Can the New Jersey Devils afford to keep Jake Allen?

The veteran netminder helped give the Devils a great 1-2 punch this past season. Will he be back to do it again?

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Tom Fitzgerald recently spoke with Mike Morreale of NHL.com about a wide array of topics.

Among them was veteran goaltender Jake Allen, who will become an unrestricted free agent in just over three weeks.

Fitzgerald would like to keep Allen around, but hinted the cost of business will determine whether that happens.

“As far as goaltending, Jake Allen is one of the better ones on the market. His camp tells me he would like to stay. He really enjoyed his time here. We're trying to figure out what that number is, and then does it work for us?"

Fitzgerald undersold Allen a little here. He isn’t just one of the better goaltenders slated to hit the market. He is the best goaltender – and it’s not even close.

Alexandar Georgiev and David Rittich are the only pending UFAs who played more than Allen this past season.

The small difference: those two goaltenders ranked bottom-10 in Goals Saved Above Expectation per start while Jake Allen ranked top-10.

Connor Hellebuyck and Anthony Stolarz were the only two netminders to best Allen in that category.

He was excellent. Nobody available held a candle to Allen in terms of performance last season.

That’s why CapWages – powered by AFP Analytics – has Allen projected to command by far the biggest contract of any free agent goaltender.