Jordan Binnington (born July 11, 1993) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Binnington was raised in Richmond Hill and Toronto, Ontario. He played major junior hockey for the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League, winning the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as best goaltender of the 2011 Memorial Cup and the 2013 Jim Rutherford Trophy as the OHL goaltender of the year. He was selected by the Blues in the third round, 88th overall, of the 2011 NHL entry draft. Binnington played for Canada in the 2013 World Junior Championships. He spent seven seasons in the minor leagues, with a brief call-up to the NHL in 2014 as an emergency goaltender before making his NHL on-ice debut in 2016. In December 2018, he was called up by the Blues and within a month became their starting goaltender. His play helped the team improve from last place in the league to winning the 2019 Stanley Cup championship. He is the first NHL rookie goaltender to earn 16 wins in a single postseason, the maximum number possible (not including the 2020 postseason, which included play-in games that enabled a goaltender to record more than 16 wins, a record held by Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with 18 wins). He is the all-time wins leader for two franchises, the St. Louis Blues and the Owen Sound Attack.
Contents
Playing career
Amateur
Binnington was selected by the major junior hockey club Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in the second round of the 2009 OHL Priority Draft. Binnington made his OHL debut in the 2009–10 season, appearing in 22 games as the backup to Scott Stajcer, with a record of six wins, ten losses and two ties (6–10–2), sporting an 0.888 save percentage and a goals against average (GAA) of 4.44. He had a strong 2010–11 season posting a 27–12–5 record throughout 46 games with an 0.899 save percentage and a GAA of 3.05. He took over as the starting goalie when Stajcer went down with an injury. He was named to the 2011 Canadian Hockey League (CHL)'s Top Prospects Game in December 2010. During the 2011 OHL playoffs, Binnington was part of a three-goalie system including Stajcer and Michael Zador that led the Attack past the London Knights, the Plymouth Whalers, and the Windsor Spitfires to end up in the J. Ross Robertson Cup final versus the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. The seven-game series was won by the Attack, with Binnington playing and winning the final two games when the team was facing elimination. The Owen Sound Attack advanced to the CHL's 2011 Memorial Cup tournament as OHL champions. After winning the first game against the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League with Binnington in net, the Attack lost the next two games and then lost the tiebreaker with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors, eliminating them from the tournament. Binnington finished the tournament with a record of 1–2, a GAA of 1.42 and a save percentage of 0.951, recording the only shutout by any team. For his play he was awarded the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the tournament's best goalie and was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team.
He returned to Owen Sound for the 2011–12 season, but was once again sharing the net with Stajcer. He posted a record of 27–17–1, with a save percentage of 0.906 and a GAA of 2.99. The Attack qualified for the 2012 OHL playoffs but were eliminated in the first round by the Kitchener Rangers. With Stajcer's departure in the 2012–13 season, Binnington became the undisputed starter for the Attack. On November 17, Binnington won his 66th game for the Attack in a 4–0 shutout win over the Kitchener Rangers, becoming the winningest goalie in franchise history. That began a string of three consecutive shutouts for the goaltender. He was rewarded for his excellent play by earning the Jim Rutherford Trophy as the OHL's top goaltender for the regular season with a record of 32–12–6, a save percentage of 0.932 (second in league) and a GAA of 2.17 (third in league). He also shared the Dave Pinkney Trophy with backup Michael Hope for allowing the league's fewest number of goals with 165. He was also named an OHL First Team All-Star.
Professional
Ahead of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s 2011 entry draft, Binnington was ranked as the OHL's top eligible goaltender by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's final ranking. He was selected with the 88th overall pick in the third round by the St. Louis Blues. Binnington signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Blues on May 29, 2012. Binnington was an emergency recall to the Blues' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen, at the end of the 2011–12 AHL season after their own starting goaltender, Jake Allen was recalled to the NHL and the backup, Alex Stalock, was out injured with a broken finger. Binnington played in one game, the final match of the season on April 16, a 4–2 loss to the Chicago Wolves.
