Speculation: Elliott wants out

[KirkOut]

If I were Elliott I'd ask for a trade. What does he have to do to prove he should be the guy? Apparently more than the huge pile of wins he's already given the Blues

 

[Dbrownss]

They've created such a mess with the goalies....hindsight obviously. Allen ended up doing exactly what he did in lower levels. I don't see how they can bring Elliott back as a starter....it would have to be a tandem.

 

[Mzeppelin1]

within a 3 year span, we had Miller, Halak, Bishop, Elliott, and Allen. In those 3 years, we didn't score enough goals, but pretended that goaltending was the issue. Now look where we are, possibly left with just Allen. What the hell are we doing?

 

[Alklha]

within a 3 year span, we had Miller, Halak, Bishop, Elliott, and Allen. In those 3 years, we didn't score enough goals, but pretended that goaltending was the issue. Now look where we are, possibly left with just Allen. What the hell are we doing?

Goaltending has been part of the issue, but it isn't the main reason for our lack of success. The only real criticism is that Armstrong spent a year chasing a goalie, instead of forward help, when we went out a year prior having lost 11 goals in 6 playoff games.

 

[BlueDream]

within a 3 year span, we had Miller, Halak, Bishop, Elliott, and Allen. In those 3 years, we didn't score enough goals, but pretended that goaltending was the issue. Now look where we are, possibly left with just Allen. What the hell are we doing?

Sure, but I mean... When are you guys going to stop pretending that any of those guys has gotten the job done?

There's a reason we've gone through goalies... None of them have stepped up and taken control of the position.

 

[Blue Goose]

within a 3 year span, we had Miller, Halak, Bishop, Elliott, and Allen. In those 3 years, we didn't score enough goals, but pretended that goaltending was the issue. Now look where we are, possibly left with just Allen. What the hell are we doing?

That's the issue - personally, I'm tired of the goalie carousel. We finally have a young guy who we've groomed for success. He's slowly developed through the minors, and now he's gotten some playoff experience. It's time to finally run with him.

The Kings did it with Quick.
The Habs did it with Price.
The Flyers mistakenly DIDN'T do it with Bobrovsky.

Let Elliott be in a 1A/1B tandem somewhere else, and let's bring in a veteran to spell Allen during his 55-60 starts. Army has wasted too much time on this position - we've got the great young goalie that most teams dream of, now let's address the other areas of need.

 

[Alklha]

2 years ago Elliott had a 1.90 GAA and .9199 sv% in his one healthy postseason series. He hasn't had another. 2 years later, we still have no idea what we have with Brian Elliott in the postseason.

Jake Allen went on a 15-20 game hot streak and he deserves the starters role because of that? Not for me. Brian Elliott is still the best goaltender this team has. Allen might have the higher upside, but he's not proven it consistently.

 

[Blue Goose]

2 years ago Elliott had a 1.90 GAA and .9199 sv% in his one healthy postseason series. He hasn't had another. 2 years later, we still have no idea what we have with Brian Elliott in the postseason.

Jake Allen went on a 15-20 game hot streak and he deserves the starters role because of that? Not for me. Brian Elliott is still the best goaltender this team has. Allen might have the higher upside, but he's not proven it consistently.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but we never should have traded for Miller. That should have been Halak's playoff run - who knows, we might not have even re-signed Elliott if Halak had success in the postseason that year.

I understand where you're coming from, but let me be clear: I'm not saying give Allen the #1 job because of a 15-20 game hot streak, I'm saying give him the #1 job because "it's his time". That's why I referenced Price and Quick - at a certain point, you have to take off the training wheels and let them go. The Habs screwed up by platooning Price with Halak, and it set them back - people questioned their decision to trade Halak, but it seems to have worked in their favor.

You yourself said that Allen hasn't proved himself consistently, and I just don't know how he's supposed to get that chance with Elliott hanging around. It's a risk, I know, but we as fans need to let it happen - we can't be so afraid of the risk.

