This just opened a very interesting door...

This just opened up a very interesting door for the St. Louis Blues as a key injury to one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference just changed everything for their season. They are now in the market for another goaltender. They are looking to make a panic move and that opens up a golden opportunity for GM Alex Steen to take advantage of this team, get a pretty decent return and answer a question that the Blues are going to have to answer later on this season anyway. This is something that they're gonna have to deal with one way or another so this just opened up a very interesting door we're gonna break down exactly what this all means in this episode of Blues Digest but before we jump into all of that a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button we've noticed that about 70 percent of you guys who watch these videos are not subscribed to the channel so if you want to stay up to date with everything that's happening with the Blues make sure to hit that subscribe button and again mark it's been a pretty busy season to say the least but Igor Shesterkin out east with the New York Rangers just got injured last night and he is now out they just revealed he's now out for the rest of the season that completely changes everything for them because while they did acquire a backup goaltender in Jonas Korpisalo this offseason he's also hurt so he's not going to be playing for at least a month which means their goaltending tandem right now is Spencer Martin which very minimal NHL experience not a great option and Dylan Gregorian who i think is a great young promising goaltender but for a Rangers team that is first in the Metropolitan Division right now not ideal they're gonna have to go out and make a move here they have to go out and they have to make a trade because you can see them with versus without Igor Shesterkin uh problems big problems in that organization so mark this opens up an interesting door for the Blues and most notably GM Alex Steen to trade Jordan Jordan Binnington at this point because we know that your starter is Hofer and there's some great stuff we're going to get to on Hofer later in this episode too but Mark what are your thoughts on this because i think this opened up an interesting door and i think this actually makes way more sense than everybody talking about Connor Hellebuyck going to New York i mean i think the biggest thing is right now of course we know what Jordan Binnington means to this franchise hoisting a cup with this franchise but they're going to advocate to that crossroad at some point where both contracts are coming up at the exact same moment and you need to figure out which goaltender you want to invest in and make your starter i mean Joel Hofer has pretty much taken that over as of right now but of course with Jordan Binnington and how things are going you want to lean into Joel Hofer the future the future Hall of Famer of course could have plays on with his name but this is a kid that you want to lean into and now let's just reckon out with the Rangers desperately looking to add anything between the pipes because you're leaning on a rookie goaltender right now Jordan Binnington's name is going to continue to come up and if Alex Steen is truly leaning into the future wanting to get young pieces assets everything in between to this team I think you need to start looking and again you don't want to move on from a guy because yes a big part of the team he's going to be in the rafters he's a huge part of the community but Darius with this now the way Jordan Binnington's been playing it hasn't been great we've seen the muffins of course it's not all on him the defense has been atrocious at periods the team hasn't been playing to what we expected but I think with the New York Rangers and them being desperate they look at a veteran guy that plays in big moments we've seen it with Team Canada we've seen it from the Blues in the playoffs in my opinion you need to start taking calls and Darius I don't know if you feel different I think Chris Jury and the Rangers are going to be ringing that phone very soon yeah they're they're in panic mode for sure they're gonna have to make a trade and I think that's why the price stays decent for Jordan Binnington if you look at goaltenders around the league you're not going to get a massive haul and you're definitely not getting a massive haul for Jordan Binnington so um the other thing here is they have to make a decision on Jordan Binnington by the end of this season i don't know why nobody's really talking about it i've been talking about it through the offseason he's a UFA at the end of this year do you trade him or do you just eat that i i wouldn't eat that i don't i don't think that makes sense i think you look to trade him and i think this is the perfect opportunity where the Rangers are going to look at this and go we're not going to give you the sun and the moon we're going to give you something and he helps us for the rest of this year and then Igor is going to come back next year um but for the Blues you get something right you get some type of asset for an asset that let's be frank he did win a Stanley Cup here but this is an asset that is depreciating a little bit this is an asset that is getting older this is an asset that is now a backup goaltender for this team right so if you get something for him i think that's a win for this Blues team because again by the trade deadline this year you're gonna have to figure this out you're going to have to trade him I think it would be the smart move to trade him why would you just eat that and then he goes to free agency you're not re-signing him I don't think and even if he does go to free agency if you were to trade him to the Rangers he's probably going to free agency right unless Egor Sharkov's out for two or three years for some reason right which I don't think is the case um you know he can become a free agent again if you really want to sign him again to be the backup goaltender you can do that so Mark I actually think this is the perfect opportunity for the Blues to pick up the phone themselves call Chris Drury and be like hey pal i heard you're in the market for a goaltender we have one that we also have to make a decision on let's get something going here because jim montgomery's also spoken on Joel Hofer he is the future of this team's goaltending Joel Hofer is the guy that they're going to ride into the future into this new era of Blues hockey that they're trying to build and the stats backing it up as well he's been really really good since last season so um we'll see how this plays out again i don't know if you have any different feelings on it but this is the perfect opportunity because you have that decision it's not just Jordan Binnington hitting free agency you need to sign Joel Hofer as well of course the salary cap is jumping about 10 million each off season going into the near future because we've seen the NHL and the spike has been insane but if you're locking in Joel Hofer to a long-term deal you have a lot of guys pushing through it's incredible overseas we've seen the performances that he's put on from every level from like NHL or not NHL, SHL level and everything in between world juniors that is a young kid that's really pushing through so if you're looking at Joel Hofer and you want to pay this guy like you said there's a lot of young goaltenders coming through you know the future between the pipes so moving on from Jordan Binnington if this is what you need to do this is the opportunity where a desperate team is probably willing to overpay and of course goaltenders don't fetch the most but hey Tristan Jarry got what was the second pick a second round pick last year we're going to see that come back in a Jordan Binnington trade but like you said Darius what we see out of Joel Hofer is just showing the bright future of this team because he's taking that case to fully take over again the team has been great in front of both goaltenders but like we've been saying all off season into this year it is completely his team and Darius I don't know if you feel different but it's not even a 1a 1b at this point this is truly the starting goaltender and Binnington is a solidified backup this is the starting goaltender of the Blues and Jim Montgomery's gone out to say that he thinks he's a potential top 10 goaltender in the league which is pretty crazy and when he's on his game i could see it right like he has played very well he is a stud and when you look at the difference between the two Blues goaltenders like look at this right and i know this is from last season last season was a tough season for Binnington too but a .910 versus an .873 are we kidding me like that that is crazy and then you just go down the list you know shutouts like it's unbelievable he is by far the better goaltender now for this Blues team so uh again like we're making these arguments right and then you go why would the Rangers want this guy he brings nhl experience more than you know the goaltenders are going to be going with maybe they could go with Binnington and uh Corpasaloonce Corpasaloo is healthy as well so again i think this is the perfect opportunity for the Blues and guys let us know in the comments would you uh make a trade like again i would take pretty much anything at this point for Jordan Binnington like some futures maybe a draft pick something like that like i don't think it's going to be a huge package let's be real guys like goalies aren't getting anything crazy these days right so let's not uh go overboard with the trade packages but i think almost anything at this point you're gonna have to move off Binnington at some point this season anyway and i think that's the biggest thing but fans let us know your thoughts down in the comments on absolutely everything around the Blues because it's been a tough start but listen positivity this team's still going to win a Stanley Cup let us know all your thoughts I've been Norris Mark with Mike OSteeris take care Blues fans