Jake Allen signed a two-year, $7.7 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. It has an average annual value of $3.85 million and runs through the 2024-25 season.
“Nothing changes for me with this contract for things like that from a hockey perspective,” Allen said. “We’re going to have some young players back there but we’ve got some savvy veterans as well. I understand where we’re trying to go with this team and my job’s to try to be a leader back there, be a stable presence in the net and sort of continuing what I’ve been doing the last couple of years here, and nothing really changes from that front for me personally.”
The 32-year-old goalie was 9-20-4 with a 3.30 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and two shutouts in 35 games last season. He was traded to the Canadiens by the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 2, 2020 and was the backup to Carey Price When Montreal reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, losing in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Allen is expected to share the goalie duties with either Sam Montembeault or Cayden Primeau this season. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said in August that Price will be placed on LTIR because of a knee injury.
“I’ll never fill Carey’s shoes, I’m blunt in saying that,” Allen said. “I never will. I don’t have the talent and the game that Carey Price has, but I have my own game and that’s what … has brought me to success in this league, consistency, and it’s been a good couple of years for me here personally. I’m just going to try to continue that. I understand where we’re going, what direction, what we’re trying to do, and I’m not going to be someone that I’m not in the next couple of years here. I’m just going to be me and I think they value that here and I value what they’re trying to do.”
The Canadiens finished with the worst record in the NHL last season, going 22-49-11, leading to questions about Allen’s future with the team. He was entering the final season of a two-year contract.
“I want to be part of this process, I really do,” Allen said. “I think since management, organization changed over last year I really see what they’re trying to build here and I want to be a part of it, and I signed up for that and I think that was part of signing extension here. I feel like I want to leave this jersey in a better spot than when I put it on.”
A second-round pick (No. 34) in the 2008 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues, Allen is 168-126-35 with a 2.60 GAA, .911 save percentage and 23 shutouts in 353 regular-season games (333 starts) with the Blues and Canadiens. He is 11-11-1 in 29 Stanley Cup Playoff games (23 starts) with a 2.06 GAA and .924 save percentage. Allen helped the Blues win their first Stanley Cup championship in 2019, defeating the Boston Bruins in seven games.
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