Allen will be 25 this summer: two years older and with more games played than Quick when he became the Kings #1; two years older but with less games played than Price when Halak was traded; and the same age as Tuukka Rask when the Bruins got rid of Tim Thomas.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

2 years ago Elliott had a 1.90 GAA and .9199 sv% in his one healthy postseason series. He hasn't had another. 2 years later, we still have no idea what we have with Brian Elliott in the postseason.

Jake Allen went on a 15-20 game hot streak and he deserves the starters role because of that? Not for me. Brian Elliott is still the best goaltender this team has. Allen might have the higher upside, but he's not proven it consistently.

That's pretty much the way I view it too. Allen still has a lot to work on in his game. That's not to say I don't think he can't force his way into the start it role, but I think Elliott should be the starter until Allen forces him out. I have my doubts as to Allen being able to so that next year, not because he doesn't have the talent to but because I think we're about to see Brian Elliott's best season as a Blue. He has always played better for us when he's has to scratch and claw for his his ice time.

 

[Alklha]

You earn your chance, you don't get given it because you're a certain age.

He had the chance to take the starters role when Elliott got injured and he fell apart. He got given the starters role for the playoffs and fell apart.

Now, if Allen had an above average sv%, I could understand the argument. He doesn't, he's below the League average. I don't understand wanting to hand the starters role to him because it's worked when other teams have done it with far superior goalies. Quick, Rask and Price were all above average goalies when they got their chances.

 

[Tryblot]

Allen can't be compared to Quick, Price or Rask because he's simply not at their level.

 

[sh724]

I skipped most of the thread but I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted out. Even if he is with the team next season it will most likely be his last as a blue.

For those saying to trade Elliott+ for a new goalie, in my opinion that would be a horrible idea.

The reason for both of those thoughts is bc the expansion draft is coming next off season chances are we will only be able to protect one goalie. Between Elliott and Allen it will be allen that gets protected. If they bring in a new goalie to be the starter then they are giving up on Allen for no reason. Teams cannot look at this off season look every other year they have to plan for the expansion Draft especially if it ends up beibg two new teams. Any players in the teams long term plans could be gone in a year

 

[BluesAL]

Elliott should be traded. Let Jake take the reigns and see it through. I'm tired of these 1a/1b goalie tandems.

Just look at the most recent Stanley Cup Finals goalies-
Thomas, Luongo, Brodeur, Quick, Rask, Crawford, and Lundqvist

All bonafide #1 guys who had the support of the entire coaching staff and team.

Let Allen play, get the game experiences and allow the guys in front of him to get comfortable playing with him in net.

All we need is a veteran goalie to allow him to take a break every couple of games...

 

[542365]

Elliott should be traded. Let Jake take the reigns and see it through. I'm tired of these 1a/1b goalie tandems.

Just look at the most recent Stanley Cup Finals goalies-
Thomas, Luongo, Brodeur, Quick, Rask, Crawford, and Lundqvist

All bonafide #1 guys who had the support of the entire coaching staff and team.

Let Allen play, get the game experiences and allow the guys in front of him to get comfortable playing with him in net.

All we need is a veteran goalie to allow him to take a break every couple of games...

Allen has shown to be nothing other than a gigantic question mark who struggles when the pressure is on.

Allen this playoffs:
2-4 .904 save percentage, 2.20 GAA.

Elliott's last series in the playoffs:
2-4 .919 save percentage, 1.90 GAA.

Elliott took heat for not being good enough, so much so that we made the awful Miller trade. Allen has somehow earned the role as franchise goalie with a significantly worse performance? If the expansion draft was held today, the Blues absolutely should(not saying they would) protect Elliott. He's the better goalie. We can hope and pray that Allen develops into a bonafide #1, but it certainly hasn't happened yet.

 

[DatDude44]

Why does everyone want us to go after other elliott like goalies??? bernier? scrivens? Talbot? If we're making a move for a goalie, we're gonna do it for a #1...for a Fleury, a Schneider, a Rinne etc..... If we don't get a goalie that's head over heels better than Allen.....It's Allen's team, which i'm not opposed of........ If we can make significant changes skater wise and create a dominant team whcih I believe we have potential to do.....

