The Montreal Canadiens were active on day one of the NHL Draft. They selected Slovakian’s Juraj Slafkovsky and Filip Mesar in the first round. They also traded Alexander Romanov and a couple of picks for Kirby Dach.
No one should expect the action to stop here on day two of the 2022 NHL Draft. The Canadiens have ten picks, including 33rd overall which is the first player that will be off the board today.
It also sounds like they are drawing interest from other teams on the trade front as well. They do have to shed some salary ahead of next season and one player that could help them do that would be goaltender Jake Allen.
The veteran is signed for one more season at a very reasonable cap hit of $2.875 million. With the Canadiens unlikely to contend for a playoff spot this season, it makes sense that the popular teammate will play elsewhere before his current contract expires.
But could he end up elsewhere today? According to Kevin Weekes, former NHL goaltender and someone who has his finger on the pulse of the inner working of the NHL, there is plenty of interest.
**Keep an eye 👁 on** @CanadiensMTL veteran G Jake Allen still drawing significant interest in the market. @EdmontonOilers , @BuffaloSabres are among those said clubs. Does the @Capitals move of Vanecek opens the door for @AnaheimDucks Gibson to DC ? @espn @NHL #HockeyTwitter
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) July 8, 2022
With a few contending teams still needing help in net and very few options left on the market, it makes sense that interest has recently heated up on Jake Allen. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and Washington Capitals need goalies for next season, but there are not many to go around.
Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell will surely fill two of those voids as free agents, but someone is going to have to trade for a goalie. It will be interesting to see if the Canadiens get an offer that makes them move on Allen.
With ten picks to make today, the Allen rumour is just something else to keep an eye on during day two of the NHL Draft for Habs fans.
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