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“Jake Allen was told he would be staying in Montreal”.

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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“Jake Allen was told he would be staying in Montreal”.
Credit: Screenshot : Twitter

A few weeks ago, Kent Hughes managed to get rid of Mike Hoffman’s contract. To do so, he acquired two contracts that were in his way: those of Jeff Petry and Casey DeSmith.

Since then, Petry has moved to Detroit(as almost everyone knows), but DeSmith is still in town.

The result? The Canadiens find themselves in the middle of a three-way battle in front of their net. I say three, taking for granted that Cayden Primeau won’t start the season in Montreal if everyone in the net is healthy.

Of course, a ménage à trois isn’t ideal. We know it’s hard on the goalies, but it’s not ideal either when you know that nine defensemen and 14 forwards want to make the club. #Congestion

With three goalkeepers, who would keep goal most of the time? Who would be the deputy? Who would join the injured in the press gallery? It’s not clear, and the goalkeepers wouldn’t be happy about it.

Note that Samuel Montembeault, who seems to be the club’s #1 goalie, has been told by his GM not to worry. Even if his salary negotiations don’t seem to be going as quickly as some had hoped, he’s there to play a lot in 2023-2024.

But what about afterwards?

Logically, if Montembeault is one of the goalies, that means Jake Allen and Casey DeSmith are in the running against each other for Samuel Montembeault’s backup job. Logical, no?

Basically, everything points to Allen (two-year contract at $3.85 million) being ahead of Casey Desmith (one-year contract at $1.8 million) with the Habs. And apparently, that’s what Carey Price’s former assistant was told, too.

According to Raphaël Doucet (La Poche Bleue), Jake Allen has been told he’ll be staying in Montreal.

From a contractual point of view, it’s logical to believe that Allen will stay. After all, DeSmith is much easier to trade, whether Kent Hughes withholds salary or not.

This will add stress to DeSmith, who is trapped in a slow market and more or less knows where he stands.

The GM, who doesn’t want to send DeSmith to the AHL to solve his problems, knows how important Jake Allen is to the dressing room, but also to his Quebec counterpart. Because yes, Monty often sings Jake’s praises.

Keeping Allen to back up Sam Montembeault would ensure that there would be no bickering over playing time. Why would that be? Because Allen has already said he won’t complain if the Quebecer plays more than he does.

He’ll act like his big brother and support Montembeault, who has to prove he can be a #1 if he wants to be paid like a #1 for the Canadiens’ 2024-2025 season.

I’ve always thought that if the CH were to trade Jake Allen, the first thing they’d do is get a guy in the Jake Allen mold. And clearly, that won’t be a problem.


In gusto

– Mathias Brunet confirms our text: a volume 2 of “Au coeur du vestiaire” will be published this fall.

– It’s all very strange.

– It’s hard when your body tells you to slow down.

– Alex Newhook needs playing time. [BPM Sports]

– We get along.

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