Montreal has been using three goalies for the season and with Sam Montembeault signing an extension, one of Jake Allen or Cayden Primeau seemed destined to eventually get traded. That happened a couple of hours before the trade deadline as Allen was sent to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a conditional third-round pick:

The condition is on games played for Allen and could turn into a second-round pick. Montreal is retaining half the salary on Allen's contract which runs through the end of the 2024-25 season. Allen had an .899 save percentage across four seasons with Montreal and goes to a New Jersey franchise that needs goaltending.

What New Jersey Gets

As always, goalies are voodoo. Remember that Allen lost his starting role to Jordan Binnington back in 2018-19, and that led to a Stanley Cup for St. Louis. The following season, Allen had a .927 save percentage in 24 games for the Blues. Predicting what will happen for 95% of goalies in a small sample such as the next six weeks is a fool's errand.

However, Allen does get an upgrade on the team in front of him. The big upgrade will be the penalty kill. Montreal is 29^th by shots against per 60 minutes this season when down a man while New Jersey is 7^th. Since Christmas, those rankings are 28^th and 8^th, so things haven't changed much as the season has worn on. Not only that, Montreal is fourth by times short-handed per game this season while New Jersey is 21^st. New Jersey is not only a much better penalty-killing team, they are also much more disciplined. Allen had allowed 19 power play goals against in 21 starts while all of New Jersey's goalies have combined for 38 goals against in 63 games, so he gets an immediate boost there.

At 5-on-5, the two teams have similar expected goals against numbers since Christmas, so how much of an upgrade it is for Allen in that regard is open for debate. Regardless, the change in the penalty kill alone could result in roughly 0.3 fewer goals against per game, and that helps everything from his save percentage to his goals against average.

Both Akira Schmid and Nico Daws are exempt from waivers so there may be a real chance for Allen to get a heavy workload the rest of the season. A lot will depend on his play, but as long as Allen doesn't perform worse than the other two, he could see a nice fantasy boost for the rest of the season.

This opens a clear 1-2 tandem between Montembeault and Primeau. Montembeault will get more starts, but Primeau has just 13 starts this season. He could have 6-7 over the balance of the season, and that's good news for him.

Who This Helps

Jake Allen

Cayden Primeau

Who This Hurts

Akira Schmid

Nico Daws