The Province
March 28, 1999

When Peter Zezel lobbed a grenade into the public relations of the Canucks by going public with his disappointment at being traded, he didn't make it a one-sided attack.

Before going he helped out a little with some honesty in player assessment.

Zezel thinks the Canucks first-round draft choice of last June, defenceman Bryan Allen, is going to be a beauty. And given his opinion was not coming from a future teammate who feels obligated to blow smoke, it is especially interesting.

"He's going to be a helluva player,'' said Zezel. "He reminds me a lot of Chris Pronger with what he can do defensively. He should really help.''

Given general manager Brian Burke originally drafted Pronger, there is hope now he may have done it again. But there are still some hurdles to clear. First the club has not yet signed Allen. Surely they won't be so stubborn as to let him go back in the draft, even if they are in a position to pull the oft-threatened routine by some clubs of redrafting the same player. And as well there are some concerns about Allen's knees.

"He's going to have to be very careful with his conditioning and work on keeping his knees healthy his whole career,'' said Canucks assistant GM Dave Nonis. "He does have a degenerative condition but he has a pretty good idea of what he has to do to keep it up.''

Allen has not had a particularly stunning year in junior but he played well in the world junior championship at Christmas and given he was close to making the Canucks, another season in junior isn't the most stimulating way to spend a year.



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