Cameron Allen

After a very good rookie year and a very solid U-18 tourney, he has been a disappointment as has his Guelph Storm team. He is currently wading through unforced brain farts and miscues. He has been caught flat footed in his end on countless occasions in his end, he is turning the puck over with forced passes, and is doing far too much puck watching. In the bigs, teams are looking for reliable "little things" and building on that foundation. Since his play appears to be an abrupt day to night scenario I am not going to wipe my first impressions . He has the chops to be an excellent skating puck carrier defender and develop into a good two way defender. Right handed defenseman who won the OHL Rookie of the Year was named Canada's captain for the Ivan Hlinka Gretzky Cup Tournament. He is a solid 190+ and a bit under six foot at this point but quick off his marks and a solid puck carrier with a strong shot and release. Strong defensively at the point of attack, and a total team first player. I understand the 2023 draft class has a plethora of forwards that will go off the board early, and that the defenders in this class will be taking a back seat, hearing their names called on the second day. Presently he appears to have dropped into that selection area. His play at Ivan Hlinka-Gretsky has people praise his edge and defensive skills, but are downplaying the fact he purposefully stay home in the tourney to take care of business, knowing there was an offensive up front that could generate goals. There are no areas of his game that doesn't display high skills and smarts all around the ice including being a difference maker on the penalty-kill and power play. Let's give him the time to straighten things out. He may be a surprise long term.

                                                         --Bill Płaczek--