The St. Louis Blues have sorted out their goaltending situation in the wake of trading Brian Elliott to the Calgary Flames. The team has re-signed young netminder Jake Allen to a four-year deal that carries a $4.35 million AAV according to General Fanager.
The team also signed former Nashville Predators backup goaltender Carter Hutton to a two-year deal carrying a $1.125 AAV.
Goalie Carter Hutton has signed a two-year deal with the #stlblues. https://t.co/3UZLMYa8V3 pic.twitter.com/YN07d2vOEQ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 1, 2016
The 25-year-old Allen has long been considered the team’s goaltender of the future, though he has been unable to wrestle the net away from Elliott on a permanent basis. Now, he’s their man. Through 47 games last season he posted a .920 save percentage, but lost the net to Elliott for the postseason, even though management seemed ready to yank on Elliott’s leash after the slightest error.
The 30-year-old Hutton has played for the Predators over the last three seasons, but has seen limited playing time outside of a brief stint where Pekka Rinne was out with a hip infection. But at that point the Predators were desperately looking for someone who could take the reins and do something with it. Hutton got the bulk of the starts, but the Predators even made trades to fix the goaltending issues. Nothing worked, and so Hutton started 40 games with a .910 all-situation save percentage.
The following year he posted a .902 in 18 games and last season he stole his way into 17 with a respectable .918 save percentage.
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