This is the 2024-25 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Joel Hofer
St. Louis Blues Goaltender
Six-five, a fourth-round pick, and a better save percentage than the starter in his first thirty games.
| Season | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | STL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3.07 | 0 | 50 | .880 |
| 2022-23 | STL | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 3.22 | 0 | 179 | .905 |
| 2023-24 | STL | 30 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 72 | 2.65 | 1 | 830 | .913 |
| 2024-25 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 38 | 19 | 14 | 2 | 95 | 2.76 | 1 | 1059 | .910 |
This Season So Far
The 2024-25 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
30 games, 15-12-1 with a .9133 and a 2.65, 1 shutout, facing 830 shots.
The .9133 was marginally better than Jordan Binnington’s, on the same club and the same chances. He had played 8 NHL games in total before this season.
The Physical Game
He is 6-5 and 193.
He is three inches taller and twenty-one pounds heavier than his partner and plays nothing like him: deep, square and patient, taking up net rather than cutting angles down. At that height the top of the net is simply not available and the work is all in the recovery low.
The Mental Game
A career .9103 across 38 games.
Thirty games in a first real season without the save percentage moving is the most encouraging thing a young goaltender can do. He is 24, he was a fourth-round pick, and there is nothing in the record yet to say he cannot be the starter here.
The Intangibles
One hundred and seventh overall in 2018 by St. Louis, three seasons, one organisation, and 38 games.
Nineteen career wins against 14 losses. He and Binnington were worth eighteen goals between them last season, which was the difference between sixteenth place and thirtieth.