In a town that’s never celebrated a Stanley Cup championship despite cheering for some pretty good hockey teams, and in a place where you mention the name Roman Turek (and maybe now Ryan Miller) at your own peril, goaltending is going to be a hot topic.
That’s certainly the case in St. Louis, where the Blues head into the 2014-15 campaign with Brian Elliott, a 29-year-old who’s only started 40-plus games once in his NHL career, and Jake Allen, a 24-year-old with just 13 NHL starts total in his career, as their netminding tandem.
“We’re looking forward to those two guys competing and performing well,” said Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, who had previously rolled the dice to acquire Miller in late February, only to get a goalie who went 2-4 in the playoffs with a .897 save percentage.
“We gave up quite a bit to get Ryan and we felt as an organization that might be a piece that could push us deep and get us into the Stanley Cup and win us a Stanley Cup,” Armstrong said. “That’s why the trade was made. It didn’t work out that way, obviously.”
For now, the starting job seems like Elliott’s to lose.
“He got here as an unknown,” said Armstrong, “and when you look at his save percentage and his goals-against average and his win-loss record — that’s our industry, we’re in the win-loss industry — and his numbers are very good.”
Indeed they are. Elliott has appeared in 93 games for the Blues, while compiling a record of 55-24-7 with a .927 save percentage.
And with Elliott and Allen combining for a cap hit of just $3.3 million, the Blues had the financial wherewithal to sign Paul Stastny to a four-year, $28 million deal.
Recent history shows that teams don’t need big-money goalies to win the Stanley Cup. From Chris Osgood in Detroit to Antti Niemi in Chicago to Jonathan Quick in Los Angeles to Corey Crawford in Chicago, netminders on affordable contracts have gotten it done. Sure, those goalies may demand big deals once they get their rings, but that’s a problem that Armstrong, and especially the long-suffering hockey fans of St. Louis, would love to have.