32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Jake Allen

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

While the Montreal Canadiens were in Toronto, Stanley Cup champion goaltender Jake Allen joined Jeff and Elliotte for a lengthy sit-down. They talk about his time in Montreal, playing alongside Carey Price, their Stanley Cup run in 2021, winning with St. Louis in 2019, his friendship with Jordan Binnington, how he analyzes a play before a shot, which team is the most unique offensively in his eyes, what it’s like playing for Martin St. Louis, his desire to score a goal (one day), if there’s a solution to the goalie mask issue we've seen a few times this season and we ask him to build us the perfect goaltender.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Mute Choir - AUTOMATICListen to the full track HEREGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Fox Sports, MSG, NBC and Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

You got to come across the ice. San Jose. Yeah. San Jose. Montreal. For the visitor. Yeah. Wow.

We good guys? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hey, over here. It's Merrick. This is another 32 Thoughts interview podcast presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. So you want to hear me and Elliot talk to a goaltender? Of course you do. But not just any goaltender.

A goaltender who not only understands the position as it's played now, but also how it's been played before and where it's heading. Jake Allen of the Montreal Canadiens is that goaltender. And in this interview, what he does is, well, he kind of grabs us by the leg and drags us into deep water quick. And here's what I like about talking to Allen. There's nothing frivolous about what he says. He's thought about all of it and probably thought about all of it over and

over and over again. In this interview, you'll hear plenty of gear talk like do the masks need to improve? And if so, how he'll also talk about goaltenders. He likes to watch. Yes. He'll talk about playing with Cary price,

a fascinating discussion about his skates, playing as Tuukka Rask in practice in 2019, helping St. Louis Blues and their shooters beat the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final. What he's analyzing as a player prepares to shoot all the data points that run through his head. The team that's most unique in terms of style of play. Players that other people don't really talk about, but really have a great shot. Also, good stories about being coached by Martin Saint-Louis and his first organization meeting.

The speech is spectacular. Of course, we'll talk about the playoff run, and it may be my favorite moment of the interview. We'll go, how shall we call this, Frankenstein monster with Jake Allen and ask him to build the perfect goalie. Best glove, best skates, best vision, best you name it, Jake Allen builds the perfect goaltender.

And you know, going through all of this, you also get the sense that this is kind of what Jake Allen was meant to do. Stop pucks, and then talk about it. Now, the full video of this interview will be out on Thursday on the Sportsnet YouTube channel. I encourage you to check that out.

And before we get going, I want to thank Chantal Maccabee of the Montreal Canadiens, their VP of Communications for making this interview happen. Merci, Chantal Maccabee of the Montreal Canadiens, their VP of communications for making this interview happen. Merci Chantal. So get your goalie geek on and get comfy. Jake Allen on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, Jake, work with me on a theory that I've been noodling around my head for about a dozen years. I believe the two hardest jobs in Canada are as follows. Number one, prime minister. Number two, net minder for the Montreal

Canadians. And sometimes that might be number one. Agree or disagree. You know, number one, for sure, prime minister, you got that right. But number two, I think there's a lot more things that are probably a little bit more difficult than that. But in some people's theories, yes, no question. But I think my experience has helped me in this situation, no doubt. And obviously having Kerry around for the last couple of years and sort of understanding what he's gone through for 12, 13, 14 years and being in that position is beneficial for me.

And I think, again, I'm almost 33 years old now. I've been in the league for a while. And I think if I didn't have those years, then yes, I might have reciprocated that order. But no, I think I'm in a good spot. Could you have played in Montreal when you were 22? No, for sure. Looking back on it, you mature differently. Everyone does.

You understand your body, yourself, your game, your values, things like that. For me, it probably would have been very difficult, no question. But I used to take things a lot harder then than I do now. And I just think personally, straight up, it definitely probably wouldn't have brought success. You're a New Brunswick guy. Your wife is from New Brunswick. We're like, are you coming from a family of Canadians fans? More or less. Yes. I mean, we never, my father really never had, he loved the Canadians, but it wasn't like die hard, you know, much show of Canadians.

And I really technically never had one select team either. My, when I got into hockey, I liked John Van Beesbrook and the Florida Panthers. That's how I became a goalie. And that's why I'm number 34. I loved his mask there with the Panthers. I actually have a replica of his mask in my house and but yeah new brunswick is a habs province so for me the correlation is huge and when i go home and the day i got traded

it was uh it wasn't like i just got traded in the nhl to another team it's you know it's it's a big deal you know i get more attention in that two weeks than I did probably a lot of my career in St. Louis. So New Brunswick and through my family definitely has fans. So what's it like this year without Kerry there on a day-to-day basis? Like it must be just a hugely different thing.

It is. I think, you know, obviously our team's been evolving and adapting and changing in the last couple of years in the process that we're going through. And for me, you know I that first year I had was the COVID year wasn't a real season you know that you got to you know be with your teammates especially in Canada but and Pricer was out for a lot of that season too so obviously through the playoffs I got to experience a real

carry price firsthand and I'll never forget those couple months but um and then last year obviously we were without him for most of the year and obviously the injury again this year so you know I've been around him but I haven't at the same time but the moments that I have been around him I've really you know try to enjoy them and cherish them and really take it all in with him you know it's why I still remember the day I got traded I said playing with Carey Price you know it's he was a guy I was always looked up to and never met before, but he's couldn't have been better to me. And, you know, he's been very fortunate to be

a teammate. What did you see when you saw him on a day-to-day basis? I all, because one of the things I honestly feel I don't ask enough questions about is the craft. I know nobody gets to the NHL and spends as much time as you have here without being dedicated to the craft. And they like to look at other people who are similarly dedicated.

