Jake Allen

[TruBlu]

I know a popular theme on here last year was that the team suffered when Jake went through his rough spell. Maybe we are seeing the reverse out of Jake. He started the year off well, but the team hasn't played well in front of him lately. Maybe he's trying to do too much. Even though he's gotten a little loose in net, I don't think it is near as bad as some make out.

 

[Dbrownss]

At a bare minimum, the 5 hole goal was substandard. Stick on the ice prevents that goal (a problem for Jake last year that Marty corrected) as well as being faster into the butterfly. Candidly, Jake's preparation on both the Weber shots was pretty slow. Go the game video and watch Price's technique on point shots vs Jake's...it's a pretty big difference. Price is faster into the butterfly and has better general positioning and better use of his stick (By the time the camera pans to Price on a point shot, he is largely already stationary in the butterfly--certainly not in the process of dropping). Jake was not seemingly tracking the puck quickly on those shots and was slow to react on both. They were NOT bang bang plays...he had time to prepare and should have taken away the lower part of the net at a minimum.

As for the Benn goal, Jake seemed to duck the shot. I don't know how else to explain it but he simply ducked. I said it last night...Jake at times makes himself very small in his butterfly...he should get better coverage for a man his size but he intermittently ducks and overcrouches.

I think that point shots are an underperforming area for Jake whereas I think he overperforms on close in scrambles. This is why facing a team like Nashville is a bit scary...b/c they generate so many point opportunities from guys who are good at getting the puck through the screens.

Weber's first shot deviated at least a 1ft. It was going wide and curved into the net without touching a thing. He reacted to the shot and it changed directions. The 2nd shot is meh but its Weber, his shot is on goalies faster then most point shots. As for Benn's goal, I dont know why Jake did that, but it's something I've seen goalies do. It's not just Jake. With that said, you cant let a guy walk down the slot for a slap shot 5 on 5. Jake didn't put up a vezina performance but Im having a hard time hanging those goals on him.

I will agree that he has been struggling with point shots though. The Blues are extra soft in creating sight lanes for him. I see other teams boxing our guys out yet ours dont

 

[TruBlu]

You're basically comparing the best goalie on the planet to Jake. Jake's a good goalie who has his flaws, but that comparison is unfair. I don't think this year is about mental lapses and him being in his head like his struggles last year. Scoring is up across the league and this has been a thing with Blues goalies in the recent history. Their save % are awful while their goals against averages are above average to good because of the shot suppression and prevention the team in front of him plays. He does give up goals from high danger areas (hence why they are called high danger) but also makes those saves quite often too. His technique isn't as sharp as it was the 2nd half of last season, but it doesn't mean he won't pick it up either. He's by far, not the biggest problem on this team or why they lost games recently. I am not trying to say Jake's great or say he's played well either. He's been average and that's what the Blues have needed him to be to start the year. Let's see at the halfway point and closer to the playoffs if he's struggling.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Note Worthy]

The 3rd goal was a screened(i think) slap shot from Shea Weber off a faceoff....thats kinda his thing.



Im not trying to say Allen has been awesome so far but last night's game wasnt on Allen.

It was a slap shot...my bad.

 

[Majorityof1]

Exactly which Goal was substandard?

Everyone last night was completely stoppable. So what if 2 goals were from Weber. Weber's career high is 23 goals. It's not like he scores 2 goals every game. NHL goalies have to be able to stop a Weber point shot a high percentage of the time. So what if the puck curved. It was weird, but it didn't curve from short side to far side, nor did it curve suddenly after it was past him. It curved from just missing near side, to scoring near-side. He left the near side open the puck went past him. Had he been in position (ie not deep in the crease with short-side open), it would have hit his pads without needing to react. Now any one of those goals is excusable by itself in a vacuum, "not a great goal but <insert excuse>". All 3 in concert is poor play. Goalies need to stop a good percentage of high danger chances. League-wide, its roughly 10-15% of HDCF that are converted. Last night Allen gave up 3 goals on 7 HDCA. Allen makes some highlight reel saves due to athleticism. But he doesn't make a good enough percentage of moderately difficult saves because he has often gotten himself out of position, or has mental lapses, or cannot see through traffic. The book is out of Jake. Teams know his weaknesses. When he is off his game, he will be exploited with those type of shots over and over again.

