The Daily Faceoff Show: Will Ville Husso supplant Jordan Binnington in St. Louis?

Backup goalie comes out of nowhere and saves the St. Louis Blues’ season? Stop us if you’ve heard that one before.

Of course, everyone’s heard this one before, after Jordan Binnington came on midseason in 2018-19 to replace Jake Allen as the Blues’ No. 1 goalie, en route to St. Louis winning the Stanley Cup.

But this season, the worm has turned in another direction.

Now, it’s Binnington as the established No. 1 who’s being pushed by his backup, Ville Husso. While Binnington’s stats have been decent – a .901 save percentage in 23 games entering Tuesday – and the Blues being in a playoff spot most of this season differs a little bit from how badly St. Louis had struggled early in 2018-19, Husso’s emergence has been vaguely similar to Binnington’s three years ago.

Husso holds and 8-2-1 record, along with a gaudy 1.88 goals-against average and .943 save percentage, both of which are second in the NHL.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed Husso’s emergence and if we may soon see a goalie controversy in St. Louis.

Seravalli: “We just talked about Jordan Binnington’s rough night in Calgary. It’s sort of a bigger picture than that, with what’s going on with Ville Husso. You see Craig Berube say after the game last night, he’s not concerned with Jordan Binnington.

“But Husso’s been really, really good the last stretch. He had played the last three games. It feels a little bit premature to talk about a crease controversy. It seems like Binnington’s the guy there, especially being in the first year of a six-year deal.”

McKenna: “I’d say that it’s complicated. We hear that about relationships all the time. I think it’s true for the St. Louis Blues. You have five years left at $6 million for Jordan Binnington. Husso’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year.

“If you ask Craig Berube, the head coach of the St. Louis Blues, he could care less about contract status. He just wants to win. I think that’s what’s going on right now.

“Husso’s been lights out. The Blues have been loose all season. Jordan Binnington, as mentioned earlier, has faced the hardest workload in the league. It’s been less for Ville Husso.

“But here’s the juxtaposition. Husso’s been lights out and Binnington has been good. But the team has played better in front of Husso, for whatever reason. This is a real thing that can’t be qualified by traditional stats or advanced analytics, that sometimes a team just players better for somebody.”

You can watch the full episode here…