I’ll be honest. The fresh wound from Sunday’s downfall still stings quite a bit and won’t subside until the weather gets warmer. Once the healing is complete, the planning for a new season will begin. Finding the goaltender to lead the St. Louis Blues for the foreseeable future should be the first mission for General Manager Doug Armstrong and Head Coach Ken Hitchcock. Forget the 4 year deals or the midseason gambles. Go for the long haul this time and secure Jake Allen.
In case you have been under a rock since the Blues broke Sochi and came home, the team made a blockbuster trade and acquired Ryan Miller on March 1st. The trade was met with high marks from analysts yet local fans questioned the move. In many mindsets, the goaltending situation wasn’t a huge need. Scoring punch was and that was largely ignored. In an article or two, I wrote about the potential move and then about it after it was completed. I supported the move and liked the gamble of Armstrong. He was going all in at the poker table and acquiring a 34 year old goaltender with very good stats for an average Buffalo hockey team and a man without a contract for the next season. This was do or die for the Blues.
Guess what? They died. The Blues were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks in 6 games. Miller was outplayed by Corey Crawford and now the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis is desolate, and the ice is broken up and put away until the fall. Miller never took over games as many hoped and in the end could be labeled a moderate disappointment.
Miller wasn’t a complete dud here. There were a handful of games where Miller stood out and played amazing. There were many more where he was merely adequate or just good. The expectations were ones he could never live up to unless the Blues went deep into the playoffs or hoisted the Cup. Both of those things didn’t happen and there is no statue of Miller being polished as we speak. Where does that leave the team and Miller? At a crossroads with a few options.
Here’s one of those roads they could travel.
Back in December, I started writing about the idea of bringing up hot prospect Jake Allen. He rescued a struggling Blues team in the 2012-2013 season when previous Blues regime savior Jaro Halak was injured and backup Brian Elliott self-destructed and was sent to the minors. Allen played for a little over a month before being dispatched before the playoffs began. While Halak and Elliott were playing good early this season, I wanted Allen to get a shot and mentioned trading one of our goaltenders for possible scoring help.
Flash forward to now and the idea from here is simple. It’s time to promote Allen permanently to the team and let him have the chance to take over. It’s the best option. It’s the most logical option for a Blues team that needs to answer a few questions before training camp begins this summer. I mean, they could….
Bring back Miller.
Let’s examine it briefly. Armstrong could try to justify the trade and sign the aging stopper to a 3 year deal or possibly longer but lets get serious. Armstrong isn’t built like that and won’t delay the inevitable any longer. The team and the free agent are on different paths. Miller isn’t going to settle for a 1 or 2 year prove yourself contract. He isn’t stupid and is too old to go playing poker with his career as he reaches his mid 30’s. This is contract time and while losing in the first round of the playoffs upon coming to a highly talented team while touted as the Savior didn’t work out well, Miller is still due a nice deal from someone. Do the Blues need to do that? Give the guy a chance to right the ship he couldn’t steer into the Promised Land the first time.
The answer is a flat NO.
The Blues don’t need to sign Miller anymore than they need to give a congratulations phone call to Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville.
They traded for Miller, lost a high draft pick, and need to stop the bleeding immediately. The chips were in the air on whether to bring back the veteran if he led the team deep into the spring. With the early exit, the fate is set. Let Miller sign with Anaheim, Minnesota or some other big spender willing to hand a lottery ticket to a old set of legs without the greatest mindset at the moment.
Give the keys to Allen and hit the throttle. Sign Brian Elliott to a new deal to mentor Allen and handle the starting reins until the kid is ready to roll. The Blues and Elliott have a great relationship and he is a great backup so it will work easily.
A Jake Allen-Brian Elliott combo will buy into the theory that the Blues are still building from within with players like Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Adam Cracknell, Dmitri Yaskin, and Ty Rattie. Allen earned his dues and dominated the AHL in 2013-14 after giving a tease to St. Louis fans last season. Let him lead your team to the next level because it’s the right thing to do. In order to begin recovering, the Blues must make this move first.
They need Allen’s youthful energy. He is a confident young goaltender who knows how good he is and what his career ahead consists of. When he was manning the net for the Blues last year, Hitch loved his confidence and ability. The fans got swept up in it. He gave the Blues an amazing month of play and is waiting for the opportunity to do more. All he needs is the chance. After such a horrible failure, the Blues need Jake Allen right now more than they know.
Goal scorers will be available in free agency or via trade soon enough. When the playoffs conclude, that hunt can begin. The Blues need to move Allen into the family, bring back Elliott and release the ailing Ryan Miller to the departure zone.
It was an exciting moment in Blues history to acquire such a talent but that’s over and the team must look forward to a future with Jake Allen as the #1 goaltender.
