistic, like games played, sits at 347, again from Liut.
These numbers mean nothing if not compared to other teams around the National Hockey League.
The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the league in the same expansion year, 1967, as St. Louis. Their leader in all statistics belongs to one name: Marc-Andre Fleury. With 691 games played, 375 wins and 44 shutouts, Fleury is the clear-cut franchise goalie in which the Penguins entrusted between the pipes for the better part of 13 years.
Look one spot down from Fleury in Pittsburgh’s history, and you see just one name that holds the runner-up position. Tom Barrasso, who backstopped the Penguins from 1989-2000, appeared in 460 games, recorded 226 wins and 22 shutouts in that span.
The most important statistic? Between Fleury and Barrasso, four Stanley Cup championship rings have been awarded.
When compared to another 1967 expansion team, the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise, the numbers again display the importance of the goaltending position. First in games played (509), wins (262) and shutouts (40) is Marty Turco. Kari Lehtonen holds down second place in games played (445) and wins (216), while Ed Belfour’s 27 shutouts takes second in said category.
Belfour is the only one of the three with a Stanley Cup championship in the franchise’s tenure, but that is one more than the entire Blues’ goaltending history can claim.
Consider also that Liut’s 347 games played would rank third if on the Penguins and fourth with the Stars, and you see that the Blues simply have just never found that one guy.
The Search Reaches a Head
In 2010, it seemed like the Blues were finally headed down the right goaltending path when Halak was brought on board via trade. Although his first season didn’t go as expected (57 games played, 27-21-7, 2.48 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in another non-playoff year), he certainly didn’t seem like another temporary solution for the franchise. Factor in that the hometown kid, Ben Bishop, was drafted five years earlier and enjoyed some success in AHL Peoria, while youngster Allen was working his way through the junior circuit in the QMJHL, and it seemed like the Blues’ goaltending fortunes were finally turning around.
The map was laid out: Halak would provide solid goaltending for a few years while Bishop and Allen battled it out for the backup-goaltending position, eventually leading to one succeeding Halak as the team’s anointed starter.
This is where Brian Elliott picked up a piece of sheet metal and jammed it into the woodchipper, causing a massive explosion that would change the Blues’ operating procedures for years to come.
Signed originally as an insurance piece for injury and to help tutor Allen in the AHL, Elliott came out of nowhere in 2011 training camp and earned the backup spot behind Halak, setting Bishop up as the piece that had to be moved. It made perfect sense at the time, as Bishop struggled with the Rivermen, posting a GAA over 2.50 and a save percentage below .915 for two consecutive seasons. Allen was clearly the better choice at this time, as his numbers only improved as he worked through the ranks of the lower leagues.
From here, the story is known all too well. Halak and Elliott tandem as a solid 1-2 punch for a few seasons, before Halak is shipped to Buffalo for Ryan Miller in 2014. Miller leaves that summer while Elliott sticks around to tandem with up-and-comer Allen, who was setting up to be the team’s first true franchise goalie.
He showed flashes of being exactly that early in his NHL career, earning a nod as the starter on the league’s All-Rookie Team in 2013 and providing the organization with eye-popping athleticism and a willingness to never give up on the play.
In the meantime, the Blues’ amateur scouts saw opportunities in the drafts to grab goalies to their liking. Jordan Binnington was nabbed in 2013 and Ville Husso was selected in 2014 with a pick acquired in the deal that sent Roman Polak to Toronto. Evan Fitzpatrick rounded out a pool of talented netminders, getting selected in 2016 with the 59th overall pick.
Although maybe a few scouts saw these goalies as potential NHL starters, the belief was that Allen is the guy, and they would serve as quality backups during his tenure.
That way of thinking started to slip with Allen’s performances. His numbers started to trend downward (.920 save percentage in 2015-16 to a .906 in 2017-18). However, it was his inability to bounce back after an untimely goal or a poor performance that concerned Blues pundits. He was even told to stay home while the team traveled on two separate occasions, hoping to break him of his “mental lock.”
