Andy Strickland ‏@andystrickland 1m1 minute ago
Jake Allen to start tomorrow vs. #blackhawks #stlblues

Jeremy Rutherford ‏@jprutherford 2m2 minutes ago
Allen will start Thursday. #stlblues

Lou Korac ‏@lkorac10 2m2 minutes ago
Jake Allen will get the start tomorrow vs. #Blackhawks. #stlblues

bradleygt89 wrote:Andy Strickland ‏@andystrickland 1m1 minute ago
Jake Allen to start tomorrow vs. #blackhawks #stlblues

As he should be.

bradleygt89 wrote:Andy Strickland ‏@andystrickland 1m1 minute ago
Jake Allen to start tomorrow vs. #blackhawks #stlblues

Glad to see they are following through with the hot hand approach. Allen has been amazing and deserves it.

I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I suppose we'll see really.

He's a workman type guy though.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I don't know what kind of market there will be for him. Maybe San Jose or Edmonton. Elliott had to know that he was likely to be usurped at some point over these three years. If they viewed him as a long term starter he'd have gotten a bigger deal, IMO. Now if Elliott is upset over this, then yeah we should move him.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

That is a possibility.

They would have to bring in a back up then.

But your right. I don't see Elliott being able to be happy being the back up again.

He only has his self to blame though. They anointed him the #1 just a few short weeks ago, and his play became very inconsistent.

ratonmono wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I don't know what kind of market there will be for him. Maybe San Jose or Edmonton. Elliott had to know that he was likely to be usurped at some point over these three years. If they viewed him as a long term starter he'd have gotten a bigger deal, IMO. Now if Elliott is upset over this, then yeah we should move him.

I see him being upset (seems like he already is...his comments the other day sounded like he was) and plus we can sign a cheaper back up, assuming that Allen doesn't blow it and its obvious he'll be the starter next season. I know his deal is cap friendly but it would save us some money if we can find a deal for him.

This whole thing makes me think about Army's comments at the end of the season last year-he said something to the tune of "whoever Allen's partner in net is will have to keep him out of the net." Proved to be true this year.

UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:

ratonmono wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I don't know what kind of market there will be for him. Maybe San Jose or Edmonton. Elliott had to know that he was likely to be usurped at some point over these three years. If they viewed him as a long term starter he'd have gotten a bigger deal, IMO. Now if Elliott is upset over this, then yeah we should move him.

I see him being upset (seems like he already is...his comments the other day sounded like he was) and plus we can sign a cheaper back up, assuming that Allen doesn't blow it and its obvious he'll be the starter next season. I know his deal is cap friendly but it would save us some money if we can find a deal for him.

This whole thing makes me think about Army's comments at the end of the season last year-he said something to the tune of "whoever Allen's partner in net is will have to keep him out of the net." Proved to be true this year.

Yeah, I just don't see why Elliott should be pissed at all, if anything be pissed at yourself for falling apart at the wrong time. I did expect Allen to take over the starter's role at some point this season, but Elliott played so well the 1st half and Allen struggled in December so I kinda figured Allen's time would come next season. Elliott opened the door though.

JR confirms what we're all saying:
Jeremy Rutherford @jprutherford · 12m 12 minutes ago
You don't need any more evidence that the #stlblues will go with Allen to start the playoffs as long as he doesn't fall apart in last 2 gms.

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

True, but I'd be perfectly okay with the first problem

I don't know if Binnington is ready yet, but I think there should be some backups available for not a ton. This is one of those times I miss capgeek. If he screws the pooch in the playoffs then yeah, it becomes messy for sure.

Honestly, I don't think Elliott "fell apart." I do think his game is a bit off right now, but I also think he has been a victim of some bad efforts in front of him.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

True, but I'd be perfectly okay with the first problem

I don't know if Binnington is ready yet, but I think there should be some backups available for not a ton. This is one of those times I miss capgeek. If he screws the pooch in the playoffs then yeah, it becomes messy for sure.

Keep in mind, we need to clear space to sign Tarasenko. If Allen is a star in the playoffs, then that is going to make it tougher. Trading Berglund would be a big step in the right direction.

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

I don't think we need to find a different goalie even if Allen has a bad playoffs. Allen is just starting his career. It's time this franchise stopped going for stopgap solutions and stuck with a longterm goalie. The Pens didn't dump Fleury after his 1st unsuccessful run in the playoffs, the Hawks didn't dump Crawford after two pretty bad showings.

ratonmono wrote:

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

I don't think we need to find a different goalie even if Allen has a bad playoffs. Allen is just starting his career. It's time this franchise stopped going for stopgap solutions and stuck with a longterm goalie. The Pens didn't dump Fleury after his 1st unsuccessful run in the playoffs, the Hawks didn't dump Crawford after two pretty bad showings.

I did not say dump Allen, I said we have to find a goalie who can start if needed. Just like Pittsburgh did with Fluery. After his rookie year he had Thibault the next two seasons and then Conklin. There is no way,, if he screws the playoff pooch, the Blues will make him the number one with no plan for an adequate backup/replacement if needed.

