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Jake Allen got a whole 20 minutes of gameplay in Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks before this happened:
Allen left the game and was replaced by Carter Hutton. Whether or not this was due to the severity of the injury is under debate; this was just a pre-season game, after all. Why risk further injury in a game against the Blackhawks that doesn’t count when a real game against the Blackhawks that does count is coming up on Wednesday?
The Blues recalled Jordan Binnington from the Wolves Sunday morning. He was needed so the Blues had two goaltenders for practice today; Hitch called the move “precautionary.” Playing it safe with Allen is something that the Blues should do; the days of a 1A/1B tandem in St. Louis ended with Brian Elliott being traded to the Calgary Flames.
What is concerning, however, is the fact that the Blues haven’t issued an update on Allen’s condition yet. There’s a distinct possibility that no update’s been forthcoming because there’s nothing to update - Allen could be perfectly fine. He could start on Monday.
Or they’re not updating anyone because there’s nothing to update - that Allen is legit day to day and his status for Wednesday (and possibly Thursday) is in question. As Blues fans, I think we all can guess where most of our minds are right now. Where they don’t need to be is dwelling on the fact that this may be long-term. The Blues didn’t issue a dreaded “re-evaluation” statement, and that’s a good sign.
“He’s going to skate (early Tuesday morning) with the trainers, and if he feels fine, he’s going to join us for the practice,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’ll first do a maneuver skate and then hopefully join us at 10:30 a.m. if everything goes well there. If everything just goes well, he’s going to play Wednesday, that’s kind of what we’re assuming. So he’s doing fine. Good news and we’ll hopefully see him out with us right away.”
That seems concrete.