The Devils first move in free agency is a significant one, keeping their backup goaltender in the fold for the next five years.
Several hours prior to the market opening up at noon ET today for NHL Free Agency, we got a report from Frank Seravalli that the Devils were making progress on a deal to keep free agent goaltender Jake Allen in New Jersey for the foreseeable future.
Those reports proved to indeed be accurate, as Elliotte Friedman broke the news 45 minutes prior to the market opening up.
Jake Allen NJ: 5 x $1.8M AAV
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2025
This report has since been confirmed by Kevin Weekes, Pierre LeBrun, and Seravalli. And while the Devils themselves haven’t announced the deal as of this writing, it would appear that one of the top UFA goaltenders in a thin goaltending market is now off the board. Jake Allen will continue to be a New Jersey Devil.
Why This Is Mostly A Good Deal
One of the strengths of last year’s Devils team was their goaltending.
Allen excelled in a backup role last season, registering 18.4 goals saved above expected according to MoneyPuck. Among all goaltenders who played at least 30 games, that was good for 9th in the league.
Goaltending performances can tend to fluctuate from year to year, and its important to remember that for most of the first four years of Fitzgerald’s run as Devils general manager, the Devils did not have stability in net. They did not have competent play in net. It’s not necessarily from a lack of trying as they brought in veterans Corey Crawford, Jonathan Bernier, and Vitek Vanecek in three consecutive offseasons to pair with Mackenzie Blackwood, but last year was really the first year of Fitzgerald’s run where the Devils didn’t need to worry about the goaltending position on a daily basis. They were able to have confidence regardless of whether it was Jake Allen or Jacob Markstrom in net that they’d have a chance to win a hockey game on any given day. So I can appreciate Fitzgerald not wanting to return to the unknown and uncertainty in net, whether it was counting on Nico Daws to be the backup or bringing in yet another veteran backup.
Allen probably could’ve gotten a larger AAV had he chosen to test the open market. Philadelphia is in the market for a goaltender, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if a Cup contender like Edmonton was hoping to upgrade over what they currently have. But Fitzgerald ultimately decided that he’d rather keep a good NHL tandem in Markstrom and Allen intact. And to Allen’s credit, he recognized that the Devils are a pretty good situation for him professionally. This is a playoff team that should get back there again this season. Both parties found a creative way to keep Allen in the fold by giving him extra term to lower the AAV. It’s a similar deal to what we saw the Islanders do a couple years ago with Semyon Varlamov, and it shares some similarities to other deals we’ve seen like Miles Wood, Will Carrier, and more higher profile recent deals such as Brad Marchand. The fact that the AAV is $1.8M right as the cap is about to explode in the next few years is a win in and of itself.
Yes, signing a backup goaltender who is already 34 years old to a five year deal carries risk. There’s no certainty that Allen a) remains effective and b) is still an active player towards the latter end of that deal. But this is very much a deal designed to maximize Allen in the here and now and we’ll worry about 2028, 2029, and 2030 when we get there. That said, its important to keep in mind that the cap will continue to increase, and with a relatively low cap charge, the Devils shouldn’t have much trouble moving Allen down the road. A potential buyout at that point, depending upon any bonus structure this deal may or may not have, would be fairly small. So the Devils shouldn’t have much issue moving on from Allen whenever the time comes for that. I also wouldn’t be concerned about Allen blocking prospects like Jakub Malek, Mikhail Yegorov, Veeti Louhivarra, or Trenten Bennett when those players are years away from appearing in an NHL game, assuming they ever get there in the first place.
The other thing that I like about this deal is that Jacob Markstrom is entering the final season of his contract. We don’t know what his situation will be with the Devils beyond this season, so this deal gives the Devils some level of certainty in net beyond the 2025-26 season.
The biggest loser from this deal, aside from the other teams in the goaltending market who aren’t getting Jake Allen, is probably Nico Daws. Signed to a low AAV of $812,500 this upcoming season, Daws now appears to be blocked from cracking the NHL lineup. Perhaps the Devils try to trade him to a team with a clearer path to NHL playing time, or perhaps they try to sneak him through waivers once training camp cutdowns happen. Only time will tell. But with the Devils being a win now team, I can’t blame Fitzgerald for sticking with more proven options in net.
UPDATE 7/1/25 12:46pm: The Devils have since announced the deal.
The deal is structured as follows.
2025-26: $2.25M
2026-27: $2.25M
2027-28: $1.8M
2028-29: $1.35M
2029-30: $1.35M
Now That This is Done, What’s Next?
With the Devils seemingly set in net, they can shift their attention elsewhere now that the market is open.
Signing Allen doesn’t come without a cost, and with a tight cap situation where every dollar matters, the Devils currently have $12,594,167 in space remaining. But with most of that space earmarked for Luke Hughes and the recently qualified Cody Glass, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of money to do much of anything.
Will the Devils sign some forwards? Will they make a trade to open up cap space elsewhere? Stay tuned to our NHL Free Agency Open Post and All About the Jersey throughout the day.
What do you think about this deal for Allen? Are you happy that the Devils are keeping him in the fold or are you concerned about the length of the deal? Are you concerned about what this means for Nico Daws moving forward? Please feel free to leave a comment below and thank you for reading.