What did you see from him on a day-to-day basis? I was really impressed. The first time I saw him, I saw a goalie that's already played 700 games in the NHL. You know, that's a lot of hockey. that's a lot of hockey 700 hard games in the work that he put in day in day out to get himself going to get his body ready to be the best he could be at that time and in that position it was amazing and you know obviously he went through an injury at the start of the year and then for him to be able to just dial that back in for the playoffs to go on the run that he went on without playing for you know two months I could

see him building and building to get to that point day in and day out it was just an unwavering focus once he got into the playoffs you know he's he's very light-hearted guy as you guys know he's very easygoing he's one of the nicest guys he could be but you know I could tell when he came to the rink in those playoffs there was that focus that relaxed confidence in him that I really knew that, you know, if the other guys pulled their weight that we were going to have a good chance to win every single game. And you can just tell, I think, goalie to goalie, you know, in the goalie world that when guys have it, when they don't.

And he had it. He reminded me of Binner in 2019. And you just knew something good was going to happen. That was actually my question. 2019 and you just knew something good was going to happen. That was actually my question. If you had to bet next month's mortgage payment on Bennington 2019 versus Price 2020 in that one game, one game, who are you starting? Oh man, that is so tough.

You're putting me on the spot here. It's both my buddies, but I got to start with Pricer. You know, he's just, he's got the record in those games. And obviously Binner does too. He won us the cup. He's going to be a legend for life. But yeah, you know, I don't think many people wouldn't take Pricer.

Bainton's never going to forgive you for this. No, I know. I'm sorry, Binner. Okay, let me come at it a different angle because you are, your reputation is, you know, the goalie's goalie, the student of the game, the 24-7, the goalie lifer. Build for me the world's best goalie.

Which goalie's glove? Which goalie's blocker? Which goalie's movement? Which goalie's stick? Which goalie's lower body movement? Build for us the perfect goaltender okay the perfect goalie can it be from any era any any era today this is a blank sheet of paper for you all right we'll start off with pricer skating ability we'll go with shisterkin's hips his hip mobility is

with his skating mobility within this crease around his posts, pecker in his glove. Murray Berder's way to read the game, understand the game. You know, I think he's a guy that didn't face many shots, but he made the saves when he had to make. You know, I heard a lot of that before my time about Grant Fuhrer as well, you know, in Edmonton

when he won those cups, you know, made the saves that he had to do. It's probably the hardest thing to do in hockey. Patrick was competitiveness, battle. Dominic Hasek's way to be unorthodox but effective. Mike Smith's puck handling. And Ben Bishop's size. Who, if you were going to pick one goaltender to score a goal, who's the guy?

Myself. I know this is a big one. I'm going to get there because I know who's the guy? Myself. I know this is a big one. I'm going to get there because I know it's a big one for you. And again, any era? Any era. Any era. When I first think about that goalie scoring goal, Jose Theodore, for some reason when that thought came to my head.

Theodore launched that all the way down. Is that going to go in? Jose Theodore has scored a goal! The Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Jose Theodore, has hit the empty net with 8.1 seconds remaining in the third period. 3-0 Montreal. And from the remainder of the 7,900 here at the Coliseum, a standing ovation.

How about that? It's history. Okay, but I'd have to say Marty again, too. All right, Martin. Oh, is he a happy man? Oh, can you believe it? He couldn't have written a better scenario. Oh, can you believe it?

He couldn't have written a better scenario. Against Montreal, securing a victory. And now, after a skirmish, he finally gets the congratulations of his team. Doug Gilmore has dug the puck out of the net and is carrying it himself across center ice, down the ice. Well, he can't hand it to Martin right now. At least Martin can't keep it. He just wants to show him that he's got it. He had that poise outside of the crease that not many guys have.

And it's really a thing. It'll be kept for him at the bench until he gets there. Well, he can look up at the big board and watch this. And that's just what he's doing. His best two chances earlier in the year were both against Detroit. Boy, he went for a corner there, didn't he? And what a reaction. Oh, that's the ultimate for any goaltender.

And you know what the front pages of the Montreal papers are going to look like tomorrow. They're going to be plastered with that, man. As a goalie, you're out of your element. You're out of your net. Some guys have that calmness to the puck. Some guys don't. Pricer had that calmness. Mike Smith had the ability to make a quick play, but Marty just, he had that ability. Do you have the green light to shoot to score on an empty net?

And if not, is there going to come a time in your career where you just say, I got to check this box, man. I got to do it. Yeah. The box has to be checked. That is one of my goals. No question. You know, I think Marty would be all for it.

It's a lot easier with a two goal lead, but you know, there's definitely gonna be a time and place where I'm going to try in the next few years. So here's a few things that I'm really curious about. When I mentioned building the perfect goaltender and you understanding different styles, the 2019 story about you working with your goalie coach, helping your team, and one of the great quiet stories

around that St. Louis Blues run was how much work you did essentially emulating Tuca Rask to help your shooters. What can you tell us about that run and essentially not just being a goaltender, but also being an actor playing the part of Tuukka Rask? Yeah. As we mentioned before, Tuukka was on such a run in that playoffs. He was the best goalie in the playoffs, the best numbers anyway up until that point. And we knew we had our hands full with him.

