Rebuilding Canadiens extend this critical player ahead of the season
By Jim Lynch
The Montreal Canadiens extended their starting goaltender Jake Allen on Saturday ahead of the start of the 2022-23 NHL season in just a few weeks. This is big for the Canadiens, as the future in net was up in the air up to this point.
With Carey Price heading to LTIR this upcoming season due to a knee injury, the future for the Canadiens in net was up in the air. Jake Allen started in 35 games this past season, but he is in the final year of his current contract, luckily that issue has been fixed thanks to a contract extension the team announced on Saturday, Oct. 1.
The Canadiens extended Jake Allen on a two-year deal worth an annual average of $3.85 million. Allen is entering his third year in Montreal. Last season he put up a .905 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.30 per game. Considering the rebuilding team’s state, those stats are not that bad.
The rebuilding Canadiens can breathe a sigh of relief after extending Jake Allen.
Allen is a veteran NHL goaltender who can play most of the games this season, keeping younger goalies like Cayden Primeau and Samuel Montembeault fresher heading into the next rebuild stage.
The Canadiens might not be locked in on either Primeau or Montembeault as the future leaders in the net, but at least with Allen here they know they do not need to hurt the development of either goaltender by throwing them out in the net right now.
Here are Allen’s stats so far in his career.
Allen is a veteran goaltender who can be the backbone of this young Canadiens team. While Allen might be 32, there is youth in the organization in the net. Just a month ago, the Canadiens re-signed their young goaltender Cayden Primeau to a three-year deal, and now the team has extended their starter for a few years as well.
The face of the Montreal Canadiens in net has been Carey Price for such a long time. With Price’s future up in the air, having a guy like Allen to help usher in a new era of goaltending in Montreal should be helpful to whoever leads the team in net when this rebuild ends.
The Montreal Canadiens have the cap space to keep Allen on a two-year deal like the one they gave to him. Now they know for certain how much money they still have to work with for next season and beyond.
The Canadiens open their 2022-23 NHL season at home on Oct. 12, 2022, against the Toronto Maple Leafs.