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Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:00 am
by Oaklandblue


Link: http://blues.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=658732" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced early Wednesday that the club has recalled goaltender Jake Allen from the Peoria Rivermen, the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
Allen, 22, has appeared in five games with the Blues this season, posting a 3-1-0 record with a 2.62 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage.

In 34 games with the Rivermen, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound goaltender has a record of 13-18-2 with a 2.92 goals-against average, .904 save percentage and two shutouts.

The Fredericton, New Brunswick native was drafted by the Blues in the second round (34th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft.

I sense a possible trade in the air,

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:36 am
by Krigloch the Furious
Do the Blues have any other goalie prospects?

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:34 am
by Nyghtewynd
Well, out of all of the moves a floundering team could make, this one makes no sense. I can't imagine that either goalie has trade value, and you can't just demote someone. I have no idea what this one is, unless they're going to be really dumb and trade Allen himself.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:59 am
by cprice12
This is indeed puzzling.
JR said neither Halak or Elliott are hurt.
I doubt any of our goalies are being traded. It makes no sense to call up Allen before a trade is made...and the timing of it is also weird...right after the LA game and they don't play again until Thursday.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:26 am
by WaukeeBlues
Healthy scratch one of the goalies. What's the problem?

Allen played well when he was up here, GM pissed his team gave up 5 goals in less than 2 periods, shake it up, get Allen back up here, suit him up.

Not puzzling at all.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:47 am
by cardsfan04
My first thought was that either Halak or Elliott must be hurt. But, since that's not it, I think they are doing this to shake things up a bit. And, if Allen runs with it, I could see this being the start of Allen as our number one.

I don't know how he's played in Peoria, but he looked really good while with the Blues. It seems the team doesn't have hardly any confidence in Elliot (went almost a month in between appearances), and Halak hasn't been spectacular. I bet they are hoping Allen runs away with the job this year instead of waiting for the future.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:08 am
by Nyghtewynd
This is then a move of a franchise that is truly lost at sea. Unless you're going to make a trade or dump someone, carrying three goalies is asinine. With all of the injury problems and scoring problems, you're going to keep three goalies? Clueless.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:20 am
by cprice12
WaukeeBlues wrote:Healthy scratch one of the goalies. What's the problem?

Allen played well when he was up here, GM pissed his team gave up 5 goals in less than 2 periods, shake it up, get Allen back up here, suit him up.

Not puzzling at all.
Oh, I disagree...it is indeed puzzling because of the timing.
Allen's numbers in the NHL: 4.5 games, 2.62 GAA and an .895 save%. His numbers in Peoria aren't much better.
Those numbers are nothing to write home about, even though he did look very good at times and seemed to get better as he got more time in net.

Halak was terrible last night. Elliott was fine.
Seems odd for next game to scratch Elliott over Halak after last night's game where Halak was terrible and Elliott was fine.

You never see a #1 goalie as a healthy scratch though...so it has to be Elliott.
HOWEVER, if you are looking to send a message...making Halak a healthy scratch might do it.

It would also help to get our entire 2nd line back from the DL. People seem to forget that plays a significant role in our struggles right now.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:56 am
by APOD
I'm confused :?:

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:20 am
by Shanahan19
Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:44 am
by dmiles2186
Army said it's now or never, the goaltending has sucked, and wants to give Hitch the opportunity to have Allen at his disposal should he want to bench Elliott or Halak.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/p ... 1f84b.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At an admitted “critical point” in their season, the Blues are turning back to rookie goaltender Jake Allen.

Less than an hour after Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to Los Angeles, in which the Blues gave away a 4-1 second-period lead, the team announced at 1 a.m. St. Louis time that it had recalled Allen from Peoria.

Jaroslav Halak allowed five goals on 21 shots and Brian Elliott one goal on eight shots against the Kings, sinking the Blues’ save-percentage (.870) to No. 24 in the NHL. The defeat dropped the club to ninth place in the Western Conference with 24 points after 22 games.

In a 48-game shortened season, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that the team could ill-afford to wait any longer for the goaltending to improve, and so he turned to Allen, who went 3-1 with the Blues last month before being re-assigned to Peoria.

“I think it’s certainly a short season now, we’re in a very critical point and our goaltending to this point in the year hasn’t been to the standard that’s necessary to consistently win games,” Armstrong said. “Jake came up and played very well when he was here, and the team responded by playing very well in front of him.

“Ultimately we have faith in Brian and we have faith in Jaro, but we need to find success quickly in this type of season and I felt it was necessary to give Jake that opportunity.”

Armstrong did not confirm that Allen would start Thursday when the Blues travel to play Phoenix, saying, “Ken (Hitchcock) makes the lineup card, but I wanted to give him that opportunity. I just felt that when (Tuesday’s) game ended, we needed to look back on when we were having our most success, and what were some of the components, and Jake was one of those components. We think Jake has proven to be able to play at a high level over a short period of time.”

In four consecutive starts last month, his first regular action in the NHL, Allen had three consecutive road wins over Detroit, Calgary and Vancouver, followed by a one-goal loss to San Jose. His save-percentage during the stretch was .906.

But then Halak returned after missing eight games with a groin injury and Elliott was ready to hit the reset button after allowing four-plus goals in four consecutive outings. With four straight off days at the time, the Blues did not want to keep three goalies on the roster and thus assigned Allen to Peoria on Feb. 21.

“It was tough because I don’t really believe, all things being equal, that you should lose your job due to injury,” Armstrong said. “So I felt Jaro deserved the opportunity to get back in there and play. But when Jake was in there ... our success rate hasn’t been the same since he went down.”

