The National Hockey League announced earlier this week that Jake Allen, born and raised in Fredericton, has become the first goalie in the league’s history to record a win against 33 franchises.
Allen said in an interview that he had no idea he was breaking a record during the Monday night game against the Utah Hockey Club — the newest NHL franchise.
“The NHL has quite a few funky and quirky stats that you probably never would think of as a player, or maybe even sometimes as a fan,” the 34-year-old New Jersey Devils goaltender told CBC News on Wednesday. “But, you know, I’ll take it. It’s pretty neat.”
Allen said timing likely played a role in capturing the record, which means that as a goalie in the NHL, he has won against all active teams as well as the inactive Arizona Coyotes.
In 2020, Allen was drafted to the Montreal Canadiens. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
He said he was lucky to play Utah — which joined the league in June, replacing Arizona — early in the season as it’s likely there are other goalies who could have reached the 33 number before him, had they had the opportunity.
Allen made his NHL debut with the St. Louis Blues in 2012, after being drafted in the second round of the 2008 NHL draft, going 34th overall.
He became a Stanley Cup champion with the team in 2019.
In 2020, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens and then in March of this year, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils, making it his third team.
Allen has played 431 games in his career and has a career .908 save percentage.
The win against Utah earlier this week was his first shutout with the Devils and his 25th in the NHL.
Allen became a Stanley Cup champion in 2019 and is pictured here holding the cup after bringing it home to Fredericton. (Mike Heenan/CBC)
Allen said earlier in his career, he leaned on a lot of elder statesmen in the league. Now that he’s in that role, he said he takes pride in leading by example.
“I think a part of our job is to bring the young guys along and make them feel comfortable and make them feel welcome, and, you know, make them perform at their most potential,” he said.
Being from the small province of New Brunswick, he said he understands the role he plays on and off the ice in guiding the next generation. Earlier in his career, he started up a goalie camp for youth across the province as part of his non-profit Program 34, which seeks to reduce barriers to participating in sports.
“Just because you’re from New Brunswick doesn’t mean that you can’t make it,” he said.
“I’ve tried to give back as much as I possibly could and will continue as long as my career goes on, and post-career, and try to help those kids.
“You always need to take pride and never forget where you come from. And, you know, I try to do that as much as I can.”