Scouting Report: Darby Allin, 16-year-old Right-handed Center

Height: 6’4”
Weight: 220 lbs

Allin has tremendous offensive instincts, and a pure hockey brain. He has maybe the best passing ability in the class, and he can use that threat to create space for himself, or he can use his ability to read the play to make the defensive attention fall entirely on him. If push comes to shove, he can use his terrific puckhandling and agility to make enough of a break to find a deadly accurate shot from in-close. His faceoff ability is also sound, and he can make up for his lackluster speed with tremendous agility and acceleration.

But Allin is raw in a lot of places. In the offensive zone, he struggles to adequately screen the goalie to create chances, and he struggles to find good shots from anywhere but right in the goalie’s face. On defense, well… Allin simply doesn’t have defensive abilities. He can’t hit, despite his large frame. He struggles to position himself well, and it hurts his ability to steal the puck for a turnover, or sacrifice his large frame for a block. He simply does not have the same vision in the friendly side of the ice. He’s also got almost no ability to adequately use his size and strength, which is baffling given just how gifted he is in both departments. He has no interest in playing up to his size, and he shirks from physicality and confrontation when it really would benefit his team. It’s something coaches agonize about, and it won’t suit Allin to coast on his offensive abilities, as doing so would doom him to a limited role in the minors.

Eddie Morozov signing off for now. Stay tuned for more info and more reports from my trips abroad scouting the next SHL stars!

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