Kent Hughes Officially Saves the Canadiens Millions of Dollars: an Expensive Player Was Nearly Sent to the AHL

As you know, last Friday, at the NHL trade deadline, goaltender Jake Allen was traded to the New Jersey Devils.

This finally put an end to the endless three-goalie situation for Montreal, and that's a good thing.

Renaud Lavoie has new information on Jake Allen and the trade

Through a recent article in which he revisits this trade, Renaud Lavoie (TVA Sports) shares some interesting news.


First, we learn that it was probably now or never for Kent Hughes, who would have had a lot of difficulty trading Jake Allen this summer, due to the very large number of goaltenders that will be available. (both on the trade market and on the free agent market)

Allen was thus MUCH easier to trade last Friday, versus this summer.

If Kent Hughes had not concluded his trade with the Devils, he would probably have had the same problem at the next training camp, with the returns of Samuel Montembeault, Jake Allen, and Cayden Primeau.

However, according to Renaud Lavoie, the outcome would probably have been different.

Was Kent Hughes really thinking about sending Jake Allen to the Laval Rocket for the next season?


Had Allen been sent to the AHL, he still would have carried a cap hit of $2,500,000. This would have been far worse than the $1,925,000 of retained salary, in addition to not receiving a pick in exchange.

In summary, we repeat, but very good "move" by Kent Hughes! All's well that ends well.