Draft Thoughts:
Feb.18th: In early December, with injuries to their blueline, the Saskatoon Blades traded overage center Dominik Petr and a 5th-rounder to the Spokane Chiefs for winger Elias Pul, and 17 year-old LD Kaden Allan (6'2.75",185lbs). The injury bug hit him in January though, and he missed over a month of action with his new team, only playing 8 games with them to-date, picking up 1 point. While he only has 6 points through 27 games split between the two teams, Allan is the prototype for what scouts want in a two-way rearguard- one with a powerful skating stride, an ability to move the puck, and a high activity rate in the offensive zone. I wouldn't call him mean (only 6 PIM), but he's strong and physical, proficient in defending the rush, and hard to go up against in front of the net. He scans thoroughly in retrievals and evades pressure, displaying a high panic threshold, and is cool and calm in his breakout passes- even showing the smooth puck-skills to skate the puck out of the zone by himself on occasion. In the offensive zone, he will activate when the opportunity presents itself, and he has an absolute cannon of a shot. Allan is in danger of being skipped over in this summer's draft, and wasn't even raked by Central Scouting in their Mid-Term Rankings, but if he does get picked- it won't be until later rounds.
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