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St. Louis has a weird goaltending history

Jaroslav Halak

Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that, with a 3-0 shutout of San Jose on Sunday, Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak moved into second place on the franchise’s career shutout list.

/screeches tires

Whaa?

After some digging, it turns out this report is totally true. Even though three Hall of Fame goalies plied their trade in St. Louis (Glenn Hall, Jacques Plante and Grant Fuhr ) it’s Halak -- who has been a Blue for exactly one year, seven months and 27 days -- that just passed the immortal Roman Turek for the No. 2 spot.

Shocking? Well, not really when you consider what the future holds -- four more shutouts and Halak becomes St. Louis’ all-time leader.

At the rate Halak is going, he could have the record by March. He has five shutouts in his last 10 games and boasts a 1.97 GAA (fourth in the NHL) with a .922 save percentage.

This tells you two things: 1) Halak is having a very good season and 2) The franchise’s all-time shutout leaders list is bizarre. Consider the top 10:

1. Glenn Hall-- 16
(A legend)

T-2. Jaroslav Halak -- 13
(Still feel like this happened too quickly)

T-2. Roman Turek -- 13
(Along with Cechmanek, proved goalies named Roman aren’t trustworthy)

4. Brent Johnson -- 12
(Now the backup in Pittsburgh)

5. Grant Fuhr -- 11
(Was 33 when he went to St. Loo)

T-6. Mike Liut -- 10
(Even though he leads the Blues in appearances, I refuse to acknowledge him as anything other than a Whaler)

T-6. Manny Legace -- 10
(Just had a “Oh wow, he was their starter for a while!” flashback)

T- 6. Jacques Plante -- 10
(Won a Vezina, got traded to Toronto, made the All-Star team. Good trade, St. Loo.)

9. Greg Millen -- 9
(Remember when he played for Quebec? Yeah, me neither)

10. Chris Mason -- 8
(No. 3 on Nashville’s list!)

Meanwhile, ol’ Curtis Joseph -- who played 280 games for St. Louis, second-most of all time -- sits in 14th, behind both Jamie McLennan and Ty Conklin.

Speaking of Joseph, he’ll likely soon be passed by Brian Elliott, who in 26 games has as many shutouts (five) as Joseph did from 1989-95.

In conclusion, St. Louis’ goaltending history is weird.