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Jake Allen came to Montreal to be Carey Price's backup, but in the end, the partnership was short-lived thanks to the numerous injuries plaguing the Canadiens' number one goaltender. Instead, he ended up sharing the workload with waiver pick-up Samuel Montembeault. Meanwhile Cayden Primeau was developing with the Laval Rocket and this season he couldn't be sent back down to Laval without clearing waivers. As a result, Kent Hughes was forced to keep three goaltenders on the roster for fear of a team picking him up if he waived him.

The Canadiens therefore nearly spent the whole season in a rather uncomfortable menage a trois, Montembeault getting the lion share of the starts with 30 while Allen had 20 and Primeau only 14. It was high time to solve the conundrum.

Kent Hughes is a patient man and he managed to hang on to his third salary retention spot for this very occasion. With his $3,850 M cap hit, Allen wasn't easy to trade but Hughes managed to do it by retaining 50% of his salary to make the extra contract year digestible for the New Jersey Devils.

To be perfectly honest just trading Allen away was already a good return, but on top of it, the Canadiens are getting a conditional third-round pick. The condition being that if Allen gets 40 starts next season, the pick becomes a second-round one.

The Habs have yet to confirm that they are done for the day, but at this stage it appears rather probable, still Kent Hughes can say mission accomplished after taking the means necessary for Cayden Primeau to get enough starts and be able to develop further.

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