I thought Binnington deserved the Calder trophy for his impact on the Blues. No question in my mind that if it were not for him, the Blues wouldn't have won the cup, and probably wouldn't even had made the playoffs.
With that being said, he did have some spectacular performances in some games, but he was just 'steady' in most of them. His GAA and SV% really dropped in the playoffs. I don't think he 'stole' St. Louis the cup, but he just provided reliably good goaltending.
4.4 is fair I believe for both sides. You can't just sign him to a 6+ million 8 year deal at this stage as a reward. On top of that, as much of a confidence booster that may be, it would also potentially become a crippling anchor of pressure for him. I think that's a good contract for both sides. There are a lot of goalies that do really well, and then fall apart. Check out these comparables:
1) GAA = 1.96 SV% = .935
2) GAA = 2.46 SV% = .924
Both goalies played over 10 games in the playoffs. Heck, they played for the same team. They both make around 4.4 million. One is Jordan, the other is Jake. Guess who St. Louis would love to dump. Winning the cup for SURE is an incredible ace on your resume, but Jake Allen looked completely lights-out that run they had in the playoffs. Binnington just looked 'good' through most of it. I think St. Louis learned a lesson not to overpay on goaltending.
I wish the Flames had a Jordan Binnington, but will I still feel that way next season? I don't know. That's why he didn't get more than 2 years.
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