So Did the St. Louis Blues Make a Mistake Keeping Jordan Binnington?
The St. Louis Blues have a serious goaltending problem on their hands. St. Louis had another game on the road on Monday night against the New York Rangers by a final score of 6-4. The story of this hockey game was how horrendous goalie Jordan Binnington was for them.
In the loss, he only stopped 18 shots. His save percentage was .750. Over the past five games including that one as well, he only made 13 saves against the Pittsburgh Penguins (.765 save percentage), 30 saves against the Carolina Hurricanes (.882 save percentage), 20 saves against the Dallas Stars (.870 save percentage), and 22 saves against the Tampa Bay Lightning (.846 save percentage).
He hasn't had any save percentage games over .900 as of late. Head coach Craig Berube has told him to stop his antics and just play hockey. Did the St. Louis Blues make a mistake by keeping him over Ville Husso during the offseason?
Well, the obvious answer would seem to be yes because Binnington has not played well at all this season. In 20 games played, his record is 9-11, with a .889 save percentage and a 3.42 GAA, along with one shutout.
He is 29 years old and it appears as if his days of being an elite goalie after being a Stanley Cup Champion in 2019 are long gone.
Ville Husso is 27 years old and is having a much better season with the Detroit Red Wings. He has played in 17 games for them so far this season and has a 10-4-3 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.58 GAA, along with three shutouts.
These numbers are very telling and show you all you need to know how much of a massive mistake the St. Louis Blues made by moving on from Husso and keeping Binnington around.
Thomas Greiss is St. Louis's backup and he is nothing to write home about as well. Greiss has played in seven games so far this season for the Blues. His record is 2-3 with a .907 save percentage and a 3.57 GAA, along with zero shutouts. Maybe starting Greiss more games could maybe help but it isn't going to do much except for giving Jordan Binnington an extended rest as well.
The standings in the NHL are the final straw of how much of a gain it is for Detroit and how much of a loss it is for St. Louis. The St. Louis Blues have played in 25 games so far this season and have an 11-14 record with 22 points. They are currently on the outside looking in for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs picture.
As for the Detroit Red Wings, they have played in 24 games so far this season and their record is 12-7-5 with 29 points. Detroit is currently in one of the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs picture as well.
It is very important to have goaltending in the NHL. The fact that the St. Louis Blues let Jordan Binnington stay and Ville Husso walk to the Detroit Red Wings in the offseason is a major failure on general manager Doug Armstrong's part.
Expect Thomas Greiss to start on Tuesday night in net for the St. Louis Blues on the road as they take on the New York Islanders (26 games played, 16-10 record, 32 points) with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.