Jordan Binnington put together one of the greatest starts to an NHL career we’ve ever seen.
The Richmond Hill, Ontario native went 24-5-1 with five shutouts, a 1.89 goals against average and a .927 goals against average and helped take the Blues from dead-last in the NHL to Stanley Cup champions. During the Blues’ incredible run from the bottom to the top, Binnington made a bet with one of his closest friends who he’s known since he was 12-years-old as a way to keep him motivated during the playoffs and it turned into a win-win situation for both he and his buddy.
The bet: if the Blues win the Stanley Cup then Binnington helps his friend complete his sleeve. The Blues goalie didn’t say the tattoo had to be related to him or about him, but his friend did just that
“What I like to do is find my motivation and find new motivation as I go. I think it’s important to keep having that drive and I was in the Cup Final and you try to boost yourself a bit, so I bet myself.” said Binnington.
“I told my friend if we won I’d finish his sleeve for him and we finally got the chance to do that. I told him he didn’t have to get anything regarding me on there, maybe a little initial or something, but he ended up getting a picture of my helmet on there. It looks pretty good, too."
As a way to honour his good friend and the man who just helped him complete his sleeve, Binnington’s friend went to Kyle Ghostkeeper of FY INK in Toronto and got a tattoo of Binnington’s mask to fill in the space.
While the bet involved Binnington’s friend getting a tattoo, that wasn’t going to be the case for the Blues netminder if they failed to win it all.
“I don’t like to lose, but I don’t think I’m going to punish myself to do that. I think it’s important for me to continue to find motivation and have the drive and sometimes you need a little more and that was one way for me to handle that.”
Binnington was offered a free Stanley Cup tattoo at the time, but he respectfully declined the offer.
