Binner was the key element to those wins but a close second was O'Reilly hounding McKinnon every shift. The two in combination frustrated the entire offense.
I was totally fine with extending Binnington as we didn't really have many other options AND he won us a cup. The criticism starts with him being the 7th highest paid goalie and being the 32nd best goalie in the league this year (14 or more games played). Again, I'll cut him a bit of slack as he's performing relatively well for the team being awful, but he's been roughly league average or worse for 3 1/2 years. Personally I'm more in the middle with my view on Binnington; not as bad as people make him out to be, not nearly good enough for his contract.
At the time I wrote that, he was just starting his 29th game, so I think comparing him to 1A goalies is fair for me to do. If you want, we can compare him to goalies right now with 25 games played, but I'm not going to compare him to guys with 28, 29, 30 starts because he is tied for the most games played in the league which is ridiculous. There are a few 1A/1B's in there but I think it's a good enough measurement. Binnington sits at 19th out of 23rd in gaa and is firmly in last place in sv%. Look at Husso, and he is 16th in gaa, 15th in sv%. I'd argue the Redwings and the Blues are equally mediocre, but I'd be fine if Binnington had Husso's numbers given the Blues' struggles. It just makes it worse when your goalie is getting paid more than ~25 other "starters" AND you had the option to keep Husso and look at trading Binnington.
You might've made that argument, and I'd agree for the most part. Like you said, "average" for a goalie is regressing numbers wise, but unless the team is solid, we won't get to see that Binnington. He's not Carey Price and that's fine, but you have to be confident in your blueline otherwise you're a middling team as we're seeing right now.
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2024 NHL Rankings
Listing the top salaries, cap hits, cash, earnings, contracts, and bonuses, for all active NHL players.
He is in the upper 25% of goalies in terms of salary. That is a major reason the contract is a joke. Paid like a superstar, plays like a peewee player. He is our Matt Murray or Cam Ward.
So was Brian Elliott and Manny Legace. The NHL all Star game is a joke and pointless accolade. It also certainly does not mean I'd sign him to a contract like that just because he won a cup, which is what happened. Same thing happened with Cam Ward. That contract would be fine at 3-4 million dollars, even at the term. But the term and the cap hit make it one of the worst goalie contracts in the league. This guy was suppose to be a contender for starting goalie for team Canada in the Olympics. Put a good team in front of him like Osgood and you can win but I don't recall Osgood EVER being in the top 25% of goalies in terms of salary. In fact, I remember Detroit cutting ties and sending him off to Long Island.
I can also remember Detroit bringing Osgood back and him taking the Red Wings to the Cup in 2008 and back to Game 7 of the Finals in 2009.
If Washington could just up to #2 and push everyone else that I hate down, that would be great.
25% of NHL goalies are superstars?2024 NHL Rankings
Listing the top salaries, cap hits, cash, earnings, contracts, and bonuses, for all active NHL players.
He is in the upper 25% of goalies in terms of salary. That is a major reason the contract is a joke. Paid like a superstar, plays like a peewee player. He is our Matt Murray or Cam Ward.
I do this once and for five days in a row we've had either the 1st overall pick or the 2nd overall pick. It's written in the stars.
