If you were thinking that the St. Louis Blues goaltending picture was going to be cleared up thanks to an upper-body injury to Brian Elliott, think again.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock tells Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that their recall of Jake Allen was just for practice purposes and Elliott would be ready to go.
“We didn’t want to aggravate it,” Hitchcock said. “We’ve been nursing it for a week or so. ... It’s more maintenance. It’s not a big deal. ... He’s fine to play, so that’s not an issue. He’s nursing something that’s going to take a day or two to be 100 percent.”
Hitchcock also says if the Blues were playing Wednesday and he wanted Elliott to be the starter, he could do it. That just takes us back to square one as to who the Blues will start in goal, an announcement Hitchcock said he would wait until Thursday to make.
Whether he goes with Elliott or Jaroslav Halak, Hitchcock has a wealth of riches to deal with. Elliott has had a tremendous season while Halak’s season has been just as strong and he has the playoff pedigree. It’s not as if he’ll be picking one guy and being forced to stick with him. Should one guy start and not work out, there’s an equally capable goalie waiting in the wings. Nice problem to have.