The St. Louis Blues‘ goaltending has been manageable for the past 11 seasons, to say the least. With the current tandem of Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer, the Blues have a record of 9-7-1, a combined goals-against average (GAA) of 2.71, and a .920 save percentage (SV%). However, trade talks are looming around Binnington.
As of now, the Blues’ situation between the pipes is working, but has it been better than the performance of former Blues netminders since they were traded or signed elsewhere?
Ville Husso
The Blues traded Ville Husso to the Detroit Red Wings on July 8, 2022, in return for a 2022 third-round pick after he put up a record of 25-7-6, a .919 SV%, a 2.56 GAA, and two shutouts in 40 games during the 2021-22 season. Husso’s performance that season outshined Binnington’s enough to get him seven playoff games with the Blues.
Despite this, the Blues had a goaltending dilemma — Husso’s two-year deal worth an annual average salary (AAV) of $750,000 (signed on Jan. 30, 2020) was close to its expiration date. After all, he had proved himself to be a valid starting option, especially for the Red Wings, who had been struggling to find a solid starter after veteran Jimmy Howard retired.
Last season, Husso finished his first season in Detroit with a 26-22-7 record, a 3.11 GAA, a .896 SV%, and four shutouts in 56 games and became the first Red Wings goaltender to finish the season with a win percentage of over .500 since the 2018-19 season. This season, he is still the go-to starter (with veteran goaltender James Reimer to back him up) but still has some work to do. In 10 games, he has a record of 6-3-1, a 3.11 GAA, and a .885 SV%.
Jake Allen
Before Binnington, Jake Allen was the Blues’ starter; however, he shared the starting role with Brian Elliott until 2016-17, when he played 61 games. Allen was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on Sept. 2, 2020, along with a 2022 second-round pick, in return for 2020 third-round and seventh-round picks.
A top-five goaltender in franchise history, in his last season with the Blues in 2019-20, he put up a record of 12-6-3, a 2.15 GAA, and a .927 SV%. He averaged a .913 SV% during his career with the organization and posted an overall record of 148-94-26, along with 21 shutouts in 289 games to rank second in shutouts, wins, and games played in Blues franchise history. His playoff performance was decent, going 11-11-1 with a .924 SV%, a 2.06 GAA, and no shutouts.
With the Habs, Allen played backup for Carey Price in 2020-21, going 11-12-5 with a .907 SV%, a 2.68 GAA, and zero shutouts in 29 games. After that, his numbers dipped when he had to replace Price and share the starting role with Samuel Montembeault the next season, putting up the worst season record of his career with a 9-20-4 record.
He has yet to start in the playoffs for Montreal, but he has had a decent start to 2023-24 with a record of 3-4-1, a .907 SV%, 3.54 GAA, and no shutouts in eight games. Allen, who was recently linked to a possible Edmonton Oilers trade, could get the chance to redeem himself against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (Nov. 22) after a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Nov. 18.
Brian Elliott
An all-time Blues goaltender, Elliott shared the starting role with Jaroslav Halak. In 2012-13, he played more games than Halak, earning him a brief starting role and finishing with a 14-8-1 record, a .907 SV%, 2.28 GAA, and three shutouts in 26 games. All of this came after a solid performance the season before, in 2011-12, where he finished with a 23-10-4 record in 38 games played and broke a single-season franchise record with the best SV% (.940), GAA (1.56), and shutouts (9). His 2011-12 save percentage ranks second in NHL history.
In 2011-12, Elliott shared the William M. Jennings Trophy with Halak. Elliott is still unsigned after playing two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, signing consecutive one-year deals worth an AAV of $900,000. He mainly covered as a backup for Andrei Vasilevskiy, and in his last season with the Lightning, he put up a record of 12-8-2 with .891 SV%, a 3.40 GAA, and two shutouts.
Jaroslav Halak
Halak played four seasons with the Blues, including his William M. Jennings Trophy-winning season with Elliott in 2011-12 when he played 46 games for a record of 26-12-7, a .926 SV%, a 1.97 GAA, and six shutouts. In the playoffs, Halak played only two games with a 1-1 record, a .935 SV%, and 1.72 GAA — his only postseason appearance with the club. On Feb. 28, 2014, the Blues traded Halak, Chris Stewart, and William Carrier, a 2015 first-round pick, and a 2016 third-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for goaltender Ryan Miller and Steve Ott (now an assistant coach with the Blues).
The 38-year-old goaltender was released on Monday, Nov. 20, after a two-week free agent tryout with the Carolina Hurricanes. This was the most hockey he’s played since last season when he signed a one-year contract with an AAV of $1.55 million with the New York Rangers. In New York, he finished with a record of 10-9-5 in 25 games and a .903 SV%.
Who’s Been the Better Goaltender Since Then?
Since Husso has been the starting option for most of the season, and the Red Wings have a record at 8-6-3, he has improved since joining the Red Wings. His numbers may not be better than they were in St. Louis, but they have shown that he’s a capable starter, and he broke the goaltending deadlock in Detroit. Husso had to sit out the Global Series trip in Sweden last week for the birth of his first child, but it’s still unconfirmed whether he’ll return on Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils.