Report: Capitals Reached Out To Canadiens About Jake Allen

The Washington Capitals are in the hunt for a new netminder, and general manager Brian MacLellan said he is exploring “all avenues,” from free agency to the trade market. And now, per reports, that search expands to Quebec.

Per Sportsnet’s Nick Alberga, the Capitals, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and other teams, have reached out to the Montreal Canadiens regarding goaltender Jake Allen.

“Montreal likes him a lot, so unsurprisingly, the price tag is high,” Alberga added.

Allen is coming off a so-so season with the last-place Canadiens, going 9-20-4 with a .905 save percentage and 3.30 GAA. Before coming to Montreal in 2020, where he played 35 games or less over each of the last two seasons while posting a .906 SV% overall, Allen was with the St. Louis Blues for seven years. There, he went 148-94-26 with a .913 SV% and 2.50 GAA. He has a .911 SV% over the course of his nine-year career, along with a 168-126-35 record and one Stanley Cup.

Allen has shown that he can be consistent, though his last two seasons in Montreal haven’t seen him play the role of a starter. Still, the 31-year-old has starting potential and upside, and he carries a cap hit of $2.875 million over the next season before becoming a UFA.

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For the Capitals, he checks off a few boxes: he is an experienced goaltender that can fight for a starting role or form a 1A/1B tandem, he can help mentor Ilya Samsonov. He also makes timely saves, knows how to win and give the Capitals much-needed consistency and stability between the pipes.

However, he wouldn’t come cheap. As Alberga pointed out, the price tag is high, and with Price’s future up in the air, Montreal likely won’t be so quick to deal him away, especially for nothing in return. And, while it’s unclear what the asking price is, but when it comes to another netminder, Washington doesn’t exactly have one to send back the other way.

Samsonov, a pending RFA, is the sole goalie on the NHL roster now after the Capitals traded Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils on Friday. Pheonix Copley is a pending UFA, and though Zach Fucale and more solid names are in the system, they may want to think twice before taking away from that depth.

Along with Kuemper, Washington has also been linked to pending top UFA goalie Darcy Kuemper. Jack Campbell is also a pending UFA to watch. John Gibson and Sergei Bobrovsky‘s names have also come up as goaltenders potentially on the trade block.