Jake Allen was traded to the Montreal Canadiens by the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday for a third-round pick and seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
The 30-year-old goalie was 12-6-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and two shutouts in the regular season. He went 2-1-1 with a 1.89 GAA and .935 save percentage in five games this postseason for the Blues including three starts in place of Jordan Binnington in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a six-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Allen had a 3.72 GAA and .855 save percentage in three starts over a five-week period in the regular-season, but finished with NHL career-bests in GAA and save percentage and should provide a veteran backup to Carey Price, who started 58 of the Canadiens’ 71 regular-season games. Charlie Lindgren (six starts), Keith Kinkaid (five) and Cayden Primeau (two) were a combined 4-6-3 behind Price, who went 27-25-6 with a 2.79 GAA, .909 save percentage and four shutouts. Price had a 1.78 GAA, .936 save percentage and two shutouts in 10 postseason games before Montreal’s six-game loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round.
The Blues also received a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. The third- and seventh-round picks in 2020 were acquired in trades with the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively.
St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong cited a desire to create NHL salary-cap space for next season while incorporating younger players. Allen is entering the final year of a four-year contract with an annual-average value of $4.35 million and can be an unrestricted free agent after next season. Ville Husso, 25, has played the past four seasons in the American Hockey League and likely will back up Binnington after signing a one-year, one-way contract Jan. 30.
“Husso is a player we’ve had high hopes for and believe has earned his right to compete for an NHL job and to do that, you have to create opportunity,” Armstrong said.
Allen relieved Binnington and played 27:08 after the latter was pulled from Game 6, a 6-2 loss to the Canucks which eliminated the Blues. He started Games 3, 4 and 5 of the series after Binnington allowed nine goals on 47 shots (.809 save percentage) in Games 1 and 2. Binnington finished the postseason 0-5-0 with an NHL-worst 4.72 GAA and .851 save percentage (minimum five games).
“It gave Jordan Binnington some comfort knowing that his partner had a lot of experience, and he had a good regular season and not the playoffs that he wanted,” Armstrong said. “I think this does show that our faith is that we’re going to take Jordan Binnington’s NHL career going back to January of ’19 through today and say there was a lot more positives than negatives and we believe he could be the man.”
Allen was Blues starter before Binnington made 25 saves in a 3-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 7, 2019 to become the 35th goalie to earn a shutout in his first NHL start. Binnington started all 26 games of the 2019 postseason to help the Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history. Allen made one playoff appearance in relief.
“Last year, Binnington came in and he was the ultimate pro, supported Jordan and gave us the games that we needed and going into this year, being Binnington’s first year as the perceived starter, Jake was there when we needed him to play and play very well,” Armstrong said. “He’s just a quality teammate that people talk about as a reflection of the quality of person that he is.”
Selected by St. Louis in the second round (No. 34) in the 2008 NHL Draft, Allen is 148-94-26 with a 2.50 GAA, .913 save percentage and 21 shutouts in 289 regular-season games (271 starts), and 11-11-1 with a 2.06 GAA and .924 save percentage in 29 playoff games (23 starts).
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