How good was Jason Allison?

[Ivan13]

allison's 05-06 season is pretty interesting

60 pts in 66 games in the "new NHL" is pretty good for a guy as slow as he was and considering he had practically missed almost three seasons

didn't he attempt a comeback with the leafs not too long ago?

Well, he was pretty damn good on the PP and that year he scored a ridiculous 39 points on the PP, he had 30 PP assists and only 13 EV ones despite the fact that he played 19mins per game. To say he was useless at EV is putting it mildly.

 

[tony d]

I liked him for what he was, very good playmaker during his career.

 

[LeafsNation75]

In the minds of some Leafs fans he will also be know for how slow he was in the very shootout in the history of the NHL. I also happen to be at that game and couldn't believe it seeing it live and in person.

 

[Brodeur]

allison's 05-06 season is pretty interesting

60 pts in 66 games in the "new NHL" is pretty good for a guy as slow as he was and considering he had practically missed almost three seasons

2005-06 was a bit of an anomaly with the sheer number of PPs with officials being told to crack down on obstruction. It's not a coincidence that a lot of players had career years that season. Last year, Colorado led the league with 296 PP opportunities. In 2005-06, Florida ranked last with 411 PP opportunities while Arizona/LA led the way with 541.

As other pointed out, of Allison's 66 points, 39 came on the PP. So he was pretty much a PP specialist at that point. With most teams still adapting to the salary cap era, Allison priced himself out of a further contract. I seem to recall him demanding X amount at a point when only a handful of teams had enough cap space.

I'm also reminded of this random tidbit during a Q&A with long time Kings announcer Bob Miller: Bob Miller Q&A, part 2

Question: Third name, which I nearly threw back, but what the heck: Jason Allison.

Miller: A very, very strange person. Strange personality, I never really got the chance to know him very well and I’m not sure if too many others did either. I was excited that we got him and there were games where he had that big body with guys draped over his shoulder and he could control the puck and make the play. But there was something in his personality that just didn’t click with me or too many other people, and it is too bad because he could have been such a huge asset to this organization.

My memory is a little fuzzy, but I seem to remember hearing others comment similarly about Allison. He wasn't necessarily a bad guy in the locker room, but he seemed a little off.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Jason Allison owns and lives on his own island.

TOTAL ACCESS: FANTASY ISLAND

It's All Mine Jason Allison's summer place: his own isle in Ontario

 

[MrMcS]

I followed Jason's career from his first year in Junior. I grew up in London Ontario and as a die hard Knights fan I saw a lot of talent come through their organization like Brendan Shanahan, Brad Marsh, right up to Pat Kane. In all of the hundreds of players I've watched develop, I have never seen one with as much raw skill as Allison. I saw him rack up 9 points one game, he did it on a team that without him could not score 9 points.... in a season. The Knights had a horrific team for his entire junior career yet he averaged well over 2 points a game for most of it. In the NHL I continued to watch his pro career blossom as well. He was always put down for his skating, but if you ask anyone who he skated against they would tell you that he was one of hardest players they ever played against to knock off balance. His speed as well was deceptive, he placed second on a very fast Kings team in an end to end race. Most big player look slow, but one thing was for sure he didn't look graceful when he skated, he was no Paul Coffey. His vision was incredible, his shooting accuracy was stellar, and despite what so many say, even here on this forum, he was NOT a defensive liability, yes in Toronto in his comeback season he did have bad numbers, but he was admittedly out of shape. His best season he was a +33. Part of the problem with players like Allison who excel in the power-play is that those goals do not count in the plus minus department (unless they are shorthanded). Someone also mentioned the 02 Olympics. The year before he was 5th in league scoring, and the second highest scoring Canadian behind Sakic, he was considered a shoe in after the season, especially considering his skill in shootouts. He started the next season (02) with an injury and missed the start of the season which didn't help. Gretzky was the one picking the team and Gretzky didn't like Allison and he wasn't even considered. I still cannot understand how the second most offensive Canadian player at the time would not even be considered, but it was clear Gretzky only picked his friends. In Conclusion, Allison was plagued with two problems that ultimate shortened his career, first were his injuries, some due to being targeted by goons, and the second was the criticism of his skating. He did have injuries, those cannot be denied, but skating... seriously, when you look at his numbers, watch him play and see how hard it was to knock him off balance, look at footage of him turning people (top defense men) inside out as he cut around them, how can you really say he could not skate? Too bad that such an incredible talent never really reached his potential or got credited for what he did do

 

[86Habs]