I mean, the numbers are right there for everyone to see...They are average. He's 16th in sv% when you look at starting goalies with 20 games played. He's 11th in goals allowed percentage. Half of the teams in the league would be ecstatic to get him. There are many reasons why his numbers aren't the best. I'd rather debate special teams. That will be what sinks the team in the playoffs if it isn't fixed.

First, we are a playoff team and a contender hopeful, and therefore need better than average numbers. Secondly, the situations between goaltenders are different. As bad as our defense has been playing, we have well above-average defense. We are #1 in the league in least High Danger Chances against. No goalie sees fewer than Allen. Yet we are 15th in High Danger Save % (and that's with Hutts included who is killing it this year). Do you think Varlamov, Jimmy Howard, Frederik Anderson or whatever poor soul is in net for Arizona are set-up to succeed as well as Jake? Its like how Lehtera put up not-horrible 3rd line numbers when paired with Tarasenko. Ask Philly if that means he is a not-terrible 3rd liner. Context matters.

Finally, all these stats are based on the whole year. We are talking a stretch of the last 10 games or so. I posted Jake's stats in those games above. They are atrocious. Not coincidentally, his stretch of bad play coincided with our slide. Is it the tail wagging the dog (Goalie causing poor team play) or vice versa (team play causing poor goalie play)? Who knows, but I think they feed each other, and some of coming out of the slide will be on Allen to fix his issues.

Yes, Allen can turn it around. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be concerning. People say he proved last year that he rises to the occasion when it matters. That is not exactly what happened. He rode a hot streak into the playoffs with Brodeur whispering in his ear the whole time. His career history does not show he turns it on every playoffs like clockwork. He showed he had the ability to turn it on when it matters, which is very important, but still a far cry from being automatic in the post-season. It's concerning because we are sunk if we get this type of play in the playoffs. This team has a chance to go far if things go right. So why are so many people so against recognizing Allen isn't playing well, resting him, and having Brodeur talk with him? Even TheDizee has said he's playing bad for #%$&'s sake.

 

[carter333167]

Weber's first shot deviated at least a 1ft. It was going wide and curved into the net without touching a thing. He reacted to the shot and it changed directions. The 2nd shot is meh but its Weber, his shot is on goalies faster then most point shots. As for Benn's goal, I dont know why Jake did that, but it's something I've seen goalies do. It's not just Jake. With that said, you cant let a guy walk down the slot for a slap shot 5 on 5. Jake didn't put up a vezina performance but Im having a hard time hanging those goals on him.

I will agree that he has been struggling with point shots though. The Blues are extra soft in creating sight lanes for him. I see other teams boxing our guys out yet ours dont

Thanks for your reply. My only real peeve with Jake so far is that he appears to have regressed from a few of the fundamentals that Marty tried to instill last year. These fundamentals largely go to positioning, etc. I was hoping to see the exact same version of Jake from late last year. I think the main difference between now and late last year is that he is not seeing and tracking the puck as well.....secondary issue is some positioning inconsistency. To be fair, it's still early in the season so Jake has plenty of time to clean things up.

Here is an interesting excerpt from an article written by Jonathon Quick---really provides an interesting perspective into how modern goaltending works.

How many times have you heard this line before? “Aw come on, it wasn’t a great save. He shot it right into the goalie’s glove!”

It always bothers me when people use this to discredit an amazing glove save, because I feel like it means that people don’t understand the beauty of my position. In the NHL, 90 percent of the save happens before the player shoots the puck. As a goalie, if you’re relying on your reaction time to make saves, you’re going to get yanked in a hurry. Keeping pucks out of the net is mostly about intuition and geometry. You’re watching the puck carrier and processing all of the guy’s options on the ice, plus you’re looking at his feet, hands and body positioning. Is he shooting? High or low? Where’s his passing lane? What’s the play here?

All the variables add up and tell you everything you need to make a decision. Instantly, your brain tells you to push out to the top of the crease and make yourself “big” to close down the angle on the shooter, or to cheat your weight a little bit to push off and cover the pass. Before the shot even comes, most of your work is done. You’ve committed and you just hope you’ve made the right decision.

