MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens have acquired goaltender Jake Allen from the St. Louis Blues, adding a proven netminder to join forces with Carey Price.

The Habs sent a third-round pick and a seventh-round pick this year to the Blues for Allen and a seventh-round pick in 2022 on Wednesday.

Allen was 12-6-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average and .927 save percentage this season for the Blues.

The native of Fredericton, N.B., was 2-1-1 with a 1.89 GAA and a .935 save percentage in five playoff appearances for the Blues.

The move will clear up some cap space for the Blues as they work to re-sign pending free agent defenceman Alex Pietrangelo. Allen has one year left on his contract, with a cap hit of US$4.35 million.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong will likely have to make at least one more trade to fit Pietrangelo under the $81.5 million ceiling.

Dealing Allen also makes it clear Jordan Binnington is the Blues' starting goalie of the present and future. After coming out of nowhere in the middle of the 2018-19 season and backstopping them to the Cup, Binnington was only average during the regular season and he struggled in the playoffs.

The Blues played Allen in their only two victories of the NHL restart, but coach Craig Berube still turned back to Binnington when facing elimination.

— With files from The Associated Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2020.

The Canadian Press