Goalie talks about his first full season in NHL, why the Blues fell short of expectations this season, his relationship with Jordan Binnington, more ...
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The 2023-24 season wasn't Joel Hofer's first rodeo in the NHL.
Sure, the goalie's dipped his toes in the league's waters before, eight games the past two seasons before, but this was his first full season and easily his best.
The 23-year-old proved he belongs in the league and helped form one of the best tandems with Jordan Binnington to give the Blues, who were 43-33-6 this season, a terrific 1-2 punch moving forward.
Hofer was 15-12-1 with a solid 2.65 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and first shutout in his second game this season, Oct. 26, 2023 against the Calgary Flames, in over 1,628 minutes of action.
Hofer talked about a variety of topics in his end-of-season press conference following the conclusion of the season and touched on these topics and others:
What did this season, your first full season in the NHL, mean for you? What did you learn about yourself?
That I can play at this level. It was obviously a good year for me. Obviously not the result we wanted as a team, obviously you want to make the playoffs. First time not making the playoffs for me. It sucks. I'm a competitor, I want to compete and I want to win. It definitely hurts and got to try to find a way to get better.
What was it like working with Jordan Binnington?
It was great; he's amazing. It really is amazing watching him every night. The average person, when they watch him, they don't really see the little things he does. As a goalie, I can see those little things. He makes things look easy. He's great and I had a lot of fun working with him.
How was your relationship in practices, learning from one another and making things off each others' games?
It's fun. Obviously practice, everyone's trying to get better. That's just something we like to practice a little bit is just shooting pucks back and forth. Just little things to keep it loose and something to get better at.
Were your numbers and year even better than you thought they could be?
It was good. I learned a lot, that's for sure. I learned it's a tough league. There's great players in this league. As soon as you think you've got a piece of the league, it'll bite you back, but yeah, it was good. I learned a lot and just looking forward to the next couple years.
From your perspective, why did the team fall short this season?
I think everybody can say we lost against teams lower in the standings and things like that. I think that's probably one of the bigger things. I'm sure there's more that goes into it, key games that we can win, but then again, we also showed that we can play against the best teams. We've beaten the best teams. It's definitely something to focus on going into next year.
After having a solid season, do you get more optimistic about where your game can go to next?
Yeah for sure. Always want to get better. That's the biggest thing for me. Not being too satisfied, I think that's where some guys can get themselves in trouble thinking that it'll come easy. The work's just going to get harder. I just want to get better and strive to make the playoffs next year.
What were some of the strides Jake Neighbours, a close friend, made this year?
Yeah, he was great. He drove this team for the most part. Obviously scored a lot of goals for us, which was big, found net front on the power play, which he was really good at. He was great for me and obviously all the boys. He was good and I'm sure he'll have a lot of good years to come.
On if Neighbours seems like a guy that's pretty even-keeled:
Yeah, he's good. He's definitely a true pro. It's been fun watching him and I obviously live with him. We've got a good bond growing. It's been a lot of fun for sure.
Are the worlds in the cards for you again if you get asked?
I'm not sure. We'll have to see. I had a lot of fun last year and we obviously won the gold, which was the most important. Time will tell.
