Trade of Jake Allen to New Jersey: Martin Brodeur gives important details

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David St-Jean
March 13, 2024 (9:07 PM)

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Jake Allen's trade from the Montreal Canadiens isn't a huge surprise, it was even a necessity. However, seeing Jake Allen being the one traded and a team interested in him is another story.

Indeed, with his recent performances and his salary for over a year, Jake wasn't among the favorites to leave at the trade deadline. Kent Hughes finally managed to trade him, and at a good price too.

What's important to know is that the Devils have been interested in Allen for a long time, and they had to work hard to acquire him. Martin Brodeur, the legendary goaltender, opened up about it:

"We've been interested in Jake for a long time. What was holding us back was his salary. We couldn't afford it with the plan we have for next year. We want to get another goaltender during the summer. We needed some salary retention from Jake. It took time to make this transaction with the Canadiens. During the season, we had many discussions with the Canadiens. Tom Fitzgerald and Kent Hughes talked a lot about this matter. The trade was able to be made just before the deadline. Jake also had to agree to come to New Jersey. We had to sell him our pitch a bit. It's harder to make trades when players have restrictions in their contract like Jake did. We are happy to have been able to convince him to come here."

- Martin Brodeur

I'm not sure if the Devils' threesome arrangement was part of the plans explained to Allen to convince him, but that's what's happening right now, with Daws and Kahkonen.

Let's hope Jake made the right decision for the sake of his future. He would certainly like to continue after his current contract ends, so he needs to play games to prove that he can still be very useful to a team.

Source: TVA Sports