Player Spotlight: Wade Allison

When he's been healthy enough to be in the lineup, Flyers power forward Wade Allison has shown himself to be an effective forechecker with a nose for the net. The conundrum with Allison's career, both at the collegiate and professional levels. has been that he has to play an aggressive style that walks -- without crossing -- the line between being assertive in putting his body on the line and taking excessive risk of injury.

To date this season -- his first full campaign in the NHL rather than splitting time between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League -- Allison has dressed in 42 of the 61 games the Flyers have played to date. Despiting missing 19 games due to injuries, it actually represents his career-high to date in games played in a professional season.
Allison, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Oct. 14, arrived in camp in outstanding physical condition (as documented in the first episode of the preseason "Beyond the Boards" docuseries on the Flyers' official YouTube channel). Over the three-quarters of a season that has followed, Allison has twice settled into good grooves in his game only to get injured again and have to ramp up again upon his return from an 18-game absence (Nov. 13 to Dec. 17 for an oblique muscle strain and hip pointer) and a one-gamer after incurring a shot-blocking related injury that kept him out of the final game before the NHL All-Star break.
Overall, in his 42 games played this season -- with scant power play ice time opportunities and primarily third-line (sometimes fourth-line) duties at five-on-five -- Allison has chipped in eight goals and 13 assists. He's capable of scoring at a little higher pace if he could stay healthier and earn increased opportunity.
One of the biggest areas that head coach John Tortorella has harped on with Allison is for the power winger to play a straightforward north-south game. "Torts" wants Allison to get in deep on the forecheck, grind along the boards down low and to attack the net directly whether he has the puck or is looking for a pass or rebound opportunity.
"The only way he stays in the line up is if he plays north. If he plays east-west, he'll east-west himself out of the lineup," Tortorella said on Nov. 7.
Allison has worked hard to comply with the way the head coach demands that he play. Overall, the player eventually worked himself into Tortorella's good graces, at least the majority of the time.
"You just have to go out there and understand the puck isn't going to quite bounce for you the way you want all the time so you just have to go out there and work harder than they do,'' Allison said on Feb. 6.
Allison has averaged 12:22 per game in TOI with sporadic second-unit power play time (averaging out to 23 seconds per game over his 42 games played to date). On a power play, he can be utilized one of two different ways: as a flank shooter (Allison has an explosive one-timer although he's rarely employed it at the NHL level) or a down low/ netfront presence.
A well-like figure in the locker room with a way of expressing himself that's often direct-to-the-point with a bit of an offbeat sense of humor underlying it, one thing that Allison takes very seriously is his competitive drive. He's never been shy about coming to a teammate's defense or responding if challenged himself.
In the second period of the Flyers' recent 5-2 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Allison instinctively answered a questionable hit by the Habs' Alex Belzile on Scott Laughton by making a beeline for the Montreal player and dropping the gloves. Allison received an instigation minor and automatic 10-minute misconduct in addition to a fighting major.
This is the type of penalty -- standing up for a teammate -- that teams often bear down extra hard to make sure they kill off. On this occasion, though, it didn't work out. With the Flyers penalty kill struggling, Canadiens converted the extra penalty on Allison into a power play goal that gave the Habs a 3-0 lead. Philly also had juggle personnel while Allison was serving the misconduct.
If the same situation arose again, Allison would respond identically. It's the responsibility of teammates to step up for him in killing the extra penalty. Allison's responsibility is to be sure he picks the right spot to respond. Given how flat the Flyers looked throughout the first two periods and were trailing, 2-0, that didn't seem like a bad time to fight on Laughton's behalf. Others may disagree, however.
DEMONSTRATED DEVELOPMENT
1. Improved forechecking routes. During his impressive 14-game stint with the NHL club during the 2020-21 season, there was more than one occasion where Allison would rattle the boards and plant himself into the boards after arriving too late on an attempted hit on an opposing defenseman. He'd take himself out of the play. As he's gained some experience, he's taken somewhat quicker routes and played a little more under control when he's coming on to challenge a defender on a retrieval or attempted breakout. He's always been good at engaging in 50-50 battles along the walls and digging out the puck.