Binnington: Lost in the Shuffle
Eyes started squinting toward the Blues’ young backstops within the organization. Binnington was awarded a shot in the NHL net on Jan. 14, 2016, after Elliott got the hook, but the Blues’ rookie was outmatched on a breakaway by Carolina Hurricanes winger Riley Nash and made just three saves on four shots. It seemed that the young Ontario native had fallen out of favor with the big club, as Husso began receiving call-ups instead of the once highly touted Binnington.
It was in the 2016-17 season that Binnington even lost the starting job with the Chicago Wolves in the NHL after a suspension in a line brawl. Husso rattled off eight consecutive wins thereafter, all while Binnington watched from the bench.
“I thought my time in St. Louis might be done, that they had kind of moved on from me,” he told CBC Sports when recalling this moment.
He was even considered by some to be the third goalie on Chicago’s depth chart, at least until Pheonix Copley was traded to Washington later that season.
Binnington was quickly forgotten as a viable solution, and all eyes remained on Husso to take the reins from Allen in the not-too-distant future.
With Carter Hutton working opposite Allen in the 2017-18 goalie tandem, Binnington refused a demotion to the ECHL and cleared NHL waivers. He was then placed on loan to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he posted a 17-9-1-1 record with a dazzling 2.05 GAA and a .926 save percentage in 28 games. He even served as an AHL All-Star for Providence that season. The former OHL Goaltender of the Year didn’t receive a call-up to the Blues that entire season, while Husso saw a handful of games as backup on the Blues’ bench.
The 2018-19 season began with Binnington receiving time as the San Antonio Rampage’s starter in the AHL, as Allen and newcomer Chad Johnson held down the fort in St. Louis. The Blues’ goaltenders, as well as the entire roster, came out of the gate as one of the worst teams in the league, warranting head coach Mike Yeo a pink slip and Johnson a one-way ticket to Waiversville.
Despite Binnington receiving the call-up (mostly on the notion that Husso should get the bulk of the starts in San Antonio, since he is next on the Blues’ depth chart), he didn’t see the ice right away. Called up Dec. 9, Binnington was delegated to clean-up duty, only playing in just over 68 minutes in two relief appearances in his first month as an NHL backup. He was subject to poor defensive play, resulting in just 21 saves on 25 shots.
Allen was largely overworked, so as to keep the impressionable rookie from seeing NHL time behind a lackluster defense. He tied his personal NHL-high 14 starts but was clearly fighting fatigue. Head coach Craig Berube had no choice but to go with his rookie on Jan. 7 on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers.
It’s His Time
Binnington instantly stepped into the NHL spotlight. His 25-save shutout performance against the Flyers spring boarded him to a 13-1 record to start his career, rocketing his team up the standings.
His miraculous rise to stardom saw him never lose two consecutive games in the regular season. Allen started 32 games pre-Binnington. He saw just 13 starts post-Binnington.
The 25-year-old rookie finished the season with an NHL-best 1.89 GAA, as well as a fourth best .927 save percentage. His five shutouts tied for sixth among all NHL netminders. Let’s not forget he’s a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.
Binnington has played in every minute of the Blues’ 2019 playoff run. Since his start on Jan. 7, he has not been pulled from his crease mid-game except for the extra attacker.
And he’s one of two starting goalies left in the NHL.
Between the NHL regular season and playoffs, Binnington has seen just 51 games, but it certainly feels like much more. It feels like Binnington has been the guy working through the Blues’ system for some time, but in reality, he was the forgotten soldier. He was left behind, more than once, and left to scrounge for starts when others needed relief.
Now, he’s the talk of the NHL. He’s the stoic answer the Blues have been seeking for ages. He’s the calm, collected presence in the crease who rarely shows signs of uncertainty.
The question has been asked if Binnington is a flash in the pan or “the next Andrew Hammond.” Ask that question after looking at his pedigree and ability to overcome any adversity this season.
Do you see any reason to not believe he is the real deal?
There’s your answer.
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