Jordan Binnington avoids arbitration, agrees to two year deal

Goaltender Jordan Binnington was a week away from his arbitration hearing on July 20th, but he never made it that far. The Blues announced on Saturday that the rookie goaltender, Calder nominee, and Stanley Cup champion has signed a two-year extension at an AAv of $4.4 million.

Binnington only has 33 regular season games of experience under his belt (32 came this year) and 26 playoff games experience, but he has made the most of those games. In the regular season he sported a 1.89 GAA and a .927 save percentage. Those numbers were good for first and fourth in the league, respectively. He posted a 24-5-1 record. That was 14 fewer wins that Andrei Vasilevskiy in 23 fewer games started.

That’s nuts.

Obviously, considering his standout play in the regular season and his solid work in the playoffs, especially in game seven against the Bruins, Binnington was going to get paid. The $4.4 million a season is a slight pay-raise over the $650,000 that he was paid last year.

Right now, between Binnington and Jake Allen, the Blues have $8,750,000 tied up in goaltending for the next two seasons. After that, both goalies are UFAs. If the team’s riding a 1-A/1-B tandem again, it’s not a terrible idea - you don’t know if Binnington will regress next season. If you can get Binnington locked into a longer contract at the end of the season next year and he proves his mettle, then Allen could possibly be left unprotected for Seattle’s team.

Regardless of the future, this now leaves the Blues $7,120,406 under the cap with three more RFAs to sign and Pat Maroon more than likely asking for a raise.