The Kingston Whig-Standard
February 9, 2000

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Bryan Allen, the fourth pick in the 1998 draft, appears ready to start playing again after the latest in a series of career-threatening injuries.

Allen, a Glenburnie native, has been practising regularly with the Canucks and could be sent to Syracuse of the AHL this week to get into some games.

"I don't know what they have planned for me. I just know that I want to play,'' Allen, 19, told the Vancouver Province. "This is the best I've felt in a while.''

The six-foot-five, 215-pound defenceman hasn't played all year after undergoing two operations in October - one to correct a partially separated left shoulder and another to repair cartilage damage in his left knee.

Two years ago, he had surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right knee. This summer, Allen fractured his right ankle falling on stairs at his home in Glenburnie.

The Canucks signed Allen to a $3-million US, three-year deal last May 3.



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