Panther’s Roster: Bryan Allen

The Trade Deadline is February 28th at 3PM EST. What we’re doing everyday until then is do an honest roster break down of the current roster for the month of February. Today, we look at Bryan Allen.

Allen was originally drafted fourth overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. He played three years in the Ontario Hockey League with Oshawa before moving onto various minor league teams in the Vancouver system. He became a full time NHL player during the 2002-03 season, where he tallied 8 points in 48 games. On the eve of the 2006 draft, Allen was part of a package sent to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Roberto Luongo. In fact, Allen is the only remaining piece of that trade on the Panthers roster. Allen responded to the trade with his best statistical season to date, tallying 25 points (4 goals) in his first season in Sunrise.

Allen has been a pretty reliable defenseman for the Panthers. He’s a guy that doesn’t do one thing great, but rather, he does many things well. He’s a physical defender that can lay the big hit and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves when necessary. And while he isn’t known for his scoring, he has produced a few game winning goals over the past two seasons. And for his ten seasons in the NHL, he’s only been a minus rated player twice (if you like the +/- stat). In simple terms, he’s a solid NHL defenseman, nothing more.

Allen is currently in the fourth year of a five year deal with a cap hit of $2.9 million annually (numbers from Capgeek). While he doesn’t fit the mold of the ‘puck moving defenseman” that you will here about from now until deadline day, Allen might draw interest from teams looking to shore up a second or third pairing with a hard nosed player like him. With quite a few defensive prospects either with the team or developing in the minors/juniors, it’s unclear where he would fit on a long term basis with the Panthers if he’s not dealt. He’ll turn 31 this season so a longer contract doesn’t seem that plausible, especially with him skating on a surgically repaired knee that required rest on the second night of back-to-backs last season.

Bryan Allen….your thoughts?

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