 

[KirkOut]

Why does everyone want us to go after other elliott like goalies??? bernier? scrivens? Talbot? If we're making a move for a goalie, we're gonna do it for a #1...for a Fleury, a Schneider, a Rinne etc..... If we don't get a goalie that's head over heels better than Allen.....It's Allen's team, which i'm not opposed of........ If we can make significant changes skater wise and create a dominant team whcih I believe we have potential to do.....

well for one i don't know how Fleury ended up in your list, and secondly, why would teams with a guy like Rinne or Schneider trade them to us? It's not a 'snap your fingers' type of solution out there.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Elliott should be traded. Let Jake take the reigns and see it through. I'm tired of these 1a/1b goalie tandems.

Just look at the most recent Stanley Cup Finals goalies-
Thomas, Luongo, Brodeur, Quick, Rask, Crawford, and Lundqvist

All bonafide #1 guys who had the support of the entire coaching staff and team.

Let Allen play, get the game experiences and allow the guys in front of him to get comfortable playing with him in net.

All we need is a veteran goalie to allow him to take a break every couple of games...

Couple of points. What exactly has Allen done to earn the starter's role out of the gate? Yes he played very well down the stretch. He also played equally poorly or worse when Elliott was out injured. He has a lot of potential, but he's also got a lot to learn and to improve on.

You say we need a veteran goalie to back him up, but we already have one in Elliott. I'm of the opinion that no young goalie should be handed the keys to a team. He needs to earn it. Allen hasn't done that yet. I'm not sure we could find a goalie on the market to sign that is capable of giving us more in that potential role than Elliott can. We know Elliott is more than capable of being the starter on this team. He's going to come in motivated next year, and I have a feeling we're going to see some outstanding play from him.

 

[DatDude44]

well for one i don't know how Fleury ended up in your list, and secondly, why would teams with a guy like Rinne or Schneider trade them to us? It's not a 'snap your fingers' type of solution out there.

Lol, that's what i'm saying dude............. It's NOT a snap your fingers solution....so don't snap your fingers and pick up a Scrivens type goalie.........I don't think we need to make a move for a goalie unless it's for a veteran backup.........But if we were to try and trade for a starter, it would have to be a top10 proven goalie.....and don't try and act like Fleury isn't a top10 proven starter........

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Fleury isn't. Frankly I'd rather have Elliott over him at this point.

 

[RORbacon]

Fleury isn't. Frankly I'd rather have Elliott over him at this point.

I would have to agree whole heartedly.

 

[Celtic Note]

I honestly believe that if we aquired Rinne and he let up an untimely soft goal, that some of our fans would look to trade him.

Our goaltending has not been lights out, but they have been good enough to win. We aren't going to find a Quick for trade. We can find coaches, forwards who can score and not so soft defensemen that can maintain position.

Or we can continue to play goalie merry-go-round and still be left disappointed.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I honestly believe that if we aquired Rinne and he let up an untimely soft goal, that some of our fans would look to trade him.

Our goaltending has not been lights out, but they have been good enough to win. We aren't going to find a Quick for trade. We can find coaches, forwards who can score and not so soft defensemen that can maintain position.

Or we can continue to play goalie merry-go-round and still be left disappointed.

Bingo. We just have to find the right mix.

 

[KirkOut]

Lol, that's what i'm saying dude............. It's NOT a snap your fingers solution....so don't snap your fingers and pick up a Scrivens type goalie.........I don't think we need to make a move for a goalie unless it's for a veteran backup.........But if we were to try and trade for a starter, it would have to be a top10 proven goalie.....and don't try and act like Fleury isn't a top10 proven starter........

I'm going to act like that

 

[SirPaste]

In what world is Fleury a top 10 goalie?

 

[jmwc95]

The Blues won every game the scored 3 or more goals. In every one of their losses, they only scored one goal or less before the other team scored an empty netter to put the game away. Once again, goaltending was not our problem, scoring was.