Blues Goalie Deserves Starting Role for Canada

Who should be the starting goaltender for Canada when the 4 Nations Face-Off begins? With the tournament rapidly approaching, Canada has three options to choose from: Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues, Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens. Each net minder has played their way into the conversation, but it's clear that Binnington deserves the first chance to start for Canada.

So, why should the Blues net minder get the crease for Canada? Recently, NHL.com writers Shawn P. Roarke, Mike Morreale, and Tracey Myers weighed in on who they feel should be the number one option. The consensus in that article was to award Hill the starting role. That would be a solid, but incorrect choice.

The reason why is quite simple: Binnington gives Canada their best chance to win. The NHL.com article points frequently to Hill's performance in the 2023 postseason for the Knights, when he backstopped the team to a Stanley Cup championship. He played phenomenally going from back-up to anchor for the Knights, but it's still a case of recency bias.

Binnington has a few distinct advantages over Hill. The first is experience. The 31-year-old Binnington has almost double the NHL starts as Hill in the regular season and postseason. And while it may have been several years ago, he was phenomenal himself during the 2019 Stanley Cup run for St. Louis. He played in 26 games and earned a sterling 2.46 goals against average and .914 save percentage.

Hill may have had the better statistical performance during his Stanley Cup run, but there's a key difference that lends itself to Binnington's favor: the team in front of them. The 2023 Golden Knights had star offensive players like Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, and Jonathan Marchessault to go along with an elite defensive group highlighted by two-time Stanley Cup winner Alex Pietrangelo.

The 2019 Blues by comparison were a much weaker team. Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly, and Jaden Schwartz played extremely well, but no one recorded higher than a point-per-game in the postseason. The point is that the Blues won their Cup through defense and stout goaltending, while the Golden Knights' offense was much more effective during their run and frequently lightened the load for their defense and goaltender.

Why that favors Binnington is because this tournament will not be kind to goalies. It will be fast-paced, likely high-scoring, and defense will be a rarity. Binnington has showed a history of playing well in high-volume games and has done it on the highest of levels. It may be a close debate, but Canada's starting net minder must be Jordan Binnigton of the St. Louis Blues.