Elite Snipers 101 | By Jonathan Quick

 

[Dbrownss]

Everyone last night was completely stoppable. So what if 2 goals were from Weber. Weber's career high is 23 goals. It's not like he scores 2 goals every game. NHL goalies have to be able to stop a Weber point shot a high percentage of the time. So what if the puck curved. It was weird, but it didn't curve from short side to far side, nor did it curve suddenly after it was past him. It curved from just missing near side, to scoring near-side. He left the near side open the puck went past him. Had he been in position (ie not deep in the crease with short-side open), it would have hit his pads without needing to react. Now any one of those goals is excusable by itself in a vacuum, "not a great goal but <insert excuse>". All 3 in concert is poor play. Goalies need to stop a good percentage of high danger chances. League-wide, its roughly 10-15% of HDCF that are converted. Last night Allen gave up 3 goals on 7 HDCA. Allen makes some highlight reel saves due to athleticism. But he doesn't make a good enough percentage of moderately difficult saves because he has often gotten himself out of position, or has mental lapses, or cannot see through traffic. The book is out of Jake. Teams know his weaknesses. When he is off his game, he will be exploited with those type of shots over and over again.



First, we are a playoff team and a contender hopeful, and therefore need better than average numbers. Secondly, the situations between goaltenders are different. As bad as our defense has been playing, we have well above-average defense. We are #1 in the league in least High Danger Chances against. No goalie sees fewer than Allen. Yet we are 15th in High Danger Save % (and that's with Hutts included who is killing it this year). Do you think Varlamov, Jimmy Howard, Frederik Anderson or whatever poor soul is in net for Arizona are set-up to succeed as well as Jake? Its like how Lehtera put up not-horrible 3rd line numbers when paired with Tarasenko. Ask Philly if that means he is a not-terrible 3rd liner. Context matters.

Finally, all these stats are based on the whole year. We are talking a stretch of the last 10 games or so. I posted Jake's stats in those games above. They are atrocious. Not coincidentally, his stretch of bad play coincided with our slide. Is it the tail wagging the dog (Goalie causing poor team play) or vice versa (team play causing poor goalie play)? Who knows, but I think they feed each other, and some of coming out of the slide will be on Allen to fix his issues.

Yes, Allen can turn it around. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be concerning. People say he proved last year that he rises to the occasion when it matters. That is not exactly what happened. He rode a hot streak into the playoffs with Brodeur whispering in his ear the whole time. His career history does not show he turns it on every playoffs like clockwork. He showed he had the ability to turn it on when it matters, which is very important, but still a far cry from being automatic in the post-season. It's concerning because we are sunk if we get this type of play in the playoffs. This team has a chance to go far if things go right. So why are so many people so against recognizing Allen isn't playing well, resting him, and having Brodeur talk with him? Even TheDizee has said he's playing bad for #%$&'s sake.

He did leave the short side open on that shot so i can only assume "calculated" the puck bounce off the boards to the far side. He was wrong but there wasn't anyone short side to redirect it. That shot was going wide and curved into the net, thats beyond weird without a bounce. How often does that happen?

Im not trying to insinuate he's fine but when taking these goals into context, I dont think they are the poster child for what's wrong per say. Look at Carey Price....best goalie in the world....he wasn't great at all. For all the "technical" praise, he was caught cheating twice. Goalies go through these stretches. Allen did turn it around last year, so he's shown the ability to perform at that high level

 

[Majorityof1]

Weber's first shot deviated at least a 1ft. It was going wide and curved into the net without touching a thing. He reacted to the shot and it changed directions.

The shot curved toward him. If he reacted to the shot, he would have been moving in the right direction. He didn't move at all.

I don't think this year is about mental lapses and him being in his head like his struggles last year. Scoring is up across the league and this has been a thing with Blues goalies in the recent history. Their save % are awful while their goals against averages are above average to good because of the shot suppression and prevention the team in front of him plays. He does give up goals from high danger areas (hence why they are called high danger) but also makes those saves quite often too. His technique isn't as sharp as it was the 2nd half of last season, but it doesn't mean he won't pick it up either. He's by far, not the biggest problem on this team or why they lost games recently. I am not trying to say Jake's great or say he's played well either. He's been average and that's what the Blues have needed him to be to start the year. Let's see at the halfway point and closer to the playoffs if he's struggling.