After the end of his major junior career, Binnington was assigned to the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL for development to start the 2013–14 season as the Blues' had Allen and Matt Climie in the AHL. He recorded a 23–13–3 record, with a save percentage of 0.922 and a GAA of 2.35, winning the ECHL Rookie of the Month award for December. He was recalled to the Blues' new AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, for one game on January 5, 2014, and earned his first win in the league in a 4–3 shootout win over the Rockford IceHogs. With the promotion of Allen to St. Louis full time, Binnington paired with Climie as the tandem for the Wolves for the 2014–15 season. On November 26, Binnington was called up from Chicago, under emergency conditions, following the injury to Blues goaltender Brian Elliott. However, he did not make any appearances and was returned to Chicago. He went 25–15–4 in 45 games with Chicago, with a save percentage of 0.912 and a GAA of 2.35. The Wolves qualified for the 2015 Calder Cup playoffs but were eliminated in the first round by the Utica Comets. Binnington appeared in all five games in the best-of-five series, ending with a 2–3 record and a 0.938 save percentage.
Binnington returned to the Wolves for the 2015–16 season. He made 41 appearances for Chicago, with a record of 17–18–5, a save percentage of 0.907 and a GAA of 2.85. He was recalled by St. Louis on January 9, 2016, after an injury to Allen and on January 14 he made his NHL in-game debut against the Carolina Hurricanes, coming in to relieve starter Elliott in a 4–1 loss. He was returned to Chicago on January 25. On July 15, Binnington signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blues. Despite Elliott's trade to the Calgary Flames, the Blues signed Carter Hutton to be Allen's new backup in St. Louis and Binnington was assigned to Chicago to start the 2016–17 season. However, shortly after the season began, Allen was injured again and Binnington was recalled by the Blues to backup Hutton on October 9. He made no appearances and was returned to Chicago where he shared the net with the Blues' other goalie prospects, Ville Husso and Pheonix Copley. Binnington made 32 appearances in the AHL, going 16–7–3 with a save percentage of 0.911 and a GAA of 2.71. Chicago qualified for the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs, and made it to the second round, losing to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Binnington appeared in just two playoff games.
International play
Binnington made his international debut for Canada with the national junior team at the 2013 World Junior Championships. Initially the backup goaltender behind Malcolm Subban, he played for the first time in the tournament after Subban was pulled midway through the semifinal against the United States, having allowed four goals. Canada was ultimately defeated 5–1, but Binnington's performance in relief was praised. He then started the bronze medal game against Russia, but fared less well there, and was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots. Canada finished fourth in the tournament.
Following the conclusion of the 2023–24 NHL regular season, with the Blues not qualifying for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, Binnington accepted an invitation to make his senior national team debut at the 2024 World Championship. Again, Canada and Binnington competed for the bronze medal game, but ultimately fell 4–2 to Sweden, finishing fourth in the tournament.
In 2025, Binnington was selected as the starting goaltender for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Despite some people criticizing the decision made by Canadian head coach Jon Cooper, Binnington would beat Sweden in the first game of the round-robin tournament in overtime by a score of 4–3, stopping 25 out of 28 Swedish shots. The second game would come against the United States. Binnington stopped 20 out of 22 shots, but the Canadians fell 3–1. Binnington did have an assist, however, on the opening goal scored by Connor McDavid. The final round-robin game against Finland would be a crucial one, as whoever won this game would play the United States in the championship. Binnington stopped 23 out of 26 shots en route to a 5–3 Canadian victory. The championship game would be played at TD Garden in Boston, the same arena where Binnington shut down the Boston Bruins' offense in game seven of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, leading to the St. Louis Blues' first Stanley Cup victory. Binnington was tested often, giving up one goal in each of the first two periods. The game would end up needing to go into overtime. Binnington robbed Auston Matthews multiple times of the game-winning goal, en route to another international Canadian victory with a final score of 3–2.
Later that year in May, after his NHL team had been eliminated from the playoffs, Binnington was invited again to play for Canada at the 2025 World Championship. Binnington's first start was Canada's third game, a 5–0 victory over France on May 13. He followed that with a second shutout in a 7–0 win over Slovakia. He won his third game in a row to clinch Group A with a 5–3 victory over Sweden. However, in the quarterfinals, Denmark upset Canada in 2–1 win, knocking them out of the tournament.
Personal life
In 2023, Binnington married Canadian actress Cristine Prosperi. They have one son.
Career statistics
Awards and honours
NHL record
Most wins in a single playoff season by a rookie goaltender, 16 (2018–19) (This record can only be matched, not beaten, as 16 is the maximum number of wins possible in a single playoff season)