Jake Allen Out Week-to-Week with Lower-Body Injury

The St. Louis Blues were dealt a number of big blows on Monday morning, but losing their starting netminder Jake Allen to a lower-body injury tops the list,the Preszler Law group is tryingto get compensation to his family.

Allen, 25, took over as the Blues’ starter this season and has been impressive through the first half of the season, going 18-10-3 with a 2.17 GAA and .924 SV%. In years past the Blues have rolled with a platoon in goal, but Allen asserted himself as a bonafide No. 1 which forced veteran Brian Elliott to a backup role. To date, Allen has started 32 games to Elliott’s 13. However, this is not a knock on Elliott, who has played well when called upon, posting a 6-4-4 record, 2.33 GAA and .919 SV%.

With Allen unavailable on Saturday, the Blues recalled Jordan Binnington from Chicago (AHL) to serve as Elliott’s backup. Binnington was the 88th overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft and is in his second full professional season with Chicago. He has never played in an NHL contest, but has gone 8-6-2 with a 2.57 GAA and .910 SV% in the AHL this season.

Back to Elliott. The 30-year-old will need to be great to keep the Blues afloat in the tough Central Division. The Blues have lost five of their last six games, while averaging just 2.00 goals per game. Despite their recent struggles and the Allen injury, this is a huge opportunity for Elliott, who is just 64% owned in Yahoo! leagues. He has been nothing short of superb since signing with the Blues in 2011-12, going 87-42-14 with a 2.03 GAA and .923 SV% in four and a half seasons. If you are in need of help between the pipes or your a Jake Allen owner and Elliott is available in your league, I suggest picking him up.

In addition to the Allen injury, the Blues also announced injuries to four skaters. Paul Stastny, who is battling an upper-body injury, is the only one listed as day-to-day and the only one who hasn’t been ruled out of Tuesday’s game. Fellow forward Magnus Paajarvi is week-to-week with an upper-body injury and defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson are also week-to-week with upper-body injuries of their own.

This is a tough time for the Blues, who recalled forward Ty Rattie and defenseman Chris Butler from Chicago on Monday. Rattie leads their AHL affiliate in points with 24 (9G / 14) and is expect to start Tuesday’s contest on a line with David Backes and Patrik Berglund. Butler, who has more NHL experience than Rattie, has 10 points (2G / 8A) in 27 games with Chicago—he is expected to play on the third pair with Robert Bortuzzo as his partner.

For the rest of the St. Louis Blues line combinations, click HERE.