The Blues had the highest save-percentage in the NHL last season at .929. Elliott ranked No. 1 with a mark of .940 and Halak wasn't far behind (.925).

“That position is obviously a large part of our industry and last year we were great benefactors of two goalies at the top of their game,” Armstrong said. “This year we haven’t had that luxury of playing and winning in one-goal games, 2-1 or 3-2. I think it would be too convenient just to say that our issues fall on one position. We’ve exposed our goalies to situations that you’re not going to have success in at different points of this year.

"That being said, we need to stabilize and gain confidence that we can win 2-1 and 3-2 games. Not to make excuses for Brian or Jaro, but there was no training camp basically, they did not play during the lockout. But Jake has played and when he was in there, he was the sharpest in the group.

“Normally you give opportunities to work through situations, but in the environment we’re in right now it’s difficult to allow that because every point is so critical.”

The Blues, who are in the midst of a five-game road trip, will carry three goalies on the roster for the time being. They had an available spot on the 23-man roster, so therefore don’t have to assign a player to Peoria to make room for Allen. There are no plans to option Elliott to the minor leagues. After signing a two-year, $3.6 million contract extension last offseason, he would need to clear waivers to play for the Rivermen.

“I’m not worried about rubbing a crystal ball right on what might happen (with waivers),” said Armstrong, who believes that with better goaltending the Blues aren’t far off.

“Quite honestly, I thought the first two periods (Tuesday) might have been the best hockey we’ve played all year as far as the players sacrificing for each other," he added. "L.A. was 8-2 (in its last 10 games), it looks like they have their swagger back and I thought we were there with them for 40 minutes and were in a very good spot to acquire points. We weren’t able to do that, but I thought there was a lot of really positive signs from our group as far as their willingness to compete against the best and play for each other. There were a lot of good things that went to the wayside when the final score was written.”

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:53 am
by APOD
Shanahan19 wrote:Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!
Patrick Roy started as a back-up
Chris Osgood started as a back-up
Dominik Hasek started as a back-up

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:27 pm
by Shanahan19
APOD wrote:
Shanahan19 wrote:Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!
Patrick Roy started as a back-up
Chris Osgood started as a back-up
Dominik Hasek started as a back-up
Our three are not close to those three.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:55 pm
by cprice12
Shanahan19 wrote:
APOD wrote:
Shanahan19 wrote:Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!
Patrick Roy started as a back-up
Chris Osgood started as a back-up
Dominik Hasek started as a back-up
Our three are not close to those three.
Please.
Halak's career GAA and Save% are better than Osgood's, and Halak hasn't played on as good of teams.

The best save% Osgood ever had in a season was .917.

When Halak and Osgood are both at their best, give me Halak any day of the week. It's not even close.

And since 08-09 (the only year Halak was really Price's backup), overall, Halak has been better than Price. I'm not sure where you were going with your backup comment.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:08 pm
by Oaklandblue
cprice12 wrote:
Shanahan19 wrote:
APOD wrote:
Shanahan19 wrote:Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!
Patrick Roy started as a back-up
Chris Osgood started as a back-up
Dominik Hasek started as a back-up
Our three are not close to those three.
Please.
Halak's career GAA and Save% are better than Osgood's, and Halak hasn't played on as good of teams.

The best save% Osgood ever had in a season was .917.

When Halak and Osgood are both at their best, give me Halak any day of the week. It's not even close.

And since 08-09 (the only year Halak was really Price's backup), overall, Halak has been better than Price. I'm not sure where you were going with your backup comment.
I'd personally take a stable and solid Brian Elliott over all of them. But this is a deceptive list.

For one thing, the game was very different when Roy and Hasek got into the picture, you can't compare a netminder back then and how they would operate now with things like large pads and changes in the rules and so forth. Whole different world.

Hasek has stats that are insane for his own time and Osgood was a product of a very strong and solid D and O. I honestly wouldn't put Osgood on the same list as Hasek and Roy.

Bottom line is, if they perform to their abilities and kept strong confidence in themselves, Halak and Elliott together obliterates any competition out there.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:32 pm
by Oaklandblue
Krigloch the Furious wrote:Do the Blues have any other goalie prospects?
Didn't we just pick one up with that minor league trade with the Preds about a month ago?

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:39 pm
by glen a richter
The Blues have drafted a number of goalie prospects with later picks but none of them are even remotely on the radar. Hockeysfuture.com summarizes it pretty well... depth in goal could be improved.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/st_louis_blues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:21 pm
by dmiles2186
glen a richter wrote:The Blues have drafted a number of goalie prospects with later picks but none of them are even remotely on the radar. Hockeysfuture.com summarizes it pretty well... depth in goal could be improved.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/st_louis_blues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But Jason Bacashihua! Hannu Toivenen! Chris Beckford-Tseu! Marek Schwartz! Curtis Sanford! We've had some good ones... :doh:

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:24 pm
by glen a richter
iirc Lundqvist was a 7th or 8th round pick for the Rangers, so it is possible to get someone of quality much later in the draft. Whether Jordan Binnington is the guy for this team is extremely doubtful, though. They suck at developing goaltending talent.

Re: Jake Allen Is Back!!

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:35 pm
by STLADOGG
APOD wrote:
Shanahan19 wrote:Remember when Halak was a back up to Price...oh.

Three back up goalies...get it on!
Patrick Roy started as a back-up
Chris Osgood started as a back-up
Dominik Hasek started as a back-up
Chris osgood?
Chris (Franking) Osgood??
Are you (Franking) kidding me???