Jake Allen spent his final season with the Montreal Canadiens in a three-goalie triple-tandem with Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau.
It turns out he wasn’t a big fan of the arrangement.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff Live, the New Jersey Devils goalie discussed his 2023-24 season, where he played 21 games with the Habs before being sent to the Devils for conditional 2025 third-round draft pick, with the Canadiens picking up half his salary.
The hosts of the podcast asked him about the rise of three-goalie system league-wide.
“We had me and (Samuel) Montembeault, and they kept Cayden Primeau around. We thought Cayden was going to be going down, and they just kept us around. So personally I didn’t really like it, just because you feel on the outs,” Allen said.
“It wasn’t the greatest situation for me, but for me, at the end of the day, it worked out to get to the Devils and here I am.”
He added that with proper dialogue between players and coaches, having three options between the pipes can be manageable.
“As long as there’s a clear line of communication and understanding and you know where everyone stands, I think that’s the biggest thing. Because as a goalie, you’re sitting there, you got three, and you’re like ‘Man, am I ever going to play? Is this guy going to play? Is my next game in two weeks? Is it in three weeks?’”
At the time of Allen’s departure from Montreal, he had a 3.65 goals against average and .892 save percentage. He bounced back in New Jersey, with better numbers across the board in 13 games.
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Since then, Allen has shared duties with Jacob Markstrom, with Nico Daws getting spot starts in between. Markstrom was dealt to the Florida Panthers in the off-season, leaving Allen and Daws as the new tandem in Newark.
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes rectified the three-goalie dilemma by dealing Allen. But the Habs are at risk of repeating history next season with Jakub Dobes, Jacob Fowler and Sam Montembeault all under contract.