And with Dave Alexander, a goalie coach for me for the Blues, you know, he worked on goal scoring a lot with the team. And he still does and how to score goals and where goals are coming from and this and that. And, you know, I want to be a part of it. You know, obviously I was sitting on the sidelines and I needed to find a way to contribute. And I just said, how do we take this to the

next level? You know, and we both thought goaltending the same way and sort of understood goalies. And, you know, we understood a few things about Tuca where he said, well, maybe this can work or maybe the guys could take advantage of this here and there. And at the end of the day, any of it helped,

I don't know. But. What were those things? You know, it was just about foot placement in the crease on certain sides of the net where majority of his goals were going in. His stance position was a lot different. He was so successful throughout his career

and his stance. And I think he, he just took up so much net in such a calm, precise manner that it didn't look like there was net, but you could find ways to make the net bigger, I guess, if you want to put it that way. So we were just, I was just trying to emulate his stance in certain positions of the game. You know, how he moved laterally, how he played on his posts. He was very good at post play, but I always had kept his pads inside the post where a lot of guys now are feet on posts.

And there's just little things like that that said, maybe this will help us get a goal. And maybe that goal will change the series or win a game or, or get us back in a game. So it looked, it was just me and Dehave trying to find a way for myself to contribute and that's it. I wonder just for the video portion of this interview, was there a goal in that series that you would look at and say, we scored that because

someone watched what we were doing in practice. I would love to take credit for that, but no, I'll let the, hey, the guys did all the work for that. So then, hey, their natural scoring ability did the goals. I remember like everybody thinks about the big

Stanley Cup party being Washington in 2018 when they were swimming in the fountains and things like that. But you guys had a, had a pretty good parade and some really good scenes there. What do you remember about, like I happened to walk by the team party when you guys were dunking Tom Stillman, the owner, in the Stanley Cup. What are the favorite memories you have of celebrating that win? Oh man, there's so many and I have a folder on my phone

with all the pictures from that night in the following few days. And I always go back through them, especially when on the road and just triggers a lot of memories and cool things. But yeah, we partied hard. You know, the city partied hard as they should. You know, they're deserving of that. It's been so long for them. The first one, obviously. And it was a whirlwind, no question.

But as much as it would be amazing to win it at home, it was also really cool to win it on the road because I'm sure other guys who have won the cup on the road, you get to spend more immediate time with your teammates right away. You're in the locker room. You enjoy it there for a couple hours. You get on the plane. We had a two and a half hour flight. And then you go right back to Enterprise Center and the team's got a party set up with your family and things like that. So it's you know pros and cons for both sides of it but at the same time you know i think all of us really enjoyed that

just chaotic six hours that no one knows what really what the hell's going on but you're having the best time of your life and and obviously the the parades and the things that come with it and the you know city turned out so great and so receptive to it all and you know i still have vivid images of binner driving down on a little moped through the streets eddie same thing racing around you know with bud lights in their hand and yeah those memories will will never fade but there's something that i you know look at probably on a monthly basis really that much hey yeah yeah they're you know they're good times they they remind me a lot of good things and you know when you're on the road as you guys know when you travel there's a lot of alone time a lot of downtime a lot of good things. And, you know, when you're on the road, as you guys know, when you travel, there's a lot of alone time, a lot of downtime, a lot of hotel plane time.

And, you know, just things that you look at and, you know, think about all the good times you had. Were you one of the guys who dunked the owner? I don't think that was me. I was. I don't think? No. That'd be one of those things I would remember. I do not think, yes.

No, I'd say Eddie, Joel Edmonds would have to be on that. He was involved in everything. He was the MVP of that whole party train. Who was at the front of the conga line? On the plane, to the plane? Again, I'd have to say Eddie is, he's the best when it comes to that stuff. And Alex Steen was having a great time too. He was, you know, he was a, you know in a de facto big leaders there and a

very important person so he led the charge in a lot of things do you still follow like what's going on with them at all oh yeah it's bad he didn't ask my wife you know i think it's it's interesting when you say that i think you probably get the same many responses from guys who are traded from different teams but i think it's different when you're drafted to a team sort of becomes part of you a little bit you know i spent over 13 years in that organization so it's different when you're drafted to a team. Mm-hmm. It sort of becomes part of you a little bit. You know, I spent over 13 years in that organization. So it's a long time and you know, a lot of good buddies on that team. So out of the teams that I'm a big hockey guy, I watch a lot of hockey, but I watch them more than, more than any team.

And do you still keep in touch with guys there? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. No, I'm still good, good friends there. And so always will. And you know, it's a special place. We always hear the phrase goalie fraternity, right? guys there. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. No, I'm still good, good friends there. And so always will. And, you know, it's a special place. We always hear the phrase goalie fraternity,

right? How much of a fraternity is it? Like, who are some of the guys that, you know, you look at and yeah, you may not cheer for the team, but you cheer for that goaltender. Like who are, who are your guys? Yeah. You know, I think that's evolved for me as time

goes on. I think obviously as you mature, you know, when you get on the ice, the first you want to sort of hatred out for everyone, you know, but at the same time, as it because i'm very detailed oriented i i enjoy it you know i think a guy like hellebuck i really enjoy watching him play he plays different but he thinks the game very well he thinks the position in a different way as most guys now are you know get to this spot i gotta drop get to this spot i gotta drop you know he uh he really opens my eyes and some things he does with angles, perceptions, staying on his feet a lot longer than most guys. So he's a guy I really enjoy watching.

You know, some saves he makes are unorthodox, but that's just the way he plays and the way he's patient on his feet. You know, he's got that old school approach. So he's really one of the guys I enjoy watching and playing against, and especially in the year when we played the Canadian division, we got to play them 10 times. You know, that was, you know, really intriguing for me.

