Allison Placed on Waivers
The Flyers roster is down to 14 forwards. On Friday afternoon, Philadelphia placed power winger Wade Allison on waivers for purposes of assignment to the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Flyers will learn on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EDT whether Allison was claimed by another club or he's clear to be sent to the Phantoms.
Allison, who will turn 26 on Oct. 17, has been plagued by injuries during his collegiate and professional careers since the Flyers selected him in the second round (52nd overall) in the 2016 Entry Draft. Midway through his sophomore season at the University of Western Michigan, Allison suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which took roughly 18 months to rehab to the point where he was back to the same level he was at the time of the ACL tear. Later, he dealt with a separated shoulder.
As a professional, he started out by dealing with ankle surgery, which delaying his rookie season in the already-shortened 2020-21 season. Late in the season, Allison got into 14 games with the Flyers (4g, 3a, seven points), where he saw power play time and was deployed in the top nine by then-coach Alain Vigneault. Previously, in 10 games with the Phantoms in the AHL, Allison produced nine points (4g, 5a) and logged his first fight in pro hockey.
Allison reported to training camp in excellent physical condition and was considered a strong contender for an opening-night NHL roster spot. Unfortunately, in Sept. 2021 a Rookie Game against the New York Rangers, Allison suffered a high ankle sprain on a play where he went down awkwardly along the boards. He was out until December.
The Flyers recalled Allison in late January 2022. He dressed in interim head coach Mike Yeo's lineup for the Jan. 22, 2022, game in Buffalo. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish his first game back with Philly, as he suffered an MCL tear that kept him out for a month. Back in the American Hockey League, Allison suffered an arm injury on a hit he delivered along the boards near the Phantoms' bench.
As it turned out, Allison's 2021-22 season was limited to the one NHL game plus 28 games with the Phantoms (10g, 7a, 17 points). For the most part, Allison played well for Lehigh Valley but there was some grumbling over his late-season performance as the Phantoms missed the playoffs. Over the final 14 games of the season, Allison produced just three points (2g, 1a) with one point in the last 12 games and no points in the last seven matches.
Last season, for the first time, Allison spent the entire campaign on the NHL roster. He scored the Flyers' first goal of the 2022-23 season, cashing in at the net on a rebound off a faceoff win in Philly's opening night home win against the New Jersey Devils. He dressed in each of the first 15 games of the campaign, mostly on the third line.
However, Allison's player-coach relationship with new head coach John Tortorella was bumpy in the early going. Tortorella encouraged Allison to play a very linear game. He wanted Allison to focus on getting in deep, winning battle on the walls or crashing the net.
"The only way he stays in the lineup is if he plays north," John Tortorella said. "If he plays east-west, he'll east-west himself right out of the lineup."
Allison and Tortorella took a while to get on the same page about the player's game. Eventually, Tortorella was satisfied with the simplifications that Allison tried to make in his game. Unfortunately, the injury bug bit Allison yet again in mid-November. He suffered an oblique muscle strain and hip pointer over the final three-quarters of the season, causing him to miss 22 games overall (primarily from mid-November until the latter part of December).
Allison got into a groove in January, including a stretch in which he potted three goals in five games but, shortly thereafter, had to miss the final game before the All-Star break due to getting banged up in a game against the Wild. On March 7 in Tampa Bay, he sustained a lower-body injury that kept him out for three games.
On March 16, Tortorella asked about Allison's level of progress over the season. Nine times in all, Tortorella gave a two-word response -- "always hurt" -- but said that Allison had been working on the adjustments the coach asked from him in his game and that he had no complaints in that regard. Due to all the injuries, however, Allison had trouble staying in a sustained groove.
"It's hard to be consistent when you're always hurt. That's my struggle. You see him coming, you see him coming, now he's out again," Tortorella said.
One issue that was largely resolved: Especially during the early part of last season. Tortorella felt that Allison needed to display growth in his professionalism and day-to-day practice approach. These were areas Tortorella eventually felt that Allison had taken to heart and improved upon significantly.
Without being prompted, Tortorella addressed that topic in September 2023, by way of praising what he'd seen by the end of last season and during training camp.
"I think he has improved even before he gets on the ice," Tortorella said. "I think he's more businesslike, at least that's what he looks like to me. That's something I wanted him to really work on. You need to have fun, but when you come into the building, it's time to work, too. So I think he has made tremendous improvements there. I think his game improved. So, it's not so much winning me over, but he has got to keep on progressing. He just has to remember who he is."
Despite the praise, however, it became increasingly evident in training camp that Allison was competing more for a 13th forward spot on the depth chart than a spot in the starting 12. The organization was -- and is -- aiming for prospect Tyson Foerster to stake down a spot in the top nine. The return of Cam Atkinson after missing all of last season (neck surgery) removed another top nine spot from the rotation. Meanwhile, the addition of veteran winger Garnet Hathaway to a fourth-line combination with Nic Deslauriers and newcomer center Ryan Poehling -- in a trio that Tortorella wants to keep together at least early in the season --blocked the possibility of Allison starting the season on the fourth line.
Meanwhile, the big story over the latter half of training camp was the surging play of playmaking winger Bobby Brink. Brink, who is waiver exempt, went from being on the verge being sent to the Phantoms midway through camp, to playing three games in four nights as he built a case to earn an opening-night roster spot.
With Allison on waivers, the Flyers can go into the season carrying both Foerster and Brink if they so choose. The issue will be finding playing time for both players in the starting lineup (barring injuries elsewhere).
Personally, I feel that Allison has been pigeonholed a bit as to his capabilities. I think there's more game within him -- such as an ability to score from the flank with an explosive one-timer -- than he's shown at the NHL level. The bigger issue, though, is that Allison is most effective when he plays a hellbent-for-leather physical game with a thin line between aggressiveness and risking injury and it's been hard to strike the right balance. Some of his injuries have been sheer bad luck, but others have been because he was off-balance or excessively put himself in harm's way.
From a hockey standpoint, Allison is a player I enjoy watching when he's on his game. He can score. He engages physically. He has some swagger to him. From a media standpoint, he is one of the tougher interviews on the team at times but there's also no pretenses with him. He's genuinely himself.
If Allison does make it through waivers, I'll be pulling for him to work his way back into Philly's lineup at some point. If he's claimed, I'd be happy if he earns a regular spot on another club. I tend to pull a little harder in general for homegrown players even after they go elsewhere, because I've more closely watched the entire development process from draft year to the NHL.
Quick Hits: October 7, 2023
1) The Flyers will hold an 11 a.m. EDT practice on Saturday at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. Sunday will be a complete off-day.
2) Phantoms: The Phantoms are in preseason AHL action on Saturday as they are on the road to play the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Game time is 6:05 p.m. EDT. Bob Rotruck will have the call on
Phantoms Radio. The Phantoms lost at home, 4-0, to the Baby Pens on Tuesday. There should be quite a few more projected AHL regulars in the lineup for this game than the previous one. Tuesday's game largely consisted of Reading Royals and/or AHL contract tryout players. There were a few exceptions such as Elliot Desnoyers, Zayde Wisdom and veteran captain Garrett Wilson.
3) NCAA: Cutter Gauthier and the talent-packed Boston College Eagles are in action at 6 p.m. eastern tonight against Quinnipiac. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
4) KHL: Matvei Michkov and his HC Sochi club are in action on Saturday, hosting Severstal Cherepovets. Game time is 10:00 a.m. eastern U.S. time.
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