The St. Louis Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday in a move that clears valuable salary cap space to try to keep their Stanley Cup-winning captain.

St. Louis received a third- and a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft in exchange for Allen and a 2022 seventh-rounder. Getting Allen’s $4.35 million cap hit off the books is more significant because it increases the chances of re-signing pending free agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.