And so he's definitely one of the guys that I really go out of the way to watch some of his games or his clips and things like that. What's the hardest thing right now about being a goaltender? Because right now, more so than ever, you know, we used to talk about, you know, goalies are the only ones that work on their craft in the

off season. The guys just lift. That's changed. That's completely changed. We know all about pre-shot movement and all these types of things now that you need to start processing as you try to stop shots. What's the hardest thing about your position right now? Well, as you just said, I think about 2010, 2012, the goaltending world took over- you know, ish for probably three, four, five, maybe 2016, 2017. Then the forwards started to, you know,

evolve their game. And now it's time for the goalies to evolve again. But I think what you're seeing is obviously more skill than ever. We know that, but speed kills, speed in the ozone kills. There's more patterns in the ozone where, you know, when I remember I first came in the league, it was a lot of times it'd come down the wing and shoot. You know more patterns in the O zone where, you know, when I remember I first came in the

league, it was a lot of times it'd come down the wing and shoot. You know, maybe there's one pass shot, you know, low to high shot where now it's four, five, six, seven, eight passes in a zone. You know, there's plays off of rebounds. The rebounds are happening instead of shooting a puck in an open net, a guy's

throwing a backdoor to the other guy. You know, there's more chaos than ever in the O zone, which obviously is not only hard for the goaltender, but the defensive team as well. And I think the patterns in the O zone is the hardest thing to follow. And I think when you're really looking at the league, it's movement, it's speed and it's execution and it's nonstop. And you know, the more standstill you have, it's probably the least amount of success you're going to have. Yeah. One of my, one of my things that I always, something that I always think about, Jake,

is I'd love to be in someone else's brain for a moment, for a day, for a week or whatever. And I always think about if I was an NHL goaltender, I'd like to have that experience because I want to know how many different data points you're processing on any given shot. That's actually funny you said that. How many things are points you're processing on any given shots? That's actually funny you said that. How many things are you thinking about?

Because we'll just watch the hockey game and say like, oh, Jake Allen stood in front of the guy and he shot it at him. What's the big deal? But I know that that's completely different and that there are hundreds of things that are going through your mind all at the same time. What are you thinking about it's really funny you just said that because actually i make notes from time to time and i wrote down this sort of note i guess the other day about what goes on when a player releases a puck you know i look at his feet his blade where the puck is on his blade you know he's far enough out you can look at his eyes and his head you know look at his speed obviously you look at his hand you understand where the puck is in the zone how much net there's going to be the pucks in the middle of the ice there's going to be more net the pucks from the dot line to the wall is going to be less net

how much angle can you take away from that puck you know is the puck does it look like it's going to release high or at least low you know where's the opposition guys in front of you like is there guys to your left is there guys to your right quality of their traffic yeah there's a lot of those things there's so many little finite details within that that essentially when you're in the position you're in the moment you don't think about because it's become almost a natural progression but at the same time it's how do you keep evolving that like how can you get to that next level and these shooters are so good now that it's almost impossible to actually react to a puck from like the hash marks in.

It's physically almost impossible. And it's more about reading, understanding the game, understanding, you know, like I said, feet position, body position, hands, where the hands on the stick, who's got the puck obviously, does this guy have a straight curve? Is it a bigger curve? What's his tendencies?

You know, it's, you got to be able to take that all in. And I think the biggest thing for me in the Ozone is, I've talked to a lot of goals about is, you got to know every player in the Ozone. You got to know the lineup, understand the guy's sticks and things like that. So I think for me, it's just about details. And it sounds like a lot, but when you get in the moment

and you get over time, it really dumbs it down for yourself in that position. But yeah, at the same time, it's, you're thinking about a lot, but when you get in the moment and you get over time, it really dumbs it down for yourself in that position. But yeah, at the same time, it's, you're thinking about a lot of things. Well, I mean, I have a lot of thoughts. Fascinating to listen to. Number one, who's like, everybody knows who the really well-known shooters are.

Who are the great unknown shooters in the NHL? Michael Pozzetta. He scores on me every time in practice. He's my kryptonite in practice, but there's so many. It really is. Like I would need to sit down and give you a list. I probably could give you a list of 30 or 40 guys, but everyone shoots the puck so hard now.

Yeah. And obviously it's the technology too and the skill set and guys working on it constantly. But, oh man, to give you one off the heart you know there's one guy we played against last night that's you never would know but jordan martinook has an absolute missile of a shot really but it's different too right it's all depending on time and space in the game some guys can do it some guys that can't you know everyone can do in practice when the guys get in the game can you shoot with pressure on? Can you shoot getting the puck on and off your stick like an Austin Matthews can, or, you know, a line I can, can you handle puck in your feet and get it off? You know, it's, there's so many other details that go in with it. And I personally think, you know, if there was no pressure and it was summer hockey, you'd probably have 50, 50 goal scorers in our league. You know what I mean? But you know, we only have three or four a year

because of those guys are good at things that other guys can't do. Your comment before about patterns, is everybody doing pretty much the same thing or are there teams that have unique patterns? Like if you get Toronto, I know they're going to do this. If you get the Rangers, I know they're going to do this.

How does that work? Yeah, there definitely is similarities, but there's differences also, you know, it's a copycat league, but at the same time, I know they're going to do this. How does that work? Yeah, there definitely is similarities, but there's differences also. You know, it's a copycat league, but at the same time, I think the offense is sort of evolving of based on your personnel, where I think maybe 10 years ago, it was more of. Everybody had the same forecheck, everybody

had the same neutral zone. Yeah. And I think the game's evolving saying, okay, how do we score for ourselves? Not based on how do they score and you're right you know like at Toronto is obviously a very skilled team you know almost like a circus offense in the ozone constant movement d low d high forwards high forwards in the deep position guys in that front one-timers like there's a lot going on and the team like we just played in Carolina you know

they're uh more of a meat and potatoes offense but they wear you down in the O zone. You know, they, they're not going D to D. They're either getting the puck up the wall and putting it at the net or putting it back below the goal line for the guys to cycle and regroup in front of the net. And if not, they're putting it back up the wall and they're smashing at the net again.