2. Playing north. "Torts" is the boss. He set down a very clear directive on how he wants Allison to play and it's up to the player to comply. For the most part, Allison has been keeping things simpler and playing more of a straight-line game. He's not devoid of finesse, although the power game is his bread and butter, but Allison does tend to be a little more consistently effective with a simpler style. There are still times, such as 3-on-2 opportunities where Allison will still try to make a lateral player, with mixed results. Overall, though, Allison has been trying to play a less-is-more game up ice. When he does that, Tortorella rewards him with more trust and more ice time. Allison has always been effective in driving the net. The more opportunities he has to do so, the more significant his impact.
3. Executing small, unglamorous assignments. Allison is not in the lineup to be a Selke Trophy candidate or a penalty killer. He's primarily there to forecheck, be a down-low presence and score some greasy goals. However, it's the responsibility of all forwards to help in the defensive zone. For wingers that means staying with their checks, helping to prevent weak-side goals or strong-side overloads and helping to clear pucks when there aren't breakout opportunities. No one would confuse Allison for a latter day Jere Lehtinen as a defensive winger but he's made commendable strides in the aforementioned areas, and deserves some credit for the work he's put in and continues to strive for improvement.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
1. Staying on his skates. Allison is somewhat "Hartnellesque" in terms of tumbling to the ice on non-contact plays. (Even from his knees or the seat of his pants, Allison still battles to make plays, but there's only so effective a non-upright player can be). He's actually reduced the number of times he takes an impromptu seat on the ice at inopportune times but it's still one of the quirkier characteristics of his game.
2. Picking his spots. Again, while Allison has done a better job recently at playing under control, there are still situations where he tries to do a little too much and puts himself in harm's way. The age-old hockey adage is that it's easier to settle down an overzealous player than pump up a timid one but Allison's injury history is often -- not always -- related to unfortunate situations where the risk-reward balance worked against him. I do not not count shot-blocking injuries in the equation because it's something that Tortorella demands of all players when possible. Sometimes, the puck will catch you in the wrong place, especially when it's off the skate or above the knee.
3. Taking advantage of his heavy shot. Only a couple of Allison's career 12 goals in 57 NHL games to date have come via his one-timer ability. (Conversely, he scored quite a few of his 14 AHL goals in 38 games with the Phantoms and many of his collegiate goals at Western Michigan via that route). Getting himself open in the slot or the circles for more one-timer opportunities would add a dimension to his NHL game that's well within Allison's existing skill set. The other part of the equation, of course, is putting those chances on the net with some consistency at the NHL level.
2022-23 Season Highlights
1. Flyers first goal of the season. This tally, the Flyers' first on opening night against New Jersey, was a simple play. Off a faceoff, Allison went to the net and the puck came to him. The Flyers don't get nearly enough of such goals, in part because they struggle to win faceoffs and in part because they often don't get enough bodies to the net. It's not pretty but Allison is good at being Johnny-on-the-spot when such chances arise.
2. Straight to the net, scores off own rebound. In the Flyers' 5-2 home win against the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 5, Allison got rewarded for taking the puck hard to the net. He was denied on his initial attempt but tucked home his own rebound as he fell to the ice. The tally, which gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in the second period, proved to be the game-winner.
3. Second-effort goal off the rush. In the Flyers' 4-3 home overtime loss to the LA Kings on January 24, Allison's diligence paid off on the back end of a nicely executed rush started by Ivan Provorov with help from a Kevin Hayes outlet pass. Allison was sprung for a scoring chance. Denied on his first try, he kept the puck alive and then buried his follow-up attempt.
4. Game-winning tap-in goal. The Flyers' 4-3 road win in Calgary on Feb. 20 hardly came easily for the Flyers. They had to play with a shortened bench in a very physical game and they saw a 3-1 lead in the third period slip away. However, Allison rescued a regulation win with this goal at 11:33 of the third period. Once again, it was an opportunistic type of goal. Scott Laughton made the play happen but there'd have been no payoff if Allison had not gone to the net and tapped in the loose puck from the blue paint.