I followed Jason's career from his first year in Junior. I grew up in London Ontario and as a die hard Knights fan I saw a lot of talent come through their organization like Brendan Shanahan, Brad Marsh, right up to Pat Kane. In all of the hundreds of players I've watched develop, I have never seen one with as much raw skill as Allison. I saw him rack up 9 points one game, he did it on a team that without him could not score 9 points.... in a season. The Knights had a horrific team for his entire junior career yet he averaged well over 2 points a game for most of it. In the NHL I continued to watch his pro career blossom as well. He was always put down for his skating, but if you ask anyone who he skated against they would tell you that he was one of hardest players they ever played against to knock off balance. His speed as well was deceptive, he placed second on a very fast Kings team in an end to end race. Most big player look slow, but one thing was for sure he didn't look graceful when he skated, he was no Paul Coffey. His vision was incredible, his shooting accuracy was stellar, and despite what so many say, even here on this forum, he was NOT a defensive liability, yes in Toronto in his comeback season he did have bad numbers, but he was admittedly out of shape. His best season he was a +33. Part of the problem with players like Allison who excel in the power-play is that those goals do not count in the plus minus department (unless they are shorthanded). Someone also mentioned the 02 Olympics. The year before he was 5th in league scoring, and the second highest scoring Canadian behind Sakic, he was considered a shoe in after the season, especially considering his skill in shootouts. He started the next season (02) with an injury and missed the start of the season which didn't help. Gretzky was the one picking the team and Gretzky didn't like Allison and he wasn't even considered. I still cannot understand how the second most offensive Canadian player at the time would not even be considered, but it was clear Gretzky only picked his friends. In Conclusion, Allison was plagued with two problems that ultimate shortened his career, first were his injuries, some due to being targeted by goons, and the second was the criticism of his skating. He did have injuries, those cannot be denied, but skating... seriously, when you look at his numbers, watch him play and see how hard it was to knock him off balance, look at footage of him turning people (top defense men) inside out as he cut around them, how can you really say he could not skate? Too bad that such an incredible talent never really reached his potential or got credited for what he did do

Not being a "friend of Gretzky" had nothing to do with Allison not making the 2002 Olympic team. His relatively poor skating would be a detriment on the Salt Lake ice surface, which was a hybrid between the larger international ice surface and the NHL-sized ice surface. Further, and more importantly, he had no role on the team. Sakic, Lemieux, Lindros, and Peca were the four centres, with Yzerman moving over to the wing and Nieuwendyk rotating through with Peca and on special teams. Allison would have been a poor fit at the wing position, as he was primarily a playmaking centre.

 

[streitz]

Not being a "friend of Gretzky" had nothing to do with Allison not making the 2002 Olympic team. His relatively poor skating would be a detriment on the Salt Lake ice surface, which was a hybrid between the larger international ice surface and the NHL-sized ice surface. Further, and more importantly, he had no role on the team. Sakic, Lemieux, Lindros, and Peca were the four centres, with Yzerman moving over to the wing and Nieuwendyk rotating through with Peca and on special teams. Allison would have been a poor fit at the wing position, as he was primarily a playmaking centre.

He would of been better then Lindros. Eric I remember looking useless in the 02 olympics.

 

[Big Phil]

If the 1998 Olympics were played in September of 1998 and not February of 1998 he's on that team. He really came into his own that year and looked like the real deal. For whatever reason his lack of foot speed wasn't an issue yet, although it would be.

 

[sr edler]

I have no recollection of ever watching Jason Allison play, because I didn't follow the Bruins, or the Kings, or the Leafs, that closely or that much around this time.

But..., I was eager to see some footage so I went out on the internet and... found a YT clip where he got jumped from behind by Todd Simpson.

Uh, surprise surprise. Did this guy (Simpson) do anything else on the ice than jump other teams star players? There is of course another clip on YT where you can see this brilliantly courageous 6'3 HHOF material defenseman jump 5'10 midget Pavel Bure from behind.

He also gave Bure a whiplash injury in 96–97 by pushing him head-first into the boards.

Then I actually searched for Todd Simpson, instead, and oh there he was again. In Denmark, in 2004–05. As the center of attention of some kind of all ice brawl.

It's only players like Todd Simpson that can make me ashamed of being a hockey fan. If I had all the time and all that pitiful negative energy I would probably make an internet site of my own just to shame Todd Simpson.

It's scrubs like him who cuts short careers of brilliant players and makes hockey a much less gratifying game to watch.

Ugh.

Sorry for the off topic rant.

