MONTREAL – Does it seem crazy to give up a coaching position with the Colorado Avalanche, a year after lifting the Stanley Cup? But not when Connor McDavid wants you to work with him.
Here is the fabulous story of Franco-Ontarian Shawn Allard, a renowned skating and skills coach, who dared to opt for this change during the off-season.
“It was Connor McDavid who gave me the most confidence in making this decision. When a guy like him, so humble, who is the best player in the world and he wants to work with you, it’s very difficult to say no…” Allard said in a very generous interview with the RDS.ca.
“It’s a pleasure to work with him because of the way he works to be the best and his vision to lead Edmonton to the Stanley Cup. For me, who has been doing this job for 15 years, it is refreshing and energizing,” continued the 48-year-old coach.
The fact remains that Allard understands that he is asked if it took a bit of madness to rush in this direction. Expressive by nature, Allard can only nod his face.
“Oh boy, that was one of the hardest decisions of my life. There were a lot of smiles and sadness at the same time, it wasn’t easy to do. My wife did some Googling to find out how many NHL coaches leave. I believe the answer was 1 in 12 million,” replied Allard with humor.
In his eyes, the timing was right. He will focus on around ten NHL players including McDavid and Steven Stamkos while remaining a resource for a few Avalanche skaters.
He will also oversee the development of his company Perfect Skating which is established in several regions of the country via franchises, including in Montreal under the supervision of Nathaniel Marx.
But the most important thing is that he will be able to be more present in the lives of his four children (Sutton, Tristan, Owen and Ashley) who are each going through interesting periods in their hockey journey.
“It’s a lot because of that. I missed several events in my children’s lives while working with Nashville and then in Colorado,” admitted Allard, who received valuable support from his wife Andrea.
Tristan has just played his first preseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning and he faced Roman Josi who came to his house for dinner when he was little. We will have the pleasure of coming back to this on Tuesday in the second article.
There was still no way other NHL teams would let Allard walk away from a full-time position so easily.
“I received several messages and spoke with three or four teams. I am very grateful and humbled by this. It was difficult to say no to these offers,” admitted Allard when pressed on the subject.
Eventually, he would be accepted into a position that would be described as a director of technical player development. Our little finger tells us that a team will soon be convinced by this project.
How can we get McDavid to progress?
As much as it is stimulating to “coach” McDavid, you have to be able to find elements to refine this marvel of modern hockey.
For Allard, his expertise does not come from an extraordinary talent for observation.
“I don’t believe in that. For me, work is talent. When you read the book by Karl Anders Ericsson (a leading authority on this subject), it requires hours of practice. I’ve been teaching for almost 17 years since I started in France, I’ve been watching hockey for a long time,” he noted.
In his approach, Allard seeks to maximize a player’s identity in relation to “the things that this player does so well and differently from others.” From there, he sees the rest as building a house that progresses step by step.
“Players like McDavid, (Leon) Draisaitl, (Nathan) MacKinnon or (Cale) Makar, they have little things in their movements that you can improve and elements of their preparation as well,” mentioned Allard, who spends three hours polish an educational video intended for McDavid or MacKinnon for example.
Allard also makes sure to expose the tendencies of their opponents.
“It’s not easy for a player to know everything the others are doing. Yes, you have one feeling of your opponents that you know best. But it is difficult to understand 700 players well so I provide them with help to better adjust to their opponents and, at the same time, improve their performance,” he suggested.
With the Avalanche, a big part of Allard’s mandate was finding little nuances or opportunities for the team to explode offensively. “And I’m talking about the 5-on-5 game, not the power play. It’s something I enjoy doing,” Allard said as the Avalanche finished second in goals scored in 2021-22.
The offensive side is in vogue in the NHL with the evolution of the game. But defensive awareness remains very important to aspire to great honors.
“I look at several trends including building offense from F3 (the least advanced attacker in the offensive zone), but among teams that are good offensively and respected defensively. Because even Edmonton, which scores almost four goals per game, wants to improve its defensive game to win the championship,” he described.
Ultimately, whether at Perfect Skating or with an NHL team, Allard is aiming for this goal.
“A hockey game is very reactionary. But the best players are never reactionary. And even for them, we want to increase the percentage of the time that they are not reactionary. When you can build that in a player, he will explode,” targeted Allard, who we would like to listen to during a session on the ice with the hockey elite.
