MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — When laying out a blueprint and foundation for success, the St. Louis Blues have a very good understanding of where it all begins.

It most certainly starts and to a degree, stops with Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer.

The Blues, who were 43-33-6 this season, good for 92 points, which was an 11-point improvement from 2022-23, had arguably the best goalie tandem in the league this past season.

Everyone knows the pedigree that Binnington, 30, brought from his experience going back to his Stanley Cup-winning rookie season in 2019 before taking a dip in numbers the next two seasons before having arguably his best full-season of his career. But then there’s Hofer, 24, playing in his first full season. Nobody knew what to expect. But all he did was aid in a tandem with Binnington to provide a solid combined goals saved above expected (24.54) according to naturalstattrick.com, which was sixth-best according to their charts, and save percentage (.913).