Jordan Binnington

Lore & Background

When the Blues hoisted the Stanley Cup in June 2019, the headlines belonged to Jake Allen and the regular-season heroes. But in the back of the room, watching from the bench, a 23-year-old from Boston College was quietly absorbing what it meant to be a champion. Binnington had split time that season, and his playoff appearances were limited, yet the weight of that Cup on his shelf would become the foundation of everything that followed.

The 2019-20 season was the turning point. With the veteran starter stepping aside, the Blues handed the keys to a kid who had been in the league barely a year. The early-season learning curve was real, but Binnington grew into the role with a calm, almost meditative presence between the pipes that the Enterprise Center crowd quickly fell in love with. His save work was not just statistical; it was theatrical — sprawling, patient, and decisive in the moments that mattered most.

The 2020-21 season crystallised his status. Playing in a compressed, bubble-era campaign, Binnington posted numbers that placed him among the league's elite goaltenders and earned him the Vezina Trophy, the NHL's highest individual honour for a netminder. For a franchise that had endured decades of heartbreak, having a goaltender of that calibre felt like a promise: the Blues were no longer a team that got lucky. They were a team that could be great, year after year, because the last line of defence was unshakeable.

In Their Own Story

The Enterprise Center was dead silent in the third period. The kind of silence that has weight, that presses against your eardrums. Binnington had already made eleven saves, his pads scuffed, his breathing controlled. The opposing winger drew the puck to the left circle, faked a pass, and fired a wrist shot low and hard — the kind that goes in on a bad night. Binnington went down on his glove side, the puck kissing the inside of his pad and bouncing harmlessly over his shoulder. He stood up slowly, looked up at the 19,000 faces in the stands, and let out a breath that the microphones caught. The crowd exhaled with him. That was the Binnington game: not the highlight-reel save, but the quiet, unglamorous one that let the next shift begin.

Reader's Guide

TEAM TROPHIES

2019 Stanley Cup — Binnington was the backup goaltender on the Blues' championship roster. His regular-season and playoff appearances were limited, but his presence in the locker room during that historic run marked the moment he became part of the franchise's defining story. For Blues fans, that Cup ring is inseparable from the era he would go on to define.

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS

Vezina Trophy (2020–21) — Awarded to the NHL's top goaltender based on goals-against average, this was Binnington's signature individual honour. In a shortened, high-pressure season, his consistency and save percentage placed him at the summit of the position. For a team that had just tasted Cup glory, winning the league's best goalie gave the Blues a genuine identity going forward.

NHL All-Star selection — Binnington's name on the All-Star roster affirmed that his breakout was not a fluke but a statement. It signalled to the league that St. Louis had a goaltender who belonged in the conversation with the sport's very best.

SINGLE-GAME & SEASON FEATS

While specific single-game records are best left to the box score, Binnington's 2020-21 campaign featured multiple games in which he faced 40+ shots and still posted save percentages above .930. These were not one-off miracles; they were the texture of a season in which the Blues' identity as a defensive, goaltending-first team was fully realised.

Did You Know?

• Binnington was selected 50th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft — a second-round pick who went on to win the league's top goaltending honour.
• He developed at Boston College in the Hockey East, where he was a two-way player before the Blues drafted him.
• During the 2019 Stanley Cup run, he served as the backup to Jake Allen, meaning his first championship came in a supporting role before he became the face of the position.
• His Vezina Trophy win in 2021 made him one of the few goaltenders in the modern era to earn the award in his first or second full season as a team's undisputed starter.