The Montreal Canadiens traded goaltender Jake Allen to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional third-round draft pick Friday ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
The pick in the 2025 draft could become a second-round selection if Allen plays in 40 or more games for New Jersey next season.
Allen has a .892 save percentage, a 3.65 goals-against average and a 6-12-3 record in 21 starts this season.
The trade ends the unusual three-goalie system in Montreal as netminders Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau remained on the NHL roster through most of the campaign.
The 33-year-old Allen is signed through next season at US$3.85 million annually. The Canadiens will retain 50 per cent of Allen’s salary.
A Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, Allen arrived in Montreal via trade in 2020. The Canadiens sent a third-round and a seventh-round draft pick to St. Louis for Allen and a seventh-round pick.
Allen posted 41 wins and a .899 save percentage in 127 games over four seasons for a rebuilding Montreal team.
The six-foot-two Fredericton product joins his third NHL team after playing 289 games in seven seasons with the Blues, who drafted him in the second round (34th overall) of the 2008 NHL draft.
The Canadiens currently sit second-last in the Atlantic Division.