Joel Hofer

This Season So Far

The 2026-27 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

46 appearances, 24-13-5, a 2.61 goals-against average and a .9088 save percentage with 6 shutouts — one behind Ilya Sorokin for the most in the league. His career figure across 115 games is .9080.

Over his last 10 appearances, .913 on 288 shots.

The Physical Game

6-5 and 193 pounds, and he uses the height properly — he plays tall in his crease, takes away the top of the net, and does not drop early.

The lateral movement for a goaltender this long is genuinely good and the rebound control has improved every season. He is calm and does not chase.

The Mental Game

He took the net from a Conn Smythe winner by playing better than him for 2 seasons running, which is not a straightforward thing to do in this particular city.

The Intangibles

The split in this crease is the largest in the league. Hofer .9088 and 24-13-5; Binnington .8733 and 13-20-7, behind the same defence.

St. Louis conceded 174 goals at 5-on-5 against an expected 159.7 — its goaltending finished 14 goals worse than its chances — and every one of those 14 and more is on the other page.

He is 26, a fourth-round pick, and on the evidence of 2 seasons he is this club’s starting goaltender. The contract situation says otherwise, which is a problem the front office has been putting off.