Scoring is up across the league by roughly .2 goals per team per game. Jakes GAA is up 0.33 goals per game over his career average. It does not explain everything. The second part of the bolded is also misleading. This is the worst save percentage Jake has posted in his NHL career. Worse than last year where he struggled mightily for half the season. We changed our defense and are allowing more shots and less high danger chances which should have the opposite effect. Hutton is amongst the league leaders in Save percentage. Even under the old way, we were still always middle of the pack in save percentage. We were 4th highest in the league two years ago in Ells last year. With the Blues, neither Jake, Hutts, nor Elliott have posted a save percentage that low. Halak only did one year and that was over 16 games in 12-13. That is all our main goalies over the past 7 years. This is the second worst save percentage of any of them. So you can't blame team history either.

 

[Dbrownss]

Thanks for your reply. My only real peeve with Jake so far is that he appears to have regressed from a few of the fundamentals that Marty tried to instill last year. These fundamentals largely go to positioning, etc. I was hoping to see the exact same version of Jake from late last year. I think the main difference between now and late last year is that he is not seeing and tracking the puck as well.....secondary issue is some positioning inconsistency. To be fair, it's still early in the season so Jake has plenty of time to clean things up.

Here is an interesting excerpt from an article written by Jonathon Quick---really provides an interesting perspective into how modern goaltending works.

How many times have you heard this line before? “Aw come on, it wasn’t a great save. He shot it right into the goalie’s glove!”

It always bothers me when people use this to discredit an amazing glove save, because I feel like it means that people don’t understand the beauty of my position. In the NHL, 90 percent of the save happens before the player shoots the puck. As a goalie, if you’re relying on your reaction time to make saves, you’re going to get yanked in a hurry. Keeping pucks out of the net is mostly about intuition and geometry. You’re watching the puck carrier and processing all of the guy’s options on the ice, plus you’re looking at his feet, hands and body positioning. Is he shooting? High or low? Where’s his passing lane? What’s the play here?

All the variables add up and tell you everything you need to make a decision. Instantly, your brain tells you to push out to the top of the crease and make yourself “big” to close down the angle on the shooter, or to cheat your weight a little bit to push off and cover the pass. Before the shot even comes, most of your work is done. You’ve committed and you just hope you’ve made the right decision.

Elite Snipers 101 | By Jonathan Quick

One thing I find odd about quick is he's the least technically sound goalie that is elite. He gets himself out of position all the time but his freakish acrobatics allow him to recover.


I do agree that something's going on with Jake, because i dont think he's looked all that great from the get go. Its not the most glarring issue with the team though. I think we'll see those problems corrected.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

The shot curved toward him. If he reacted to the shot, he would have been moving in the right direction. He didn't move at all.



Scoring is up across the league by roughly .2 goals per team per game. Jakes GAA is up 0.33 goals per game. It does not explain everything. The second part of the bolded is also misleading. This is the worst save percentage Jake has posted in his NHL career. Worse than last year where he struggled mightily for half the season. We changed our defense and are allowing more shots and less high danger chances which should have the opposite effect. Hutton is amongst the league leaders in Save percentage. Even under the old way, we were still always middle of the pack in save percentage. We were 4th highest in the league two years ago in Ells last year. With the Blues, neither Jake, Hutts, nor Elliott have posted a save percentage that low. Halak only did one year and that was over 16 games in 12-13. That is all our main goalies over the past 7 years. This is the second worst save percentage of any of them. So you can't blame team history either.

No, you're right, the goals per game being up doesn't explain everything, but it does account for .2 of his .33. The other .13 could be attributed to having a new defensive scheme in front of him. It could be having at least two defensemen who didn't play the majority of last year as a pairing. One wasn't even in the NHL. Jake's recent struggles are partially a product of the lost chemistry and upheaval in front of him since getting Bouwmeester back, and the fact that the team has played poorly in front of him. In his recent 10 game stretch you quoted in an earlier post, the team defense has been porous at best, and those high danger chances have greatly increased. Last night wasn't an example of that, but I give Jake the benefit of the doubt on last night. Weber has made MANY goalies look stupid. You site his save percentage for the WHOLE year last year but he's only played a 1/3 of the games so far this year. Numbers always have a way of finding their mean, let's wait and see if his do again. I'd be willing to bet they do.

 

[MissouriMook]

There was a piece on NHL Network a few days ago that had Allen ranked 4th in the league in SV% for high danger chances. Given that his overall SV% is average at best, it isn't hard to extrapolate that his low danger SV% is probably near the bottom of the league. He is still (or again) prone to over-sliding and leaving himself out of position, and his focus clearly isn't where it needs to be.

