Allard earns roster spot with Canada for World Juniors

The 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship is scheduled in Gothenburg, Sweden, from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Today, a look at Canada forward Owen Allard:

OAKVILLE, Ontario -- If someone had told Owen Allard one year ago that he would earn an invite to Canada’s selection camp for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and ultimately make the team, he would have had some questions of his own.

“To be honest I probably wouldn’t believe you, but it just shows to never give up,” Allard told NHL.com last week at selection camp. “Everybody has something in store for them later in life, so I think this is kind of my opportunity now.”

The odds of the 19-year-old forward with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League to get to this position were long for several reasons. One, he was passed over at the NHL Draft in his first year of eligibility in 2022 and then again in 2023. Two, he came into this season after playing just 14 games in 2022-23 following shoulder surgery.

Allard now considers the injury a blessing.

“I think it really taught me how to be a professional,” Allard said. “You see lots of NHL guys, they have major injuries that set them back so just more developing the mental side of my game, always staying positive and never getting down on yourself. In the NHL, in professional hockey, you’re going to have lots of ups and downs, and I’ve looked at it as it’s better to happen earlier than later in my career...I think it was meant to happen and I was super fortunate to have a lot of great people around me to get through it.”

Canada, the defending champion, begins the tournament on Dec. 26 against Finland (8:30 a.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).

Peter Anholt, Canada’s management lead for the 2024 World Juniors, said Allard first caught their attention in September at the Colorado Avalanche’s rookie faceoff in Las Vegas, which also included the Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights.

“Just how he could skate, his size, it was something that was very important to us and in how he competes,” Anholt said, “we think he can really fill a really important role for us with this team, adding some size and the way he skates, bring some physicality to this team.”

At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, Allard certainly has size, but also the skillset to accompany it. In 29 games with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League this season, he has 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists).

“He told me straight up (before the season), ‘I’m going to be the best 200-foot player’,” Sault Ste. Marie coach John Dean told NHL.com. “’I’m going to be physical, explosive and my goal is to be one of the best 200-foot players in the league’ and in my opinion, he has been the best 200-foot player in the league.”

Dean first met Allard three years ago, prior to the 2020-21 season.

“I still remember coming off the ice (at our first training camp skate) and telling our general manager (Kyle Raftis), ‘we’re signing this kid, right?’ because all the raw tools were there,” Dean said. “What he has done a really good job of is polishing his game, his poise with the puck, his on-ice awareness, his intelligence away from the puck, his ability to finish every hit and every route, it’s just really a refined version of the raw potential from three years ago.

“He comes with this unbridled energy. He’s fun on the ice, he’s fun off the ice. He’s contagious. He’s spread his energy to our room. I like to believe he’s a really good model of what we are trying to be, high energy, high enthusiasm, 200-foot player who, by the way, happens to be a pretty darn good player.”

Forward Owen Beck, Canada’s only returning player from the 2023 team, said he never felt Allard was a longshot to make the team despite being undrafted.

“He’s an incredibly hard worker,” Beck said. “I think a lot of guys saw it from the moment he stepped on the ice that he had a very good chance of cracking this lineup. He does so many things right and just has that dog-on-a-bone mentality.”

It is no surprise Allard shows professionalism in his game at a young age. His brother, Tristan, plays for Syracuse of the American Hockey League, and his father, Shawn, spent time as skills coach with the Avalanche. Allard said he tries to model his game after Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin.

“He’s a big body that gets around well and he’s got that sneaky scoring touch,” Allard said. “We saw it in their run when they won the Cup, I think he was arguably their best player besides Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. But he was exceptional, so I just try to model my game after him.

“I’m just a hard guy to play against. I think my speed is my biggest attribute so just buzzing around the ice, making plays, tracking back, being good two ways, winning face-offs. Just that two-way centerman role that is hard to play against and really competitive all over the ice. That’s my game in a nutshell and if I can do that, I think I can be effective every night.”

Dean said he is constantly getting calls from NHL teams for an assessment on Allard, though he said those calls often end with him being asked to keep their interest under wraps.

Good luck.

“The secret is out, the secret is out,” Dean said.