The St. Louis Blues have traded goaltender Jake Allen and a 2022 seventh-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2020 third-round pick (Washington’s) and seventh-round pick (Chicago’s).
St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong.
“I want to personally thank Jake for his dedication to the St. Louis Blues organization during his entire time as a Blue,” said Armstrong. “He has always been a top-tier professional who has done everything we have asked of him. We wish Jake and his wife Shannon nothing but the best in Montreal.”
Jeremy Rutherford: Jake Allen on being traded: “I knew coming into this offseason there was a chance I was going to get traded. Didn’t really have an idea of where or when. I was just going up to my gym at my house and I saw that I had a phone call and found out the news right then. It sort of came out of the blue.”
The 30-year old Allen was drafted 34th overall in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Blues.
Allen has a year left on his deal at a $4.35 million salary cap hit, $4 million in salary. He’ll be a UFA after next season.
The Canadiens will now have $14.85 million committed in net next season.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The Canadiens had 14 picks this year so they can easily afford to ship two out.
The trade makes sense for the Canadiens as they haven’t gotten good backup goaltending in years and they hope to limit Carey Price to 55 games. The schedule next season could be condensed so having a reliable backup will be more important. The Canadiens had the cap space available and Allen has only a year left.
L.A. Lariviere: “This is what #Habs want to see from their no 2 goaltender: steal games. They haven’t found stability in that role in years. Allen has great upside backing up Price, who just had 58 starts while three other G split the rest of substitute duties.”
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: The Canadiens have been through a slew of backups the past few years – Al Montoya, Antti Niemi, Charlie Lindgren and Keith Kinkaid.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong thinks that Allen will be a great fit to backup Carey Price and only had high praises for him.
“He’s a great pro,” Armstrong started. “And when Binnington came in here (in the 2018-19 season), he supported him. He understood that (Binnington) was going to be given an opportunity and ‘Binner’ went on a great run and obviously culminated through a great playoff run, and Jake was nothing but supportive. Nothing but supportive to Binnington as he cut his teeth in the NHL, but also supportive to his teammates.
“He would do whatever was necessary at practice to make sure everybody was ready to play and he’s going to be someone that the Canadiens organization — from Marc Bergevin down to the training staff — are going to relish having to be part of their group because he’s a quality person on and off the ice, a great teammate.”