You know, so there's a lot of different tendencies. Obviously there's skill mixed in there, but there's different ways of score. You know, there's certain rush teams, you know, like the Rangers and the Avalanche, but everyone has the skill. It's just about how they want to put that skill

to work. Who's the most unique? Like who's the most unique team offensively? Oh man, that's a good question. I'd have to say the Leafs are very unique. I find they just use everyone in the O-Zone. They're constant movement. Like I said, there's constant patterns.

It's like basketball, it sounds like. Yeah, it's like they're all over the place, which is a good thing. Obviously, they're a very successful team and they have a lot of high-end scorers. But I also think it's a lot of the teams based on shot selection too. I think a lot of the teams that you probably see

that are high-scoring teams might not have the highest shot volume. But it's based on, it's not about based on just throwing pucks to the net. I think a lot of the teams that you probably see that are high scoring teams might not have the highest shot volume, but it's based on, it's not about based on just throwing pucks to the net. I don't believe in that. I believe on shooting for quality

and shooting for chances that are purposeful. And I think that's how goals are scored. And I think you look back at a team, like I said, I watched a lot of the Blues last year, you know,

they don't shoot many pucks, but they score a lot of goals last year. And yeah, I think that's the way the league's trending too, because you're getting all these skilled young players that they don't want to shoot from the wall. You know, they don't want to come down the wing and shoot from the wall. They want to come down the wing and shoot from the ladies' tees, you know, and you're seeing more and more of that. And I think you'll see as the game evolves in the next 10, 12 years, more scoring chances, more goals, less shots. I think that's the way it's

trending. And some teams might go the other way. And I get there's games where you dominate and you might have 40 shots and 30 scoring chances, but I think that's the way it's going to go. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. I want to ask you about Montreal. You know, it's a wild thing you guys went through.

2020, you go to the Stanley Cup Final, and then the year later, there's all these changes and we're starting all over again. Right. Just what was it like to go through all of that? The ups, the downs, like you went through it in St. Louis periodically. So you understand it a bit, but just take us through those, those few months in Montreal. Yeah.

You know, it was, it was very different. Obviously it was a COVID year, the first year, and we started off really well. It was my first team. I didn't say, you know, I said, holy cow, like we had a good hockey team here and, and we struggle for four or five games and you know they let clode go and brought in dom and you know we started to pick up some steam and then we sort of hit a wall again we just snuck in the playoffs you know i think we we got a point against the oilers the

last game to solidify our spot over calgary still I still remember that. And you get in the playoffs, we knew we had a decent team. You know, we didn't know really where we were going to go with this. We were playing the Leafs. And I think the momentum started with Kerry. I think Kerry swung the stick there for us with our group. And obviously we'd be down 3-0 or 3-1, I believe. 3-1. 3-1, I believe.

I remember after game four, everybody thought you guys were done. Yeah. Done. For sure. Can you talk about how you guys crawled back in? Yeah. It was the small details. I think picking up a guy like Eric Stahl really

helped for us then. The big part of it was Shea too. He had that quiet presence about him, as you guys know from meeting him. He's just a behemoth of a man, and he's such a leader. They saw him go into war no matter what for those first three or four games, and it gave no one else a choice. It doesn't matter if we're down 3-0 or whatnot.

We came back and found a way to do it. So I think those three guys, and obviously when Price, he was still playing great even though we were down you know I think he basically just said no it's not over and it was his story after that and once we got rolling to get some confidence as you know confidence is contagious momentum's contagious in this league that's that's how teams have won cups and gotten to playoffs and lost out of playoffs it's it all about momentum. It just started to build from there. And once we beat the Jets, I think there was a

little bit of doubt going into Vegas just because we didn't play anyone else that season. We never played with fans. I still remember going down there and we played that first game. It was like a hundred degrees outside. You know, those doors are open, the whole arena, you know, all the fans coming in, 20, we haven't

played in front of fans all year, really. Guys were dying in the first period because of the, you know, the travel plus the heat and plus the ice. I remember throwing ice towels on guys were just laying all over the place. And once we got through that first game and got sort of that wind out of our belt, it was good. And then Price was put on the show again. And I think, again, it all stems back to him, the momentum, that confidence that he gave the group to do their thing. And at the same time, we didn't have much to lose.

You know, we weren't expected to beat Vegas, and we had that going for us. And next thing you know, we're in the Stanley Cup final, Western Conference champions for the Montreal Canadiens, and somehow... And now back the other way, it's to no end! Patrick Favpp scores! Archeri Lekkonen.

It's FET Canadian. And Montreal is going to the Stanley Cup Final. And then, you know, you're in the finals against Tampa. So it happened quick. And then obviously in the final, we laid it all out there. The guys played hard. They were.

We just were outmatched, unfortunately. And, you know, I'll still never forget that run. You know, I have my jersey hanging at my house and it was special for me, obviously, to have a cup, but obviously to get a chance to do that with the Montreal Canadiens sweater on, it's something I'll never forget either. And then next thing you know, it's the following

season and I'm playing the first game here at Scotiabank Center against the Leafs and you know something I didn't expect obviously with the carry situation yeah we were all sort of excited and ready to go and you know thought we were poised for you know a good year we I don't think we expected to be the team we were the second best team in the league but expected to be better than where we were no question and obviously didn't go the way we wanted and started really slow. And next thing you know, you know, coach is gone, GM's gone. And, you know, it's Christmas time and we're all wondering what's next. What are we playing for here?

