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Five St. Louis Blues Players Under the Most Pressure Going into 2016-17

By Patrick Karraker

May 23, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Robby Fabbri (15) skates on defense against the San Jose Sharks in the third period in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Sharks won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Robby Fabbri (15) skates on defense against the San Jose Sharks in the third period in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Sharks won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 23, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen (34) blocks a shot against the San Jose Sharks during the third period in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Sharks won the game 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen (34) blocks a shot against the San Jose Sharks during the third period in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Sharks won the game 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports /

Jake Allen

If there’s one Blues player who’s facing pressure entering 2016-17, both in terms of putting together results and gaining the trust of the fanbase, it’s Jake Allen, who takes the reins in net after the ultra-popular Brian “Moose” Elliott was traded to Calgary at the draft. The 26-year-old has generally been very good during his first two full seasons in the NHL, but this year will be a whole different animal.

He’s widely expected to play around 60 games, which will be a major step up from last season’s career-high 47 games. As he gets more time in net, he’s going to have to be much more consistent than he’s been over his first two seasons.

While he has been unbelievably good at times, he’s also been very streaky; last season, he went 11-4-2 over the season’s first two months with three shutouts, and he collected another two shutouts in December even as he struggled to a mediocre 7-5 record and saw all of his stats drop off. After a knee injury suffered on January 8, Allen struggled to regain his form. In the 14 games after he came back, Allen was just 8-5 with a 2.83 GAA and a .909 save percentage, and he gave up four or more goals in four of those games.

The year before, Allen choked when pressed into regular duty while Elliott was injured; he was 3-3-1 with a .874 save percentage and 3.68 GAA during eight games in December of that season. Considering that his save percentage and GAA for the season were .913 and 2.28, it’s quite amazing how much of an outlier that month was. Allen simply can’t have a month like that in 2016-17.

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Above all, we saw with Elliott’s unbelievable run last season that good goaltending is the biggest key in a team advancing through the playoffs. If the Blues want to make another deep run this season, they’re going to need Allen to become a star. What greater pressure could there possibly be?

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