Prospect Info: (D) Nolan Allan - 2021 32nd Overall

Teemu

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I like to consider myself a fair man. While I figured that I had a pretty good read on Allan, I figured that I would be a gentleman and give him a fighting chance to change my mind. I mean, obviously the Hawks see *something* in him, right? I mean geez, if he was picked at 32 that probably means they had him ranked 15-20. So I sat down and gave him a clean slate for a game.

I'll start with the good and the one thing Allan does very well is that he anticipates play coming into the zone and is good at using his body and stick to break up play. From there, he can utilize his body against the board to slow down play, though I wouldn't say that he is particularly gifted at actually digging the pucks out. His defensive positioning is gernally solid, and players generally aren't able to sneak past him. Allan, of course, can also lay the body and he looks for opportunities to do this on every play. This is a lot of fun, but not always that much of an asset. Allen is caught out of position *a lot* trying to make that big hit, often setting up odd man rushes for his opponents. That's also a harder game to play at the next level.

This ties in with one of his biggest issues--his speed. Although he has a decent initial burst to pounce on pucks (and step up for hits) and good edges, his north-south speed is lacking, and this can be a huge problem as he tries to bring himself back into play after a hit. He's passable in the WHL but this is going to be a substantial issue at the next level, particularly since he will need to put on more weight to maintain his style of game.

And then there's probably his biggest issue: Nolan Allan doesn't really know what he's supposed to do once the puck is on his stick. He typically tries to get rid of it as soon as humanly possible, which can stymie a defensive zone breakout if he otherwise has open ice to work with. Allan is uncomfortable as soon as he leaves the defensive zone, putting his team at an offensive disadvantage when he's on the ice. His shot is decently hard, but doesn't see the net too often. If anyone else remembers that early 00s Hawks team with BoBo Mironov that went like half the year without a goal from a defenseman, Allan would fit in well with them. His offensive IQ is zero. He cannot distribute the puck in any meaningful way to help his team and cannot anticipate the development of scoring chances. It really visibly looks like he is just antsy to get back to the defensive end to do his thing.

I frankly came away with a worse opinion than I did going in. He'll be fine for a few years in the comfort of the WHL, but I think that the AHL level is going to be an insurmountable struggle when it comes. I just don't get it.
 

Brightwing

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Oct 1, 2019
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I think we have to remember that any kid from Canada missed a significant chunk of development. Yes the WHL played 20ish games but it was a fraction of a season and was not normal circumstances. The amount of development that happens in a draft year from the first 20 games through playoffs is huge.

Colton Dach was talking about hitting a growth spurt last summer, that's not that unusual and there's just so much change for 17-18 year olds.

Throughout a normal year you see kids start slow and pick it up or vice versa. Kirby Dach was an example of a kid who had a rough patch in his draft year and then came on strong at the end.

This kid clearly needs another year in the W so we'll see how it goes. I think they picked him because he showed a lot of growth in a limited sample so hopefully it continues but I really regard his development potential to be more like a second rounder than a first..
 
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Joe Scaduto

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I am ok with this pick cuz we need defenceman that know how to play in the defensive end.Nolan Allan is that type of player.
 

Kevin Musto

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I am ok with this pick cuz we need defenceman that know how to play in the defensive end.Nolan Allan is that type of player.
He's not a good defensive player.

If that's what the Hawks wanted, they could have drafted Kirill Kirsanov.
 

Joe Scaduto

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Jun 24, 2018
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He's not a good defensive player.

If that's what the Hawks wanted, they could have drafted Kirill Kirsanov.
This draft was a strange one cuz of covid restrictions there was no season to gauge the development of these prospects.Got to rely on your scouting .I know the hawks scouting has not been the greatest lately drafting defenceman .Lets just see how it turns out before we rate the pick .Yes they probably could of drafted Allan later in draft .He does have good size hits and skates well which is what this team needs .Too many soft defenceman on this team right now .Need to change the culture on this team .Step in right direction .
 

Kevin Musto

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Feb 16, 2018
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GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD
Team Canada cut Nicolas Beaudin at the world juniors and gave their best defenseman, Ian Mitchell, 3rd pairing minutes.

In favour of who you might ask? Markus Phillips, Josh Brook, and Jared McIsaac.

TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS
 

Hinterland

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This draft was a strange one cuz of covid restrictions there was no season to gauge the development of these prospects.Got to rely on your scouting .I know the hawks scouting has not been the greatest lately drafting defenceman .Lets just see how it turns out before we rate the pick .Yes they probably could of drafted Allan later in draft .He does have good size hits and skates well which is what this team needs .Too many soft defenceman on this team right now .Need to change the culture on this team .Step in right direction .

