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Blues GM sends Allen to minors, expects Halak-Elliott to be goalie duo

jakeallen2getty

For the time being, it looks like the St. Louis Blues will settle for a goalie duo of Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott.

On the heels of sending solid rookie Jake Allen to the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen on Saturday, Blues GM Doug Armstrong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford that it will be Halak and Elliott for the rest of the year.

Then again, Rutherford points out a key caveat: rosters can bloat to 23 players following the trade deadline, so St. Louis can change course in the near future, anyway.

It’s a puzzling move if you look at the goalies’ records, although none of them have put up outstanding individual stats:

Allen: 8-3-0 with a .906 save percentage and 2.45 GAA
Halak: 6-5-1 with a .897 save percentage and 2.19 GAA
Elliott: 3-6-1 with a .851 save percentage and 3.65 GAA

Allen, 22, has the slight edge on Halak while Elliott’s numbers are just abysmal. It’s worth noting that Halak and Elliott have contracts that extend through the 2013-14 season while Allen is a restricted free agent after this season.

For now, it appears that the Blues are hoping that their two veteran goalies - including Elliott, who was a 2012 All-Star - can get the job done and make it easier to break apart the team’s three-headed monster.

With a three-game losing streak and a tenuous grasp on the West’s eighth playoff spot in mind, some believe that demoting Allen is a shaky gamble.