Bottom line, he needs to be better for a full 60 minutes, not just make the spectacular saves.

 

[TruBlu]

Everyone last night was completely stoppable. So what if 2 goals were from Weber. Weber's career high is 23 goals. It's not like he scores 2 goals every game. NHL goalies have to be able to stop a Weber point shot a high percentage of the time. So what if the puck curved. It was weird, but it didn't curve from short side to far side, nor did it curve suddenly after it was past him. It curved from just missing near side, to scoring near-side. He left the near side open the puck went past him. Had he been in position (ie not deep in the crease with short-side open), it would have hit his pads without needing to react. Now any one of those goals is excusable by itself in a vacuum, "not a great goal but <insert excuse>". All 3 in concert is poor play. Goalies need to stop a good percentage of high danger chances. League-wide, its roughly 10-15% of HDCF that are converted. Last night Allen gave up 3 goals on 7 HDCA. Allen makes some highlight reel saves due to athleticism. But he doesn't make a good enough percentage of moderately difficult saves because he has often gotten himself out of position, or has mental lapses, or cannot see through traffic. The book is out of Jake. Teams know his weaknesses. When he is off his game, he will be exploited with those type of shots over and over again.



First, we are a playoff team and a contender hopeful, and therefore need better than average numbers. Secondly, the situations between goaltenders are different. As bad as our defense has been playing, we have well above-average defense. We are #1 in the league in least High Danger Chances against. No goalie sees fewer than Allen. Yet we are 15th in High Danger Save % (and that's with Hutts included who is killing it this year). Do you think Varlamov, Jimmy Howard, Frederik Anderson or whatever poor soul is in net for Arizona are set-up to succeed as well as Jake? Its like how Lehtera put up not-horrible 3rd line numbers when paired with Tarasenko. Ask Philly if that means he is a not-terrible 3rd liner. Context matters.

Finally, all these stats are based on the whole year. We are talking a stretch of the last 10 games or so. I posted Jake's stats in those games above. They are atrocious. Not coincidentally, his stretch of bad play coincided with our slide. Is it the tail wagging the dog (Goalie causing poor team play) or vice versa (team play causing poor goalie play)? Who knows, but I think they feed each other, and some of coming out of the slide will be on Allen to fix his issues.

Yes, Allen can turn it around. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be concerning. People say he proved last year that he rises to the occasion when it matters. That is not exactly what happened. He rode a hot streak into the playoffs with Brodeur whispering in his ear the whole time. His career history does not show he turns it on every playoffs like clockwork. He showed he had the ability to turn it on when it matters, which is very important, but still a far cry from being automatic in the post-season. It's concerning because we are sunk if we get this type of play in the playoffs. This team has a chance to go far if things go right. So why are so many people so against recognizing Allen isn't playing well, resting him, and having Brodeur talk with him? Even TheDizee has said he's playing bad for #%$&'s sake.

I posted his stats for the whole year because I don't like cherry picking to make a point. You have cherry picked the smallest sample size you could to make his numbers extend as far from the mean as possible. The whole year's stats give you an idea of his overall play so far. I never said his numbers were great, I just don't think that the sky is falling as some on here make it seem. I even posted the numbers to prove it. If your opinion is that Jake is the weakest spot on this team, then I don't know what to say. The special teams will be what sinks this team, which, coincidentally, also has a major effect on Jake's numbers.

In regards to the latter part of your post, again, I don't think anyone is saying that he's playing great; myself included. I don't have a doubt in my mind that Yeo would rest him if he felt there was a problem. He lit the team up in a post season interview a few games ago for not playing good d over a stretch of several games. I also think Brodeur would get involved if he felt that is what was needed. I think the teams recent misfortunes have sent some people on here on a quest to single out what exactly is wrong. I think it's a myriad of uninspired play from a defensive standpoint, mediocre goaltending, and most of all, from terrible special teams.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I don't really think Allen is playing any differently than he ever does. I think that he set a precedent last year at the end of the season and in the playoffs that was completely unsustainable and we are all looking at him asking where that has gone.