Where are we going to go with this? And obviously I made a move to bring in Jeff Gordon and he brings in Kent and Marty. And I thought the second half of the year, you know, we had to find something to play for. And I still remember that first day that Marty came into the locker room and had a speech. We all were, I think we were all nervous. You know, I never met Marty before in the

Hall of Famer. And he comes in and gives probably the best speech I've ever heard in my life, you know, in a locker room setting with some words that probably. What made it so good? Like, what was it? There was just so much passion.

There was so much intention. There was so much purpose. And I think that's what we were lacking is a little bit of purpose, a little bit of attention. And he brought that in there. He understands what the players go through. You know, he's a hall of famer. He gets it.

He's a player's coach and I think he always will be. And he came in there and he just put his foot down and the passion that he had for the game as we all have heard he said you know forever he's a hockey guru but was so amazing to see that day and it just I think we all walked out of there with chills well I think we really did and I understand that we weren't going to climb back in the playoffs that year but we were playing for something bigger than that we were playing for something bigger than that. We were playing for, you know, proving ourselves to this organization or proving

yourself to Marty and where do you, do you want to be here? Do you not want to be here? There was a lot of things to play for, but the way the standard that he set from the day one that he still sets today, it hasn't changed. And I think that's the biggest benefactor of Marty right now.

I'm dying to like, give me one line he said that really resonated with you. I'm really trying here, but I'm going to like, give me one line he said that really resonated with you. I'm really trying here, but I'm going to try. There's so much behind it. I actually talked to a couple of guys about this like last week and I just didn't know what he was going to say. You know, he's never been in a coach's position

either, you know, but he's a lot more intellectual than we are. He's just, he just, I can't give you one line. I honestly can. I'm trying to think, but just immediate, this presence was felt just throughout. Everyone was in there, equipment managers, medical staff.

There wasn't one person or organization that wasn't in that locker room. So it wasn't just the players that felt it. It was throughout the organization. And I think that was crucial as well. It wasn't just the players. I think that was crucial as well. It wasn't just the players. I think it was, you know, for everyone. You know, one, one funny story that someone

told me was that San Luis had so many things that he had to deal with right away. Like the, the ship was leaking and he had so many things he had to fix. He wanted to make everybody feel good about themselves. So he was like, we're worrying about offense. Guys got to score.

They feel good about themselves. And we didn't really work on our defensive coverage very much. And poor Jake, like we're winning games, but Jake's getting bombarded. And he says, you didn't complain at all, but there were some games he saw you after. He says, he couldn't believe you could even

stand. Yeah. No, I know. It was, it was funny last year. You know, he's called it a jungle a little bit, but listen, I understand the position. I knew what had to be done. I just had to go out there and do it.

I knew we're a young group at that point. We traded away some guys and, um, you know, I just wanted to finish the year on a good note for everyone. You know, I wanted everyone, we had such a hard year to start the season. I wanted everyone to finish on a positive note, feeling good about themselves, whether we won or lost.

You know, as long as we had a dog in the fight for those games, that was my goal. And, you know, there was definitely some tough games. There was some fun games too. But yeah, that was sort of my mindset was, you know, I also wanted to prove to Marty that, you know, I wanted to be here and, you know, I wanted to help this team grow. And that's still my position. How is Marty with the goalies?

How is Marty with you? Some coaches are wanting to be a little bit more hands-on. Others are just, ah, they're voodoo. I'm not going to deal with them. How's Marty with you? Nice. I think he's pretty similar to every other player. You know, he's so open to anything really.

He's, you know, to me, he's sort of lets me do my thing. You know, if he has something for me, he'll come talk to me he's sort of lets me do my thing you know if he has something for me he'll come talk to me just like anyone else i don't i don't see him really treating me different than he would afford or d-man obviously he talks to suzy suzuki more than anyone but at the same time it's yeah he's been great you know some goalies like or coaches like you said no no i don't deal with you you talk to the goalie coach but i don't think he'll ever be like that let me ask you about masks. I want to ask you about style, but first I want to ask you about controversy.

So we talked a lot this year about Connor Hellebuck and his situation against Dallas. And we talked about Ottinger and back to sit back. And a save by Onager. That hit him in the face mask. Now he's trying to get his helmet off. He wants a whistle. Kako with it. Now he takes the face mask off. And the referee is pointing. And they're going to give him a penalty.

They're going to give Onager a penalty here. Dallas penalty number 29. Two minutes to the late game. The late game. Wow, I've never seen this before. Ottinger took the backhand shot by Zibanejad in the mask. And the strap, he could feel the strap break. So here comes the shot.

I think a lot of us have wondered, and you're really qualified to talk about this because you think about things like this. Is there anything that can be done to the way masks are designed that we could satisfy everybody in this debate? Yeah, that's a really good question. I've been in the same situation as those guys. I got a penalty for it last year. So I've been through it. I've seen it. I've stopped a puck without a helmet on in the league before.

But yeah, there needs to be something. But at the same time, the mask has been generally the same since the early 90s, really. You get the plastic straps on the side and on the top and down by your chin. And there's really not much besides the actual mask itself that's gotten beefier and more protective for the head like the strapping has been the same and i i've thought about it

a million times you'd have to sit down with a ccm or a bauer and really go to the plant and design something that can make it different because i understand that pucks are coming so fast now that it's not just a shot off the buckle if you get a puck in it directly in the chin or in the face it pushes the mask up which pops the strap off which tilts your mask sideways and sometimes you can't see and reasoning for mass coming off and and things like that so i think there has to be definitely something done i i can't give you a specific answer i think that would probably take probably a group of goalies sitting down with maybe a few manufacturers and seeing what their thoughts would be behind that and saying, okay, can we propose this? Can we propose that? Can this happen?

