This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →

Jake Allen

A .906 in 31 games at 34, and a backup who outplayed the man the club traded a first for.

Season	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV%

2012-13	STL	15	9	4	0	33	2.46	1	346	.905
2014-15	STL	37	22	7	4	79	2.28	4	909	.913
2015-16	STL	47	26	15	3	101	2.35	6	1260	.920
2016-17	STL	61	33	20	5	138	2.42	4	1620	.915
2017-18	STL	59	27	25	3	152	2.75	1	1614	.906
2018-19	STL	46	19	17	8	121	2.83	3	1277	.905
2019-20	STL	24	12	6	3	48	2.15	2	655	.927
2020-21	MTL	29	11	12	5	76	2.68	0	817	.907
2021-22	MTL	35	9	20	4	107	3.30	2	1123	.905
2022-23	MTL	42	15	24	3	145	3.55	1	1335	.891
2023-24	MTL/NJD	34	12	18	4	114	3.44	0	1087	.895
2024-25	NJD	31	13	16	1	77	2.66	4	819	.906
2025-26 so far	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career	—	460	208	184	43	1191	2.76	28	12862	.907

This Season So Far

The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

13-16-1 in 31 games, .906 with a 2.66 average and 4 shutouts on 819 shots.

A better save percentage than the starter and the same number of shutouts in two-thirds the games. 4 shutouts from a backup is a striking total.

The Physical Game

6-2 and 197, and the game is compact and technical. He is square, economical, and does not travel further than the puck requires, and the puck-handling is a genuine asset on a club that likes to break out cleanly.

The size is the limitation — he does not cover a net by standing in it, so a scramble is more dangerous against him. The rebound control is decent and the recovery is quick for his age.

The Mental Game

Fifteen seasons, four organisations, a starting job lost and regained more than once, and a temperament that has never visibly wavered.

He plays well cold, which is the actual skill in the job and the one most goaltenders never acquire.

The Intangibles

A second-round pick, a long career of being the more reliable half of somebody else’s tandem, and a contract extension signed at 34.

The projection is 30 games and a .905. New Jersey has two 35-year-old goaltenders with identical numbers and a first-round pick spent on the worse of them, which is the least resolved thing about an otherwise well-built roster.

What kind of player

The searchable half of the report. The first group is computed from the season's own data; the rest are read out of the prose above, and each one carries the sentence that produced it. A subject the report never raised is simply absent.

a strengthread out of the prose, and claimed
ordinaryraised, and called ordinary
he lacks itraised, and he does not have it

Each computed tag also says how well its measure holds up from one season to the next, because a tag describes a season that has finished and a reader will assume it predicts the one coming. Some do and some do not, and the gap is wide: five-on-five workload repeats well, scoring late does not repeat at all.

puck-handlinga strength· starts the breakout himself
“the puck-handling is a genuine asset on a club that likes to break out cleanly”
plays-deephe lacks it· takes the net away by occupying it
“The size is the limitation — he does not cover a net by standing in it, so a scramble is more dangerous against him.”
rebound-controlpresent and ordinary· where the second chance ends up
“The rebound control is decent and the recovery is quick for his age.”
lateral-recoverya strength· post-to-post, and across the slot
“The rebound control is decent and the recovery is quick for his age.”