Updated: Jordan Binnington, Blues agree to contract extension

Doug Armstrong has been busy behind the scenes shoring up the Blues’ goaltending for the foreseeable future. Raise your hand if you expected to see this tweet at 6:10 on a Thursday night in the middle of the season.

Put your hands down, liars.

Armstrong showed that he felt Binnington was the goaltending future of the franchise when he dealt Jake Allen to the Montreal Canadiens this off-season. Allen is 4-2-3 this season with a 2.31 GAA and a .921 save percentage with his new team.

Binnington was a pending UFA, finishing out his last year of the bridge deal that Armstrong signed him to after winning the Stanley Cup. The AAV of his current contract is $4.4 million, so this deal is a pay raise, but not a giant one.

The Blues had two options here: sign Binnington to a new contract, or let him walk and test the pending free agent goalie market. What would that look like?

Pekka Rinne.

Jaroslav Halak.

James Reimer.

Philipp Grubauer.

Petr Mrazek.

Antti Raanta.

Frederik Andersen.

Tuuka Rask.

When you look at this list, Armstrong’s deal with Binnington looks pretty reasonable.

When folks look at Binnington’s stats the last two years, some may scratch their heads at either the term or the price, but when you look at the market, it makes sense.

What this means for Ville Husso, on the other hand is less clear. Will he grow into his own as a goaltender and find greener pastures elsewhere? Will he be a stable backup for Binnington? Will he pressure the starter to pick up his game?

We have six years to figure it out.

UPDATE:

Here’re the terms of the deal.