Cameron Allen’s calling card is his ability to do it all. With decent size and good mobility, he will have his name called relatively early in the NHL Draft this June.
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario
Date of birth: January 7, 2005
Shoots: Right
Position: Defence
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 190 lbs.
Team: Guelph Storm (OHL)
Allen was Canada’s captain at the most recent IIHF men’s Under-18 World Championship, where the team won a bronze medal. In seven games, he had four points. He averaged 20 minutes a game, and the only games he was well below that mark were blowouts where the coaching staff spread the minutes around more.
He also was part of Canada’s gold medal team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he led the tournament with six assists.
In the OHL over the last two seasons with the Guelph Storm, he has put up decent numbers, and had a great rookie season, where he was the 2022 OHL Rookie of the Year. His production dropped off slightly in his second year. That isn’t necessarily an indictment on Allen alone. The Storm had a really rough season with an early coaching change. After two games, Scott Walker stepped down for health reasons.
In those first two games, Allen had three points. Over the next 11 games, he only had two points. He also missed some games with a shoulder injury early in the year.
He doesn’t project to be a surefire first-round pick, but is firmly in the group of players who are on the bubble between late day-one picks and early day-two picks.
His tracking numbers show what many saw in his play this past season. He prefers to pass the puck in transition rather than carry it himself. The struggles defensively are not necessarily indicative of Allen’s play alone.
The Storm, despite finishing ninth in the OHL with a record of 35-28-5, allowed the fifth-most goals in the league and had a goal differential of -26. That’s a tough environment for a defenceman who doesn’t put up a ton of points because everything will make you look a little worse than it should.
The team’s defence is a lot more than one draft-eligible second-year player, but the environment he played in does cloud the ability to project him as a player somewhat.
Allen plays with composure, which shouldn’t be a surprised after he was named to lead Canada among his peers. He is not the fastest skater, but is agile enough to make plays and projects to be a middle-pairing NHL defenceman.
He is deceptive with the puck and able to solve problems for himself when he has the puck, but the decision making is not consistent and can make the wrong call. This was evident when things were not going well for the Storm, and he sometimes tried to make the wrong play.
The question teams will ask themselves is how much of Allen’s struggles this season was because he simply tried to do too much to get his team out of the place they were. You see it all the time where players look and produce worse when they try to do too much, and Allen’s work ethic isn’t to be questioned.
His shot is a weapon in the OHL. He is a scoring threat with the puck, and has the ability to be a productive NHLer. He’s definitely a player that looks to use his shot as well, even though he can be a distributor as well.
Despite not being seen as an offensive dynamo, his offensive skill set does place him above average among OHL defencemen in the draft.
Although he isn’t the biggest player, he is definitely strong and likes to show it. He can be physical with opposing players, and doesn’t shy away from that aspect of the game.
Preliminary Rankings
Dobber Prospects: #12
Elite Prospects: #43
FCHockey: #44
Hockey Prospect: #60
Hadi Kalakeche: #67
McKeen’s: #55
Bob McKenzie (TSN): #39
NHL Central Scouting: #46 (North American skaters)
Corey Pronman (The Athletic) N/R
Scott Wheeler (The Athletic): #61
Although not shown here, there are a handful of other outlets that have Allen in the late first-round like TSN’s Craig Button, The Hockey News, and Daily Faceoff. Dobber Prospects are also not alone in having him in the top half of the first round, either.
Once you get to the late first, or second round, the decision making process changes a bit. Every player in that range has flaws or defiencies and you have to decide which ones you can work with and go towards a players’ strengths.
That is what helps Allen. He’s not the flashiest, he’s not the biggest, he’s not the most dynamic, or the fastest. But he’s a player that will can help you win games and a player that gets chosen relatively early in the draft as teams always are looking for players like that. The fact that he’s a right-shot definitely doesn’t hurt his cause either.
He looked like a sure-fire first-round pick in his first OHL season, and his second season raised some concerns. Those who like Allen really like him. If he can develop on his deceptiveness and become a top transition player, then his value goes up significantly. A lot of his skills, while not elite, are very good-to-excellent. He is missing that one elite skill you would like to see in top pairing defenders but that doesn’t mean a player like him doesn’t have value, especially in the range he’s expected to be drafted.
When you stop looking at him as a potential top-pairing player and set your sights to a potential player on a second pairing in the NHL, or a complementary player, he becomes a lot more intriguing. He has the potential to be one of those modern-day defenders who can do everything.
Scott Matla