The thing is...he didn't play much last season. Just 16 games for the Raiders and at the WJC he wasn't good. Bob McKenzie had him ranked 59th and that's the highest I've seen. He didn't make Craig Button's top75 and most others had him higher than that as well. Had he played a good WJC, he'd have been ranked much higher. But he didn't. What did the Blackhawks see that others didn't and justified taking him this much earlier than anticipated? It's a curious case. I don't think there's much untapped offensive potential there but that would be about the only thing that would justify taking him this early. Not the TSN guys, but many of the other lists out there actually had Del Mastro go before Allan and at least the WJC18, Del Mastro was much better.

I don't hate the pick or the player. Haven't seen much besides that WJC18 tournament. But I'm wondering why the Blackhawks felt the need to do this.
 
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Kevin Musto

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gOxyH3C.png
 
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ClydeLee

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Team Canada cut Nicolas Beaudin at the world juniors and gave their best defenseman, Ian Mitchell, 3rd pairing minutes.

In favour of who you might ask? Markus Phillips, Josh Brook, and Jared McIsaac.

TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS
Because Bouchard and Dobson were playung better... woah. What a concept.
 
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dj Mahoney

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Apr 11, 2021
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Team Canada cut Nicolas Beaudin at the world juniors and gave their best defenseman, Ian Mitchell, 3rd pairing minutes.

In favour of who you might ask? Markus Phillips, Josh Brook, and Jared McIsaac.

TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS
Politics , doing Holland and Bergevin a favour. Allan seems like such a good kid ,down to earth ,very agile and mean to boot.I like the pick.
 
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HockeySauce

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Jan 26, 2011
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Team Canada cut Nicolas Beaudin at the world juniors and gave their best defenseman, Ian Mitchell, 3rd pairing minutes.

In favour of who you might ask? Markus Phillips, Josh Brook, and Jared McIsaac.

TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS

Markus Phillips making that team over PO Joseph and Beaudin still boggles my mind.
 

HockeySauce

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I mean, does it really matter? 4 years ago this pick would've been a 2nd round pick. It's not like the Hawks selected him 20th overall. I don't like the pick, but if this was a guy they really wanted, I don't care about using literally the last pick in the first round on him.
 

Kaners Bald Spot

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Dec 6, 2011
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I mean, does it really matter? 4 years ago this pick would've been a 2nd round pick. It's not like the Hawks selected him 20th overall. I don't like the pick, but if this was a guy they really wanted, I don't care about using literally the last pick in the first round on him.
I read Pronman's pick analysis on Allan and Pronman said that Allan might be a bit of a late bloomer and he sees him as a bottom pairing SAH type with some room for growth offensively. Says he's really smart with the puck and is a good passer. This might be one that we all look stupid on in a few years.

I mean the kid played on Team Canada at the WJC so he can't be that awful of a prospect.
 

ClydeLee

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Mar 23, 2012
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There's certainly a difference in attributes they seem to be hyping. People joke about smurfs being all they drafted but no they often drafted dmen and guys with size. But a lot of them weren't physical, they'd be guys with size you see hyped for Reach and skating at their size. The dahlbeck, Dahlstrom, Tuulola, etc. A couple like Gilbert/Johns hit a lot but now they are actually targeting size and physicality.

Maybe to copy what they see working from tampa/Montreal this year especially or moving away from Qs stick check focus of players. It's what's a notable difference between the picks to me.
 

Kevin Musto

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I mean the kid played on Team Canada at the WJC so he can't be that awful of a prospect.
Blake Speers, Joe Hicketts, John Quenneville, Rourke Chartier, Roland McKeown, Brendan Perlini...so on and so forth.

Losers player for Team Canada at World Juniors every year.
 

HockeySauce

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Jan 26, 2011
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There's certainly a difference in attributes they seem to be hyping. People joke about smurfs being all they drafted but no they often drafted dmen and guys with size. But a lot of them weren't physical, they'd be guys with size you see hyped for Reach and skating at their size. The dahlbeck, Dahlstrom, Tuulola, etc. A couple like Gilbert/Johns hit a lot but now they are actually targeting size and physicality.

Maybe to copy what they see working from tampa/Montreal this year especially or moving away from Qs stick check focus of players. It's what's a notable difference between the picks to me.

The system that Colliton uses is far less friendly to players that can't skate.
 
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newmanager

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Feb 5, 2010
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Circle November 19th. Prince Albert will be in Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings. Should be a good one. I'll keep and eye on Allan and Luypen. I don't think Saskatoon plays here this year so no Dach but the Raiders have 3 games here I believe. Both Allan and Luypen really good skaters last time I saw them live.......especially Allan.
 

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