Can that happen? And if it can't, can't, but it seems like there's always a solution to most problems in today's world. So I think there's definitely got to be something done. And it's unfortunate because when it happens in a game, generally there's a scoring chance imminent around it. So what's the right thing to do? I understand there's the safety of a goalie. I'm very pro goalie. You got to be safety of it.

But, you know, there's certain times where it's certain discrepancies from different referees. And I think they have the hardest job in hockey right now. So it's a tough spot to be in. I want to ask you about your experience stopping a puck without a mask on elliot and i were watching a video was it earlier on this week of the 1977 playoffs and ken dryden losing his mask and playing maskless for about 30 seconds like bobby schmatz ended up scoring but for about 30 good seconds, Dryden's out there maskless. What was your situation?

Oh, mine wasn't like that. Those guys, I have way more respect for them than our goalies today. I really do. I was against Vancouver and I was in St. Louis and same sort of concept. I actually don't think it was a puck that hit me in the head. I think it was like a scramble in front and

sort of just pulled my mask off. And then I remember the puck sort of just lodged out in the slot a little bit. I didn't really think, you know, I sort of just pulled my mask off. And then I remember the puck sort of just lodged out in the slot a little bit. I didn't really think, you know, I sort of got to my feet and then when I got to my feet, I was like, oh no, I don't have a mask on. And I just stood on my feet and the puck actually hit my blocker, which was fine.

And then when the puck went to the corner, the referee blew it. Like it happened so fast. And so, yeah, so that was the one situation for me. And I mean, I don't expect to have another one you know i hope not unless it's uh game seven the stanley cup final but we'll see if the shot came towards your face would you have put your face in front of it i don't know i think i have enough

intelligence up there to either put my hand in front of my face or something i don't know what i would have done to be honest game 28'm saying. I'm ducking for sure. Game seven of the playoffs. I'm ducking, yeah. See you later. This nose doesn't need to be any bigger. Let me ask you about style. Best style of mask.

Who do you look at and go, because you mentioned Van Biesburg earlier. Yeah, I mentioned Van Biesburg, yeah. Who does it for you? All the 90s goalies do it for me. Today's goalies don't do it for me. i love the 90s era of goalie masks the very simple yet visible logos visible design from a fan's perspective you can all tell what is if you're holding it two feet in front of you but at the end of the day it's a little bit about them too you know and i think my latest mask is probably my most my

favorite mask i've had as a hab no question it was very simple it's got that 90s sort of it was brian hayward similarity mask so i'm a very simple guy my pads are very simple so yeah so it's the 90s era of mass for me is by far the best john van bier's rook will never be beaten but there's so much going on in today's mass in today's world like everyone wants more about everything right it doesn't matter what talk it's life you want more and more and more and same thing with the goalie mass it's almost too tough to tell but i the 90s era for me is the best um let me ask you about skates real quick one this is a goalie geek question true or false this whole interview is but it's good it's been really good i've learned a lot this is sweet spot of the bat for me i love Real quick one. This is a goalie geek question. True or false? This whole interview is a goalie geek question.

But it's good. It's been really good. I've learned a lot. This is sweet spot of the bat for me. I love it. True or false? You once took your goalie skates to like an auto body shop to get the color changed. True.

I personally did not. My wonderful equipment manager, Joel Farnsworth in St. Louis did. But when True started to make the VH goalie skate, it was, my first real pair was just before the Winter Classic in St. Louis in 2016. I had it in December and they're all black, but as a goalie skate, you always wear cowling. So it really looked from a perspective, it was

white, you know, on the bottom. And that was the look of a goalie skate when you thought about it, you know? And so I put these skates on, I love the skate. And then I put them on and first few games, I was like, I don't know if I can wear these, you know, they're black. And then I didn't have time to change before the winter classic. I was like, it's coming up, big game. So I wore them.

And then I saw a couple of pictures of me in the winter class. And I was like, these are awful. I was like, I can't do this. I was like, i can't do this i was like what can i do so i remember he tried to i believe just spray paint them or use some sort of a paint at the at the in his in his office there at the rink and you know just wasn't holding up like pucks were breaking off so he said look i'm gonna take it to an auto body shop and they use a special paint as they would on a vehicle and painted the bottoms of it so he did that every time I get a pair of skates in.

And now True just started doing it the last two years. They do it now actually at the manufacturer. So we don't have to do it. And I think other goalies started to do it too. Some goalies still use the black skates, but I saw Freddie Anderson last night and, you know, he's got the same skates to me with the white bottom. So I think you're seeing that more.

I think that, you know, obviously they realize that. They that they said well let's just do it here in house so makes a little bit easier so when we see that we should say jake allen yeah some guys like the black hey i'll let him go but i just i can't do it when i think about a goalie i think about white skates goaltending and golf can you draw a straight line between the two for sure you know i think there's coordination aspects you definitely take you know i think there's coordination aspects you definitely take between both i think any sport you can put into something else one way or another um but obviously the mental game too you know goalies an individual sport on a team really you're an individual out there playing for you know the greater good of your team

and golf you're solo by yourself you got to be able to take correlate both you know when you're having a good day a bad day on the course you know a good day at a bad day at net or you're having a great day on the course and you just walk two out of bounds and you're having a great day in net you let one in from the red line like how do you you know how do you get it back on course you know how do you get the car back in the lane and yeah huge correlation i think your favorite save either that you made or you saw favorite save that's a good one favorite save for me would be the save that i made to win my first game that's who could two on one sort of a backdoor play side of the net play i guess we want us to call it and just the tip left pad and you know we go down and bear jackman

scores from the goal line in overtime for all people. And I think about that all the time. I don't know why. It wasn't a big save. It wasn't flash. It wasn't spectacular, but it was, I think changed my life, my career. I don't know if I didn't win that game.

