Back on the 'Cane Train

Seattle made one final roster move before the WHL trade deadline came and passed Saturday. They sent defenseman Scott Allan to Lethbridge for a 2016 5th round Bantam Draft selection. You may recall the T-birds acquired Allan from the Medicine Hat Tigers back in mid-October at a time the team was short on the back end because of injuries and suspensions. The cost to get Allan from the Tigers? A 5th round pick in the 2016 draft.

Allan played in 24 games with Seattle registering three points, including a game winning goal in Everett in a 3-2 win over the Silvertips back on November 28th. In fact, Allan had two of his three points in that game as he also recorded an assist.

I think Allan's age worked against him as far as his place on the T-birds roster. Allan is a '96 born (18 year old) and the T-birds have two younger defenseman on the roster in 17 year old Turner Ottenbreit and 16 year old Sahvan Khaira. Khaira actually just celebrated his 17th birthday one week ago, but this is his 16 year old season. These two are developing at a faster pace. They also have some top 17 year old defensemen prospects who could be with the team next season. With the return of Shea Theodore the T-birds were carrying eight d-men. That means two of them were going to be healthy scratches each night. Allan was the odd man out. It doesn't help his development to sit an 18 year old as a healthy scratch, thus the trade to the Hurricanes.

The good news is Allan should get the opportunity to earn ice time with Lethbridge. While the 'Canes now list eight defensemen on their roster, two of them are 20 year olds who won't return next season, so Allan will have a chance to help anchor their back in next season too.

Meanwhile Seattle has recouped the 5th round pick they spent to acquire Allan and probably improved their draft position in the 5th round of that 2016 draft as well. Allan came to the T-birds at a time they needed help on the back end. He gave them what they needed but now that they are fully healthy on the back end, there just wasn't room for him in the rotation. He'll run into a familiar face in Lethbridge as former T-bird Florian Baltram is now a 'Cane as well. I believe this makes seven, the number of one-time T-birds traded to or added to the Lethbridge roster over the last 14 months.