 

[BobbyAwe]

I followed Jason's career from his first year in Junior. I grew up in London Ontario and as a die hard Knights fan I saw a lot of talent come through their organization like Brendan Shanahan, Brad Marsh, right up to Pat Kane. In all of the hundreds of players I've watched develop, I have never seen one with as much raw skill as Allison. I saw him rack up 9 points one game, he did it on a team that without him could not score 9 points.... in a season. The Knights had a horrific team for his entire junior career yet he averaged well over 2 points a game for most of it. In the NHL I continued to watch his pro career blossom as well. He was always put down for his skating, but if you ask anyone who he skated against they would tell you that he was one of hardest players they ever played against to knock off balance. His speed as well was deceptive, he placed second on a very fast Kings team in an end to end race. Most big player look slow, but one thing was for sure he didn't look graceful when he skated, he was no Paul Coffey. His vision was incredible, his shooting accuracy was stellar, and despite what so many say, even here on this forum, he was NOT a defensive liability, yes in Toronto in his comeback season he did have bad numbers, but he was admittedly out of shape. His best season he was a +33. Part of the problem with players like Allison who excel in the power-play is that those goals do not count in the plus minus department (unless they are shorthanded). Someone also mentioned the 02 Olympics. The year before he was 5th in league scoring, and the second highest scoring Canadian behind Sakic, he was considered a shoe in after the season, especially considering his skill in shootouts. He started the next season (02) with an injury and missed the start of the season which didn't help. Gretzky was the one picking the team and Gretzky didn't like Allison and he wasn't even considered. I still cannot understand how the second most offensive Canadian player at the time would not even be considered, but it was clear Gretzky only picked his friends. In Conclusion, Allison was plagued with two problems that ultimate shortened his career, first were his injuries, some due to being targeted by goons, and the second was the criticism of his skating. He did have injuries, those cannot be denied, but skating... seriously, when you look at his numbers, watch him play and see how hard it was to knock him off balance, look at footage of him turning people (top defense men) inside out as he cut around them, how can you really say he could not skate? Too bad that such an incredible talent never really reached his potential or got credited for what he did do

I'm gonna agree with your synopsis. Allison's lack of speed is somewhat overrated. Many players acquire that knock during the last part of their careers when they go from mediocre to slow. Brad Park and Johnny Bucyk for example, are historically regarded as on the slow side, but they were not slow in the first part of their careers. Park's knees got worse and Bucyk put on weight and played till he was 42 and is remembered more in those last few years. I don't know what Allison's "excuse" was but I think he progressively slowed down and that's how he is remembered?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I followed Jason's career from his first year in Junior. I grew up in London Ontario and as a die hard Knights fan I saw a lot of talent come through their organization like Brendan Shanahan, Brad Marsh, right up to Pat Kane. In all of the hundreds of players I've watched develop, I have never seen one with as much raw skill as Allison. I saw him rack up 9 points one game, he did it on a team that without him could not score 9 points.... in a season. The Knights had a horrific team for his entire junior career yet he averaged well over 2 points a game for most of it. In the NHL I continued to watch his pro career blossom as well. He was always put down for his skating, but if you ask anyone who he skated against they would tell you that he was one of hardest players they ever played against to knock off balance. His speed as well was deceptive, he placed second on a very fast Kings team in an end to end race. Most big player look slow, but one thing was for sure he didn't look graceful when he skated, he was no Paul Coffey. His vision was incredible, his shooting accuracy was stellar, and despite what so many say, even here on this forum, he was NOT a defensive liability, yes in Toronto in his comeback season he did have bad numbers, but he was admittedly out of shape. His best season he was a +33. Part of the problem with players like Allison who excel in the power-play is that those goals do not count in the plus minus department (unless they are shorthanded). Someone also mentioned the 02 Olympics. The year before he was 5th in league scoring, and the second highest scoring Canadian behind Sakic, he was considered a shoe in after the season, especially considering his skill in shootouts. He started the next season (02) with an injury and missed the start of the season which didn't help. Gretzky was the one picking the team and Gretzky didn't like Allison and he wasn't even considered. I still cannot understand how the second most offensive Canadian player at the time would not even be considered, but it was clear Gretzky only picked his friends. In Conclusion, Allison was plagued with two problems that ultimate shortened his career, first were his injuries, some due to being targeted by goons, and the second was the criticism of his skating. He did have injuries, those cannot be denied, but skating... seriously, when you look at his numbers, watch him play and see how hard it was to knock him off balance, look at footage of him turning people (top defense men) inside out as he cut around them, how can you really say he could not skate? Too bad that such an incredible talent never really reached his potential or got credited for what he did do

if you asked me 2002 jason allison vs peak joe thornton, i take allison all day long.

