‘I’ve missed enough’: Wade Allison is ready to put his injuries behind him, do the dirty work for Flyers

With his arm fully inserted into a pregnant cow on his cattle farm in Myrtle, Manitoba, Kent Allison taught his adolescent son, Wade, a lesson in doing the dirty work.

Or, perhaps, Kent tried to teach him a lesson. Wade was preoccupied, vomiting off to the side while his father coaxed a calf out of the cow’s birth canal. The younger Allison called the process “gross,” but for Kent, that calf would become associated with gross earnings. Kent raised the calf and sold it to support his family.

» READ MORE: Flyers bring back talented but oft-injured winger Wade Allison

Wade spent intervals of that delivery with his eyes fixed to the ground, but the image of the birth and a core value are eternally etched in his psyche — not everything’s pretty, but the dirty work has got to be done. And there’s certainly no point in whining about it.

“If he didn’t do that, that’s 1,000 bucks that you don’t make,” Wade told The Inquirer. “That’s the grossest 1,000 bucks I’ve ever seen anybody make, but you know what? That’s the business. That’s what you have to do.”

Allison, 24, didn’t follow in his father’s boot prints on the family farm. However, he applies that same outlook to his so-far injury-riddled career with the Flyers. In just the last season alone, his second with the team, the right winger suffered a high-ankle sprain, an elbow injury, and an MCL sprain.

Those three unrelated injuries caused Allison to miss a maximum of 47 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, not factoring in the number of games he could have played for the Flyers. Those weren’t his first injury woes. He started the 2020-21 season on injured reserve after undergoing ankle surgery. He also suffered an ACL tear in college at Western Michigan.

But going into Flyers training camp fully healthy and eyeing an opening-night roster spot, Allison refuses to sulk about the worst parts of his job as a professional hockey player — injuries and the rehab process.

“It’s just who I am,” Allison said. “[I] decided there’s no point in complaining. Show up, do the work. It’s just kind of how I was taught growing up. You don’t have to like everything you’re doing. Got to do it anyway.”

When Allison took the ice for warmups before his first — and only — Flyers game of the 2021-22 season on Jan. 22 in Buffalo, he said he felt like he was living his NHL debut all over again.

After all, it had been 257 days since he had played an NHL game. A pair of injuries added to that gap. During the Flyers’ second rookie game against the New York Rangers last September, Allison sprained his ankle after falling awkwardly into the boards. In his third game back with the Phantoms in December, Allison tore three ligaments in his left elbow when he went to check an opponent.

Four games into his return to the Phantoms in mid-January, Allison was called up by the Flyers. Happiness turned to horror in the second period when Allison collided with Sabres goalie Michael Houser and sprained his left MCL.

“I felt the pull,” Allison said. “And then I was skating back to the bench. I didn’t really have too much pain, but I had no control over my knee. It was almost like ... I almost can’t even explain it. It felt like it was going left and right at the same time.”

Nearly seven weeks after spraining his knee, Allison returned to the Phantoms for a home game against the Laval Rocket. In his first shift of the game, an opponent stepped on Allison’s right hand. After the whistle blew for a stoppage of play, Allison noticed a stinging sensation on the back of his hand as he skated to the bench. He took his glove off, revealing a blood-soaked hand that left a trail of red in his path.

Allison rushed back to the locker room, where medical staff sewed a vein back together to stop the bleeding. There was never a doubt in Allison’s mind that he would return to the game.

“I was like, ‘I’ve missed enough,’” Allison said. “I need to get back out there now. I was trying to be polite to the doctors. I’m like, ‘Hey, I know what you’re doing. Could you speed it up here a little bit? I’ve got some hockey to play.’”

With his right hand totally numb for the rest of the game, Allison picked up two assists and scored the winning goal in the Phantoms’ 4-3 victory over the Rocket. He finished the season with the Phantoms, scoring 10 goals and registering seven assists in 28 games.

The Flyers sent a straightforward message to Allison going into the offseason — stay healthy. Short of cloaking himself in bubble wrap — “I would try it,” Allison said. “I’ll try anything.” — he has succeeded thus far.

Allison’s quintessential gritty, all-out style of play isn’t going anywhere. But he’s committed to refining his game, exhibiting more control as recommended by the development staff. If Allison can stay healthy, he could bring a welcome shooting presence to a roster devoid of goal-scorers, especially with winger Joel Farabee (disk replacement surgery) likely to miss the start of the season.

“The injuries happen when you overextend,” Allison said. “And it’s not on purpose. I’m out there trying as hard as I possibly can. And you overextend yourself here, you get caught there, and then all of a sudden you’re done for a while. So just to be more in control, I guess. Still work as hard. Still work every bit as hard. Just pick your spots, I guess, a little bit better.”

Allison’s scars from plenty of surgeries and lacerations over the years are hardly visible thanks to swaths of colorful tattoos covering his body. An inch-long, faint pink mark on top of his right wrist from a skate blade sits hidden at the base of a depiction of the Royal Liver Building, a historic structure in Liverpool, England, featuring a clock tower.

“Everybody gets 24 hours in a day,” Allison said. “Do what you’ve got to do to stand out.”

Even less visible are the mental struggles that came with the physical ones. Following his college career, Allison found himself injured more frequently, which took a toll on his mental health.

He made it a priority to read and be aware of his thoughts. Allison takes roughly 15 minutes every day to slow down and meditate, being present by himself and for himself. It’s a ritual he’s been working on for the last couple of years. He said he’ll work on it for the rest of his life.

“[I] have certain rules I like to keep in my mind, correct my thoughts,” Allison said. “Select your thoughts the same way select clothes every morning. You’re not the voice inside your head. You’re the one listening to it. So it’s up to you to control what goes on up there and make sure that every day, you’re putting the right thoughts in your head, the right fuel in your body. It’s a 24-hour job.”

Allison arrived in Voorhees in late August and settled into an Airbnb, happy with the mindset he’s bringing to training camp, which starts Sept. 21. The 2021-22 season taught him resilience, as he rolled with adversity and persisted.

He is also pleased with his conditioning following a summer of training at Beyond the Next Level in Oakville, Ontario. Trainer Dan Ninkovich even placed a small photo of Flyers head coach John Tortorella on the table in front of Allison’s stall as added motivation and a friendly joke. Eventually, Tiny Tortorella migrated to the inside wall of the stall.

“I thought that was kind of funny,” Allison said. “I left it there for a couple of days. Makes you work a little harder.”

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In May, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said that it’s “now or never” for a group of 24- and 25-year-old players including Allison who are looking to become full-time NHL players. Allison understands that he has a lot to prove to the front office.

“I just want to show him that I belong here,” Allison said. “I believe that I can play in the NHL. I really truly do. And just go out there and just be me. Do what I’ve got to do. Play hard, work hard, and the rest will take care of itself.”

With an adversity-laden season behind him and training camp on the horizon, Allison is prepared to put in the dirty work in an effort to make the Flyers’ roster. It’s just who he is.