This kid weighs 200 lbs...why the fuck is he going back to juniors?
It would be like if Dach went back to juniors, just to hang with his friends and head hunt children on the ice.
I know they rushed the babies, like Boqvist, and shattered their ego, but its like this franchise can't get anything right currently.
Defensemen take longer to develop. It's incredibly rare to see a 18-19 year old defenseman break into the league and do well. All of the recent 'hawk greats: Keith, Seabrook, and Hjammer were all over 21 when they broke into the league.
Plus, I believe there's a rule in place where a kid under the age of 20-21, if they don't make the NHL roster full-time, goes back to their Jr. squad instead of the AHL squad.
Further, our D-roster is jammed as-is. We got Jones the Elder, McCabe, Murph, Stillman, and DeHaan on the roster and are likely going nowhere. Kalnyuk, Beaudin, Mitchell, Jones the Younger, and now Allan are going to be fighting for the last 2 slots--amongst a couple of others. Taking it even further, Allan's contract is slideable--meaning if he plays less than 10 NHL games this season, his contract duration slides as if it starts next season.
Assuming Allan is indeed all of that and a bag of chips, He'll get a 10-game look. If it plays out like it usually does, he gets pushed back to juniors in the preseason where he'll see more icetime and thus more chance to develop, and we won't burn a year of his deal. That is far preferable than seeing very limited icetime and burning a year of his contract at his age--especially since the scouting reports say he's very raw at this point.
