Jake Allen won’t be the top goaltender on today’s free agent market after all. He’s signing an extension with the Devils, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports. It’s a five-year deal worth $9MM, paying him $1.8MM per season, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Allen, 35 in August, leaves significant money on the table but gains long-term financial stability on what will presumably be the last contract of his NHL career. He’ll be 39 years old when the deal runs out following the 2029-30 campaign. Still, he likely could have landed a multi-year commitment worth nearly $5MM annually on the open market, per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now.
It’s evident that term was the priority for Allen as he enters his 13th NHL season. It looked like there may be a resolution this morning when reports indicated the Devils were aggressively trying to keep Allen.
Allen isn’t a starter at this stage of his career – he was never more than a tandem option anyway – but he was the most established of the UFA group of goalies and was coming off a good platform campaign. Acquired from the Canadiens at the 2024 trade deadline, he finished the year with a .900 SV% in 13 games and entered 2024-25 as the backup to Jacob Markstrom, whom New Jersey paid a pretty penny to acquire from the Flames last summer.
While he didn’t receive Markstrom’s workload, he was still the Devils’ best goalie by the numbers. He posted a .906 SV% in 31 games compared to Markstrom’s .900 mark, and analytics paint a picture of an even wider chasm. Allen saved 18.4 goals above expected compared to Markstrom’s more conservative 3.4, per MoneyPuck.
New Jersey now gets to run back one of the league’s better one-two punches in goal at a combined price tag of $5.925MM against the cap, thanks to Calgary retaining salary on Markstrom, who’s a free agent next summer. They have $12.59MM in cap space left to spend with three open roster spots, according to PuckPedia.
Notably, it looks like young No. 3 netminder Nico Daws will hit the waiver wire during training camp. The 24-year-old is entering the final year of his contract at a cap hit of $812,500 but is due $850,000 in actual salary on a one-way deal, which may dissuade a claim.
Image courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.