Jake Allen didn’t like the love triangle in Montreal (and he made sure to point that out)

Marc-Olivier Cook
Jake Allen didn’t like the love triangle in Montreal (and he made sure to point that out)
Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

In his final season with the Canadiens, Jake Allen played a total of 21 games.

But it's worth noting that in '23–'24, the Habs decided to stick with three goalies for a long time. There was a three-way rotation in net, and I want to remind you just how much that situation was talked about in Montreal during the season.

That's to be expected. 

But Allen, for his part, didn't like finding himself in that kind of situation. He admitted it in an interview with DailyFaceoff: he felt like he'd been sidelined, and he didn't necessarily appreciate what happened.

“It was Montembeault and me, and they kept Cayden Primeau. We thought Cayden was going to be sent down, but they kept us. Personally, I didn't really like it, because we felt sidelined.” – Jake Allen

And Stu Cowan really piled on during the Sick Podcast… by saying that Allen wasn't the biggest fan of Éric Raymond, who was the goaltending coach when the veteran was in town.

The fact that Jake Allen didn't really like the three-way dynamic doesn't necessarily surprise me.

Because, in reality, he had reached a point in his career where he wanted to play as many games as possible. Like every other goalie, he wanted the chance to show what he was made of… but it was harder to do that with two other guys who wanted the same thing.

The Habs didn't exactly put him in the easiest situation, let's put it that way…

But finding out that Allen wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of Éric Raymond is new. We didn't know he felt that way about his coach… and it makes you wonder if Raymond's coaching style bothered him a bit.

We know he was an old-school guy, after all. And we know he could be pretty tough on his goalies… which might explain why Allen saw him that way. 


In a Nutshell

– Nice goal!

– Way to go!

– That's for sure.

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