I wasn't getting the next start and I went on a run. So I think that's the way I look at it. A couple of quick ones for me to go. Number one, who's going to give Jordan Binnington his fight? I don't know. That's a good question.

He's a feisty guy, man. And that's when he plays his best. But fight, man. Will it be a goalie or a forward? Oh man, you're right. No, I think he'll go with the goalie. I think he's had one in the American League. Phoenix Coppola. Against Phoenix, yes. I remember he's had one in the American League. Phoenix Cop.

Against Phoenix. Yes, I remember they're friends. So it might be me. So who knows? So no, I'm good buddies with Bender, but no,

he's got that competitive edge to him and that's why he's good. Out of morbid curiosity, would you text him this year when he's going through that stuff and just say, hey, like, do you need me or anything like that?

Not really. I think Bender's a very smart guy. He's very quiet. He's very deep and he's very quiet he's very deep and he's very thorough but he's he's very smart and we're all going to go through struggles in this position i've been through so many and it's inevitable it really is you signed up for this position it's it's inevitable unfortunately and if it was someone else maybe but i don't think he's a guy that i really needed to worry about. After listening to this for the last hour, my question is like, when you're done, TV, coaching, or like, I'm wondering, like listening to you talk about goalies, like they have Kate Whitmore in the league right now and negotiates a lot of this stuff. But I wonder if you'd want to do that.

Like, what do you see for the future? Knowing you could still play for quite a while. Yeah, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's inevitable. You always start like, I'm going to be 33 this year. Like, I think it's just human nature. You start to think about, you know, a little bit

of what's after hockey. I want to play as long as I can, but at the same time, this has given me my life. Like this game, as we all know, is it's the best game in the world. It's given you your life. I'd like to stay in the game. I don't know if i'd be a full-time coach i just think that it maybe take a couple years first now i have three kids at home and you know to regroup and rejuvenate

myself but at the same time you know i want to stay in the game i love goaltending i just love the can tell like you have such a passion for it. I think that's evolved, honestly, over the last three or four years. I just love figuring out the problems of the situation. It's a giant math problem to me. It's a giant puzzle. Every game's different. Every play's different.

How do you solve them? That's the way I think, and I think that's the way I need to challenge myself to keep myself ticking, too. That's the way I think the game. But yeah, I want to stay in the game. I'd love to be working with goalies, a goalie consultant,

things like that, working throughout the league. And when that day comes, someone will sit down and try to figure it out. And I'm a guy that doesn't like to sit still either. So I don't think the day

that my hockey career is over, I'd like to be working fairly soon. Revolutionize the mask. Yes, I could do that. But I think you made a good point about that. And I think you're not the only one. We all think it too in that position. How do we make this better?

Because the equipment is so good now. You know, it's evolved so much and I don't know if it can evolve much more, to be honest. We've said that for decades, by the way. That's true. We had a talk with this with player sticks the other day. I was sitting there flexing guys' sticks and looking at them and I said, where can they go from here like what what can you do like things are

light it's a thimble you know like it's wrong yeah like what can the manufacturer do it's it's other than change the graphics and make them look cool you know it's uh it's sort of where goalie pods are going and yeah i think you're right the next thing is a mask uh last one for me outside of your family you're always the most important who's been the most important person in your career oh man there's a lot you know growing up in New Brunswick it's small area played my whole minor hockey there but you know outside of the family the obvious the parents and the wife and the kids but uh you know you you got to go back to someone like cliche like Dave Alexander you know he's he's a goalie coach of the blues it's it's really interesting for me to see that he's made the

NHL I've made the NHL you know started to work with him since I was 14 years old you know he's my mid to triple-a goalie coach you know my summer goalie coach you know I get to work with in the NHL yeah so he's the guy that sort of changed the way I think about the position, how I understand the position, especially in today's game. And, you know, I think he revamped my game to a point my last year in St. Louis where I had the best year of my life before I got traded to where I am now. So I think from 14 to almost 33 that, you know, he's been a huge part of my life and goaltending position specifically. Yeah. This has been great. Jake, thanks so much for this. Really, really appreciate it.

No problem. My pleasure. My pleasure. Wow, did I learn a lot today. Hope you enjoyed that interview with Jake Allen. Again, the video is available at our Sportsnet YouTube channel on Thursday. Now, before we take you out with some pretty sweet tunes, I want to remind you, because Amel does such great work around this,

each song featured on every single podcast is noted in the show notes. We get DMs, we get tweets, hey, what's that song? Who's that artist? It's all in the show notes. Check it out. Taking us out today, a three-piece band from Toronto that we featured in season three of the podcast. How long has this podcast been going?

Oh yeah, forever. After their successful debut EP in 2020, they've dropped several singles over the last few years. They continue to mix genres while sampling alt-rock, post-punk, funk, and industrial electronica. With their latest single, here's Mute Choir. Love it.

With Automatic on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. Most days I'm running on Automatic Make coffee, fix the bed What was that? Oh, did you say something to me? I was hardly there. Most days I feel like my bad habits, self-doubt and cigarettes.

What was that? Oh, did you say something to me? I was hardly there Running on automatic Wasting my time again Drowning in my bad habits It's easier to forget I'm running on, running on I'm running on Stay on my mission Running on, running on, on the next

There's no need to get too active Running on automatic The days repeat and they're into the next Can't tell the difference between cause and effect Help me concentrate, the signal's fading Drowning in the noise