St. Louis Blues Recall Jordan Binnington, Send Down Pheonix Copley
The St. Louis Blues swapped out backup goalies again, giving Pheonix Copley the opportunity to get some game action after nearly three weeks of inactivity.
The St. Louis Blues swapped out their two young backup goalies on Wednesday afternoon, sending Pheonix Copley to the AHL Chicago Wolves while recalling Jordan Binnington for the second time this season. Copley, who was recalled on January 31 but didn’t play in a game for the Blues, will head back down to Chicago to get some game action. Binnington, who was with the team from January 9-24, will come back up and sit behind Brian Elliott until Allen returns.
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Since Jake Allen suffered a knee injury on January 8 in Anaheim, serving in the Blues’ backup goalie role has been a pro-con dilemma for the players involved. Brian Elliott has started 15 straight games in Allen’s absence, with the only action for another goalie coming when Binnington got 12 minutes of mop-up action in the Blues’ January 14 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
While it’s been nice for the young goaltenders to earn an NHL salary and to work with the Blues’ goalie coach, Jim Corsi, it’s not doing them a whole lot of good just to participate in practice and warmups, never seeing any game action. That’s likely why this is the second swap-out of the goalies that’s occurred in the past five weeks.
Binnington probably won’t spend a ton of time with the Blues before heading back to Chicago, as Allen has begun participating in practice again on a limited basis and could return within the next couple weeks. It’d make sense to shoot for an Allen return on the weekend of February 27 and 28, when the Blues play back-to-back games, and Elliott might be well-served to rest.
Next: Breaking Down All the Blues' Injuries Through 2015-16
Copley was the second player to be sent to Chicago by the Blues on Wednesday; forward Dmitrij Jaskin was sent to the minors earlier in the day after being a healthy scratch in four straight games.