A few short weeks did really change a lot of things. I was firmly of the belief that Elliott should have been the playoff starter but that view has changed now for many.

Elliott has never been ever to grab the ball and keep it without giving it back at some point. He's a backup or 1A (or is that 1B?) and always will be.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I'll join you in jumping the gun on some possible trade scenarios, as I think they will definitely do the right thing and move him if he loses his job yet again. What do you think we would need to add to either side of a deal involving Berglund, Gunnarsson, and Elliott to get Scrivens and EDM's 2nd?

MissouriMook wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I officially fully expect Brian Elliott to be traded in the offseason. No way is he going to be happy here.

I'll join you in jumping the gun on some possible trade scenarios, as I think they will definitely do the right thing and move him if he loses his job yet again. What do you think we would need to add to either side of a deal involving Berglund, Gunnarsson, and Elliott to get Scrivens and EDM's 2nd?

With how bad Scrivens has been this year (really no fault of his own though) I wouldn't want to add anything to that deal personally.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

True, but I'd be perfectly okay with the first problem

I don't know if Binnington is ready yet, but I think there should be some backups available for not a ton. This is one of those times I miss capgeek. If he screws the pooch in the playoffs then yeah, it becomes messy for sure.

I think I want Binnington playing rather than waiting for playing time here.

Binnington has had a pretty solid rookie AHL season on a team that hasn't been all that great.

I would think that the Blues organization would want him playing so they would sign someone to back up Allen. Provided that Elliott leaves.

Let's also not forget that Allen is a UFA. If he takes over the #1 spot(which it appears that he has) and back stops the Blues to a deep playoff run, he is going to want a pretty large raise also.

scottie18 wrote:

ratonmono wrote:

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

I don't think we need to find a different goalie even if Allen has a bad playoffs. Allen is just starting his career. It's time this franchise stopped going for stopgap solutions and stuck with a longterm goalie. The Pens didn't dump Fleury after his 1st unsuccessful run in the playoffs, the Hawks didn't dump Crawford after two pretty bad showings.

I did not say dump Allen, I said we have to find a goalie who can start if needed. Just like Pittsburgh did with Fluery. After his rookie year he had Thibault the next two seasons and then Conklin. There is no way,, if he screws the playoff pooch, the Blues will make him the number one with no plan for an adequate backup/replacement if needed.

Gotcha. Agreed.

Blueblood wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:

scottie18 wrote:UMSL, the problem is that if Allen gets us far in the playoffs or wins the Cup, he will get Elliott or more money and it will be hard to find a backup cheaper then he is this year, except for one of our young guys. If he screws the pooch then we have to find another goalie who can be a starter, if needed. The whole situation is going to get messy if Elliott is pissed.

True, but I'd be perfectly okay with the first problem

I don't know if Binnington is ready yet, but I think there should be some backups available for not a ton. This is one of those times I miss capgeek. If he screws the pooch in the playoffs then yeah, it becomes messy for sure.

I think I want Binnington playing rather than waiting for playing time here.

Binnington has had a pretty solid rookie AHL season on a team that hasn't been all that great.

I would think that the Blues organization would want him playing so they would sign someone to back up Allen. Provided that Elliott leaves.

Let's also not forget that Allen is a UFA. If he takes over the #1 spot(which it appears that he has) and back stops the Blues to a deep playoff run, he is going to want a pretty large raise also.

Allen's a RFA, but yes he will be getting a raise after this season, how much of a raise depends on his playoff performance.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:With how bad Scrivens has been this year (really no fault of his own though) I wouldn't want to add anything to that deal personally.

Scrivens was excellent in LA caddying for Quick. I would love to have him in STL in that role behind Allen. He is just one of those guys that may be getting exposed by the double whammy of struggling to be "the guy" and playing on an epically bad EDM team.

MissouriMook wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:With how bad Scrivens has been this year (really no fault of his own though) I wouldn't want to add anything to that deal personally.

Scrivens was excellent in LA caddying for Quick. I would love to have him in STL in that role behind Allen. He is just one of those guys that may be getting exposed by the double whammy of struggling to be "the guy" and playing on an epically bad EDM team.

yeah, look at the turnaround Dubnyk (sp) has had in Minn vs Edm

bradleygt89 wrote:

MissouriMook wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:With how bad Scrivens has been this year (really no fault of his own though) I wouldn't want to add anything to that deal personally.

Scrivens was excellent in LA caddying for Quick. I would love to have him in STL in that role behind Allen. He is just one of those guys that may be getting exposed by the double whammy of struggling to be "the guy" and playing on an epically bad EDM team.

yeah, look at the turnaround Dubnyk (sp) has had in Minn vs Edm

Agreed, thats why I said "really no fault of his own," but that doesn't mean we can't exploit those bad stats to decrease the asking price for him.