Jordan Binnington Cements Reputation As NHL’s Most Hateable Goalie With Cowardly Move

It was hard to ignore the role Jordan Binnington played in helping the St. Louis Blues turn things around when he made his NHL debut in 2018 before serving as a major contributor during the team’s unlikely Stanley Cup run.

Based on how he played that season, it looked like the goalie had the potential to be The Next Big Thing, but it’s safe to say the past few years have not exactly panned out as he hoped.

In 2021, Tom Wilson was dubbed the NHL’s most-hated player by fans, but I have a pretty good feeling Binnington would take the top spot if that unofficial vote was held today.

The hot-headed netminder has repeatedly been at the center of various controversies over the past couple of years thanks to the short temper that led to him trying to fight multiple members of the Sharks after being pulled from a game, throwing a water bottle at Nazem Kadri during the playoffs, and hitting Jason Zucker with a cheap shot for the ages.

In December, Blues head coach Craig Berube called Binnington out in a very public manner to make it clear he was tired of his antics.

However, it doesn’t appear the player took that criticism to heart.

On Wednesday night, Binnington once again made headlines for all of the wrong reasons when he drilled Ryan Hartman with his blocker after the Wild forward netted a goal to give Minnesota a 5-4 lead over St. Louis in the third period.

That development did not sit well with Marc-André Fleury, who attempted to fight Binnington before the referees stepped in to deprive us of the goalie fight where the latter likely would’ve been on the receiving end of the frontier justice the vast majority of fans would’ve loved to see.

Alex Goligoski pulled out the perfect troll job when he mocked Binnington’s attempt to pump up the crowd after he was ejected from the game when the Minnesota defenseman scored later in the period.

Hartman and Fleury were more than happy to call out Binnington for his behavior after the Wild walked away with the 8-5 win in a game where Binnington was ejected for his short-sighted outburst.

The Wild and the Blues will face off again on April 8th, which is a date hockey fans may want to circle on their calendar.

UPDATE: On Thursday afternoon, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced Binnington had received a two-game suspension for the cheap shot that sparked the fracas.

That was a long time coming.