The New Jersey Devils find themselves in a fortunate position after yet another Jacob Markstrom injury, but the good NHL teams, as they say, earn their bounces.
Expectations for Jake Allen were actually quite low after the former Stanley Cup champion arrived from the Montreal Canadiens for a conditional 2025 third-round pick while carrying a .892 save percentage back in early 2024, but he's improved tremendously in a Devils uniform.
Yes, there's Nico Daws, and yes, there was Akira Schmid, but it's just plain difficult to replicate the impact the veteran Allen has had on the Devils over the last two seasons.
Last year, with Markstrom suffering an injury in the winter, Allen posted a misleading 13-6-1 record while managing a 2.66 GAA and .908 save percentage to pair with four shutouts.
This year, Allen is already 5-0-0 with a jaw-dropping 1.93 GAA and .923 save percentage while again stepping in for a shelved Markstrom. The skaters (and Daws) have been great in their own rights, but the Devils are truly lucky to have Allen.
The 35-year-old easily could have signed with another contender in the offseason for significantly more cash, but instead, Allen elected to stay in New Jersey, signing a five-year, $9 million contract with an annual cap hit of $1.8 million. It's likely the longtime St. Louis Blues goalie could have earned that $9 million on the open market with a two-year contract, but he and agent Allain Roy threw the Devils a big bone.
Jake Allen's early results show he was the best signing of the offseason
For internal cap purposes (i.e., the money the team actually pays the player), Allen makes the bulk of his salary in the first three seasons, with 2025-26 and 2026-27 both topping out at a $2.25 million salary after signing bonuses. Allen may or may not play out the full five-year pact, but it's clear there are designs for him to stay with the Devils for the first two, especially given his full no-trade clause.
So, not only did Allen sign with the Devils at a massively discounted price, but he did so in a way that won't negatively impact the team in the future while not compromising the current structure of the team.
For his efforts, the 6-foot-2 netminder has been rewarded with a starter's workload in his twilight years, a flawless record, and a dominant Devils team that has won eight in a row. They would not, however, have won eight in a row without Allen's contributions.
There isn't a team in the NHL that got a better deal this offseason than the Devils did with Jake Allen.