As for the goals from last nights game, I don't think you can completely blame him for any of them. The first one he was completely screened, this one would probably be the one that was most his fault just because he was ducking for some reason to look around a screen but at the same time he was looking around a screen so it's not like it wasn't a highly difficult save to make. The second one the puck rolled on edge and he pretty much had to try to save an Aroldis Chapman slider without even knowing that was possible. The third one was kind of weaker yes but it was Shea Weber just beating a goalie clean with a slapshot 5 hole, which it's not the first nor last time that is going to happen this season.

My only issue with Jake is what my issue has been with him most of his career, consistency. He shows flashes of being a truly elite number 1 goalie and then he shows flashes of being a borderline issue by sliding all over the place.

 

[Majorityof1]

I posted his stats for the whole year because I don't like cherry picking to make a point. You have cherry picked the smallest sample size you could to make his numbers extend as far from the mean as possible.

I didn't cherry pick stats. I was showing trend of his play recently. I have no problem with how he played the first 10 games, so why show stats from the first 10 games. If he was up one game, then up for two, then down one, then up 3, then down two, and I only picked the bad stats, that would be cherry picking. He was ok the first 10 or so games. Then he has been atrocious the past 10. Its not just 3 games or 4, but he's been terrible in almost half the games this season. He was actually good in one of those 10, and I included that game as well. He had poorer games in the first half that I did not include. I would not have done that if I was cherry-picking. I am showing that he has been bad over the last 10 games, so I showed stats for the last 10 games. Pretty simple.

I am not saying he sucks. I am saying this trend sucks, it is driving his numbers way down (career worst if he ends the season here, so no, his overall numbers are not good). This inconsistency sucks. I'd much rather have a goalie who had a .910 save percentage and 2.5 GAA throughout the season than a goalie who fluctuates as wildly as Jake, even if the fluctuating goalie put up slightly better #s when all is said and done. You know what you are getting with the consistent one. Score 3 goals and you win. With the other, poor goalie play could break a team who was otherwise playing well. When teams don't trust their goalie, they actually make more mistakes. We have seen it in the past. Yes, there is more wrong than Jake. But Jake is part of the problem. So stop trying to deflect from sub-standard play in net by pointing to the terrible PP/PK. If Jake could stop any partially screened shot, the PK wouldn't be so bad.

 

[TruBlu]

I didn't cherry pick stats. I was showing trend of his play recently. I have no problem with how he played the first 10 games, so why show stats from the first 10 games. If he was up one game, then up for two, then down one, then up 3, then down two, and I only picked the bad stats, that would be cherry picking. He was ok the first 10 or so games. Then he has been atrocious the past 10. Its not just 3 games or 4, but he's been terrible in almost half the games this season. He was actually good in one of those 10, and I included that game as well. He had poorer games in the first half that I did not include. I would not have done that if I was cherry-picking. I am showing that he has been bad over the last 10 games, so I showed stats for the last 10 games. Pretty simple.

I am not saying he sucks. I am saying this trend sucks, it is driving his numbers way down (career worst if he ends the season here, so no, his overall numbers are not good). This inconsistency sucks. I'd much rather have a goalie who had a .910 save percentage and 2.5 GAA throughout the season than a goalie who fluctuates as wildly as Jake, even if the fluctuating goalie put up slightly better #s when all is said and done. You know what you are getting with the consistent one. Score 3 goals and you win. With the other, poor goalie play could break a team who was otherwise playing well. When teams don't trust their goalie, they actually make more mistakes. We have seen it in the past. Yes, there is more wrong than Jake. But Jake is part of the problem. So stop trying to deflect from sub-standard play in net by pointing to the terrible PP/PK. If Jake could stop any partially screened shot, the PK wouldn't be so bad.

The whole team in general has been bad over the last ten games. When I referenced cherry picking, I did it because the thread name this was created under just said "Jake Allen." I assumed we were discussing this whole season and not just the last ten games. Since I know you are just referring to the last ten games, I'll reword your last sentence to show you a different viewpoint. So stop trying to deflect from the sub-standard defensive zone play of the team by pointing to the goalie. If they would quit allowing so many odd man rushes, breakaways, and make an attempt to clear guys screening their goalie, Jake wouldn't look so bad.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Allen is not the problem with this team currently.

 

[Majorityof1]

The whole team in general has been bad over the last ten games. When I referenced cherry picking, I did it because the thread name this was created under just said "Jake Allen." I assumed we were discussing this whole season and not just the last ten games. Since I know you are just referring to the last ten games, I'll reword your last sentence to show you a different viewpoint. So stop trying to deflect from the sub-standard defensive zone play of the team by pointing to the goalie. If they would quit allowing so many odd man rushes, breakaways, and make an attempt to clear guys screening their goalie, Jake wouldn't look so bad.

