The Montreal Canadiens have already made one big trade ahead of the trade deadline and will look to make a couple of more that would follow the same basic formula.
The original formula was moving a veteran player for draft picks as the Canadiens landed a first round pick for Sean Monahan. That is typically the move for a rebuilding team and the Habs will try to add as many picks or prospects as they can before the deadline passes.
They are running out of time to do so as the deadline is now just four days away. For fun, we thought we would put together some potential trades for the Canadiens. Today we look at what a Jake Allen deal could look like.
Trading Allen makes a lot of sense for the Canadiens as they have signed Sam Montembeault to a three year contract extension and have gained confidence in Cayden Primeau at the NHL level as well. That pair of younger goaltenders should be given the net and the only way to make that happen is to trade Allen.
However, there is not a huge market for Allen as most playoff teams already have reliable goaltending and don't look to add netminders in the middle of the season. There are a couple of contenders that could use a veteran backup, and that brings us to the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs have been running out Alexandar Georgiev like he is Martin Brodeur. He has already played 50 games this season and needs to rest a little before a likely long playoff run. Georgiev is on pace to play 66 games this season and his numbers are not even quite leage average. He needs a veteran backup to give him some time off so he can be at the top of his game in the postseason.
Allen could be that veteran but he makes $3.85 million and has an .892 save percentage. That would surely be better if he were playing behind the Avalanche defense instead of the Canadiens young blue line, but it is still a big number for the Avs to take on. They would need the Canadiens to take back Ryan Johansen in a trade.
Johansen is signed through next season, like Allen, at a cap hit of $4 million and has only 23 points in 62 games though he has been given the opportunity to be their second line center.
This would basically be a problem for problem kind of trade, but the Avs would be getting a veteran backup and a tiny bit of cap space ahead of the trade deadline. They would need to add something like a third round pick in 2025 to make it worthwhile for the Canadiens.
So, how about a Jake Allen trade for Ryan Johansen and a third round pick. Who says no?