St. Louis Blues Offseason Free Agent Targets: Goalies

The St. Louis Blues would have liked to even trade Thomas Greiss at the trade deadline along with all of the other upcoming unrestricted free agents they were able to move, but he stuck around. Late in the season Joel Hofer came in and put on a show, making a case for him to be in the conversation for the backup next season even though he is a bit young (22 years old). He only had a six game showing this season and has eight total NHL games played in his career, so the Blues may very well look to fill the backup role with a goaltender who can really support Binnington for a year until they are sure about Hofer.

Since Binnington has gone downhill ever since the team won the Stanley Cup and he doesn't have someone like Ville Husso anymore playing half of the games and on a $750,000 deal, the Blues will be in search for another goalie who could do the same. I don't think Hofer is that guy yet, so let's look at a few goalies who could help the Blues get back in contention next season.

Adin Hill

There may not be any room for Adin Hill in Vegas after this season. The team has used five goaltenders over the course of the year, and even though Hill was a solid backup, who knows what will happen with Robin Lehner next season. There is a fairly high chance that Hill moves on and as he is a solid backup that can start a fair amount of games and is cheap, he could back up Binnington and even play 30+ games while putting up good numbers. He finished this season with 16 wins and a .914 save percentage.

Anthony Stolarz

Anthony Stolarz will be moving on from the Anaheim Ducks after the season as he's a UFA and the team has John Gibson and Lukas Dostal. Stolarz has always put up strong numbers in the NHL and has always served as a backup goalie. He may have struggled a bit this season, but that's because of how horribly bad the Ducks were in front of him. He still ended what is considered a very down season for him with a .897 SV%. Before this season his career SV% was .915 which is very attractive as a backup to provide quality starts when called upon.

Alex Nedeljkovic

The third solid option to back Binnington up and provide support is Alex Nedeljkovic. He may have had a very poor start to the season, but since being sent down to the AHL for the majority of 2022-23, he really found his game and proved it when he went on a short run to end the season for Detroit. His strong finish should get him attention and get some trust back in him. He will come cheap because of his year in total and has been a starter in his young career already.