It appears that the key sticking point in extension discussions between the Canadiens and goaltender Jake Allen revolve around term, Arpon Basu and Marc-Antoine Godin of The Athletic report (subscription link). To this point, Montreal is only comfortable offering a two-year deal and it appears that Allen’s camp is looking for more. The 32-year-old is entering the final season of his contract that carries a $2.875MM cap hit and should be able to land a bit more than that on an extension. However, while the Canadiens appear to want Allen to be a bridge to whoever their goalie of the future will be (whether that player is currently in the organization or is brought in via trade or free agency), their preference is to use him only as a short-term bridge, not someone that will be around for the foreseeable future.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Flames defenseman Chris Tanev should be ready to participate in training camp after undergoing labrum surgery in May, relays Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The estimated timeline for recovery was up to six months so it’s clear that the 32-year-old is progressing a little ahead of schedule. Tanev has logged over 20 minutes a night on Calgary’s back end in a key shutdown role so even with him expected to get a clean bill of health during medicals next week, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the veteran have a limited role in the preseason to ensure he’ll be fully ready for opening night.
- Flyers prospect defenseman Emil Andrae was taken to the hospital after taking a puck to the face in an SHL preseason game today, notes HockeyNews’ Mattias Ek in Sweden. The 20-year-old had a strong showing at the World Juniors and should have an opportunity for a big season with HV71 in 2022-23 before coming to North America. His availability for Saturday’s regular season opener is in question.
- The Golden Knights have signed Patrick Guay to a two-year AHL contract per an announcement from their farm team in Henderson. The 20-year-old was selected in the fifth round back in July (145th overall) after a 104-point season and was expected to return to the QMJHL where his rights were traded to Blainville-Boisbriand back in July. Instead, Vegas will get a look at them in their system. The two-year term coincides with how long they have to sign him to an NHL deal as he’ll have to sign by June 1, 2024 or Guay will become an unrestricted free agent.
Hm. Jake Allen’s had one year above league average in the last five seasons, and that year he only had 21 starts. A LOT of interesting goalies go UFA next summer — Andersen, Jarry, Varlamov, Nedeljkovic, Brossoit, others. I’m thinking him holding a gun to Montreal’s head here isn’t too smart.
You have to wonder if a team like the bruins would go after allen? The bruins goaltending is terrible and this is their last kick at the can ( very long kick albeit ) the problem is they have no prospects worth mentioning coming up so they would have to trade draft picks