Majorityof1
Registered User
We were in last place in 2019 when Binnington took over. Allen was 11-14-4. We are a playoff team now. Binnington is 11-9-3. So Binnington is still treading water, and we have the wiggle room to give him some rope. Binnington never gave Allen a chance to win back the net and we needed every point. If Husso continues to put up sub 2 GAA and .930+ save percentage, Binnington won't have much of a chance either but we have the space to give him a few more games.
The team is incentivized a bit to let Binnington figure it out due to contract situations. In 2019, Allen had 2 years left at $4.35 after the season. We had the cap flexibility to re-sign Binnington as an RFA and keep both the following year. Allen was tradable as a 1B on that contract. Currently, Binnington is not tradable with 5 years at $6M so we are stuck with him. We cannot afford to keep both goalies after this year, so we will probably lose Husso anyway (or have to lose someone else to help him fit). Coaches shouldn't make decisions based on contracts but they do. If Armstrong could voodoo our goalies so one was great at the expense of the other, he'd pick Binnington without hesitation. We are stuck with him for 5 more years. The more Husso proves he is a capable starter, the more expensive he gets to re-sign and the more chance we lose him. Armstrong can't voodoo them, but he can ask Berube to give Binner every chance to figure it out himself.
It is a what have you done for me lately business, to some extent. But some things you do buy you credit for a little while. Taking over the starting goaltender job as a rookie, single-handedly injecting swagger into the team and backstopping them to their first cup in 50 years buys you cred for a decent bit of time. Allen had never banked that much credit in his career. Binner's cred is definitely running out, but it probably is enough to buy a few more starts.
As for Husso building a better resume I disagree. Binnignton's AHL numbers are much better. Husso's extra NHL games were not earned. He was defaulted them last year because we had no other options and no cap to make a change. He was sub .900 and over 3 GAA last year. That is hardly resume padding. As of 2019, Binnington had never not been awesome as an NHL goalie. The team was feeding off of his energy big time. I'm not in the locker room, but I don't think the team is feeding off of Husso. They are playing better in front of Husso, but not the drastic turn around they had when Binner took over the net in 2019.
So to sum up, I think the contract situations and the fact that Binnington is a cup winning goalie are the main reasons why the situation is different. But Binngton will have to earn the net back and Husso will have to falter for him to actually be the playoff starter. I just think they will give Binnington a few more starts than they would in a pure meritocracy.
