Hopefully Montreal fans kept the tags on their Bryan Allen jerseys.
The veteran defenseman, acquired on Nov. 20 from Anaheim in exchange for Rene Bourque, will be placed on waivers Monday afternoon, the club announced this morning.
Allen, 35, has only appeared in five games for Montreal since coming over from the Ducks, scoring one assist while averaging just 12:44 TOI per game. The writing on the wall may have come in his last game, all the way back on Dec. 3 -- Allen played just 9:10 total, with only left winger Eric Tangradi playing less.
(With that said, part of acquiring Allen was to get Bourque’s contract -- which had two years left at $3.3M per -- off the books. So while Allen didn’t play much, he did serve a purpose.)
It’ll be interesting to see if any team takes a flier via waivers. Allen’s not cheap -- carrying a $3.5M cap hit -- but is in the final year of his deal and will be a UFA this summer.
What’s more, Allen played quite a bit for Anaheim last year during its playoff run, appearing in 14 games while averaging over 18 minutes a night. He could be a depth pickup for a team looking to stockpile bodies for the postseason.