Blues Demote Allen

On Thursday, the St. Louis Blues did one of their last round of cuts, which saw the goalie group get cut down to their final two.  Expected to be the starting tandem for the Blues will be both Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak, which meant that Jake Allen was the odd man out and he joined a group of seven players on their way down to Peoria of the AHL.

The goaltending situation for the Blues was a rocky one in the 2013 season and it saw all three goalies get ample time in the crease with the big club, mostly due to injury and some due to some cold play.  Allen finished up the 2013 season with 9 wins and 1 shutout (20 points) in 803 minutes played. Allen actually finished ranked 34th among all goalies in pool scoring last season.

There was a little bit of surprise when Allen was taken in the hockey pool draft, 182nd overall in the 8th round, as Elliott and Halak were already taken and expected to be the starting tandem. Nevertheless, Mike felt confident enough to take the young keeper and it isn't like Allen won't see any time, because he likely will, but the 8th round selection did seem high for a third keeper.

Mike will lose out on some valuable goalie minutes and being sent down to the minors does not qualify Allen for the preseason waivers, as there was measured risk that he would be sent down to the minors and that could have been avoided by taking a back-up goalie.