As you said, the thread is titled "Jake Allen", so I am focusing on Jake Allen. In every single post I have admitted that we have other problems that are likely feeding into Jakes poor play, but also that Jake's poor play is feeding into the problems. Very little in hockey exists in a vacuum. We need to do better at other issues, absolutely. But Jake needs to bail us out more often, and make less mistakes than he has over the last 10 games as well. We are giving up the absolute least high danger chances of any team in the league, so I wouldn't say we need to do better with odd-man rushes and break-aways. Unfortunately I cannot "cherry-pick" the game to game stats without some difficulty to determine the # of high-danger chances against the past 10 games. But I will admit, it is probably a bit higher. It is not so high as to fully excuse the change in Jakes stats over that span. Further, the eye-test will show that Jake has struggled with positioning and rebound control during that stretch. Others have pointed this out as well.

Allen is not the problem with this team currently.

So many said last year until it got so obvious and so out-of-hand as to be a critical issue that led to serious personnel changes on the team. We heard the same excuses early in Allen's sturggles last year as well.

 

[Note Worthy]

Allen is not the problem with this team currently.

He's not the problem but he's currently a problem.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

He's not the problem but he's currently a problem.

If the Blues fix the problem then Allen's problem may not be so much of a problem.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Every goalie is going to be up and down throughout the season. This hasn't been Allen's best stretch of games. But if the team can comfortably get in the playoffs and Allen can find his top level in the post-season like he started last playoffs, I have no complaints. That level of play could win a Cup if the team in front is playing well and scoring.

 

[Brian39]

I'm not worried about Allen at all right now. Every goalie in the league goes through a stretch (or 2) like this in a 6 month season. Carey Price had a similar stretch in the first month of the season. Like Price, I don't think Allen has been as bad as his numbers appear (just like I don't think he was as good as his numbers down the stretch appeared last year). Anyone expecting complete consistency out of Allen is going to be disappointed. Allen has a lot of great aspects about his game, but he is going to have ups and downs. Most athletic goalies do.

If he hasn't pulled himself out of this in a month, then I'll be a little worried. However, after the last couple years of Allen, I'm no longer asking 'if' he will pull out of a slump and I'm instead asking 'when' he'll pull out of it. He looked uncomfortable last night. I honestly thought he had just as good of chance to let in a stinker for us to lose 4-3 as he did to hold down the fort. But after that Weber goal he dialed it in a bit and fought through the rest of the night for a win. He wasn't good last night, but he was timely. I'll take that right now until he gets hot again.

I'm still pretty confident that his end of year stats will be somewhere just inside or just outside top 10.

 

[Kreegz2]

I was a huge Allen naysayer in the past (I still think we should have gone with Elliot in net for the series against the Wild in 2015) , but I'm not worried one bit about him right now. He's not winning us games on his own, but he's not losing us any games either. I have full confidence he will pick it up down the stretch like he did last year.

 

[Mike Liut]

Its seems Jake saves everything he sees. He just gets screened so much and doesn’t track the well through traffic. If I was playing against Jake and the Blues, that’s exactly how I’d play.

 

[TruBlu]

Its seems Jake saves everything he sees. He just gets screened so much and doesn’t track the well through traffic. If I was playing against Jake and the Blues, that’s exactly how I’d play.

 

[carter333167]

The following comment is meant in the way of general discussion...not necessarily commenting on Jake.

When we speak of screens, etc., we also need to recognize that all goalies face them and that it is the goalies job to see and track the puck...and certainly anticipate it's path if it disappears briefly behind a player.

Holtby commented before the game tonight that he spends a fair bit of pre-game "warming up" his eyes, performing tracking drills, etc....just so that his eyes react faster to the movement of the puck.

Indeed, elite tracking of the puck is a precursor to establishing good position square to the shot. Elite tracking is probably a combination of good eye sight, a lot of training, focus and concentration.

Bringing this back to Blues goalies, I would say that Elliott during the 2015 playoffs and Allen during the 2016 playoffs both were in a nice zone and tracking the puck very well. When a goalie is slow in tracking the puck, his play generally suffers.