 

[BillNy]

Incredibly skilled. Couldn't skate to save his life. That's why he couldn't find a job after Toronto. 60 points in 65 games, but that season was all special teams, so you didn't have as much end to end skating, and a lot of old guys looked way better. His even strength numbers were miserable.

The concussion stuff was real sad, and this is basically what happened. The Leafs didn't heed the league's warnings about a cap, and had basically no room going into 2005-06. They needed bargains. Lost Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk (reports are that JFJ wanted to keep one but not the other, and they decided to leave together, but who they wanted to keep has been mixed up over the years). Let Alex Mogilny go. Tried on Adam Foote, but struck out. There's reason to believe they almost managed to get Scott Niedermayer at a discount. But with no real cap space, they added older, recently injured or troubled guys who desperately wanted to be Leafs and took less money. Eric Lindros, Jason Allison, and Jeff O'Neill. Allison and O'Neill played on a dominant line at the WJHC years earlier with Darcy Tucker, so Quinn reunited them and they were pretty good for a while. Allison was pretty roundly disliked by fans because he was so slow, the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 1998. He also had a shootout attempt that was just absurdly slow that people still make fun of a lot. He never played again.

Most important thing is, he looked just like Osama bin Laden.

 

[rfournier103]

Most important thing is, he looked just like Osama bin Laden.

A pretty awful doppelgänger to have. Thankfully for Allison, the CIA and Seal Team Six were able to tell them apart.

 

[sigma six]

This thread really makes me miss late-90's / early 2000's hockey.

 

[Stephen]

I have no recollection of ever watching Jason Allison play, because I didn't follow the Bruins, or the Kings, or the Leafs, that closely or that much around this time.

But..., I was eager to see some footage so I went out on the internet and... found a YT clip where he got jumped from behind by Todd Simpson.

Uh, surprise surprise. Did this guy (Simpson) do anything else on the ice than jump other teams star players? There is of course another clip on YT where you can see this brilliantly courageous 6'3 HHOF material defenseman jump 5'10 midget Pavel Bure from behind.

He also gave Bure a whiplash injury in 96–97 by pushing him head-first into the boards.

Then I actually searched for Todd Simpson, instead, and oh there he was again. In Denmark, in 2004–05. As the center of attention of some kind of all ice brawl.

It's only players like Todd Simpson that can make me ashamed of being a hockey fan. If I had all the time and all that pitiful negative energy I would probably make an internet site of my own just to shame Todd Simpson.

It's scrubs like him who cuts short careers of brilliant players and makes hockey a much less gratifying game to watch.

Ugh.

Sorry for the off topic rant.

A Jens Lekman reference in a Jason Allison topic. Pretty neat...

 

[BobbyAwe]

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

A Jens Lekman reference in a Jason Allison topic. Pretty neat...

maybe in sweden jens lekman is just a run of the mill reference

 

[sr edler]

An actual reference would have been comparing Allison’s skating working in the NHL with a parakeet in Istanbul flying in and out of closed windows.

 

[sr edler]

maybe in sweden jens lekman is just a run of the mill reference

Jens Lekman isn't that big in Sweden, in a broader sense. I just arrived from a (Swedish) forum where someone said he's bigger abroad than in Sweden, and perhaps that's true, I don't know. I don't even know how you would measure that. Sales perhaps? I know he's toured around a lot though, and also lived some time in Melbourne. If you're a hipster or a music nerd in Sweden, then of course you know who he is, but the general populace here aren't listening to JL but on mainstream acts such as Håkan Hellström, Kent, Robyn, Zara Larsson, and/or Eurovision stuff, and/or EDM stuff. Even Rebecca & Fiona (electro duo) are probably bigger than Lekman, because they're more present in mainstream media. Lekman seems a bit media shy.

The inner-city hipster layer of the mainstream still loves to hype new bands though. Still. The newest hype band is apparently this one below, Junior Brielle (not really my own cup of tea, honestly, though this specific song has some relatively catchy parts).



If I ever did a Jason Allison high-light reel compilation for a YT video though I think I could use some Lekman, this song below. I love how he switches mic for the wailing parts.

 

[BobbyAwe]

Allison and Esposito were very similar. Both big (Espo for his era) both power play specialists, both regarded as slow but it didn't hurt them much (in their prime that is). Most would flinch at me mentioning the two in the same breath, and though I am not claiming Allison was a good, Esposito had Orr, and was on the best team (or in the top 2) during his prime, and Allison's top years were in the "Dead "Puck" era whereas Esposito's prime was during a watered down expansion of a league that doubled to tripled in size in a very short time.

 

[Terry Yake]

hard to believe he's only 43

played his last NHL game at age 30