Nolan Allan still has some NHL upside.

That’s what multiple league sources told San Jose Hockey Now, after the San Jose Sharks acquired the 22-year-old defenseman, along with veteran goalie Laurent Brossoit and a 2028 seventh-round pick, for Jake Furlong and Ryan Ellis’s contract and a Sharks’ 2028 fourth-rounder.

The 6-foot-2 left-hander, the No. 32 pick of the 2021 Draft, has two goals and six points in 29 appearances with the Rockford IceHogs this season. He hasn’t played for the Blackhawks this year.

Allan averaged 20:45 a night in Rockford, third among IceHogs defensemen. He was a regular penalty killer, too.

Last season, Allan did spend over half the season in the NHL, notching a goal and eight points in 43 contests.

So what kind of player is Allan? And what’s his ceiling?

“Defensive defenseman. Steady. Decent puck mover,” an NHL scout said.

“Good player, size, sense, compete. Skating and skill are okay,” AHL Executive #1 said. “Similar to [Vincent] Iorio in some ways.”

So Allan is a stay-at-home, first pass blueliner.

League sources have a consensus on Allan’s ceiling, too.

“Not sure [if he’s NHL],” the scout said.

But if he is? “Third-pairing. Limited guy.”

AHL Exec #1 likes him more: “Bottom-pairing. I think he’s more of an NHL’er than Iorio, but that’s just my opinion.”

“I think he can play [in the NHL],” AHL Exec #2 said. “Bottom-pairing. Big guy. It was worth the chance of getting him.”

For what it’s worth, the San Jose Sharks have been keeping tabs on the young defenseman.

“We’ve talked about him a lot in our organization. He’s a guy we liked,” Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said.

Warsofsky has a deep group of AHL contacts, including Allan’s uncle, Milwaukee Admirals head coach Karl Taylor, so he knows Allan’s game well from afar.

“Stay-at-home D that can really defend and hard to play against,” Warsofsky said. “He knows the position really well, which is a big positive for a young defenseman. He knows what he is, his identity.”

And it appears that’s what Allan provided in his San Jose Sharks’ organization debut on Saturday, the San Jose Barracuda’s 4-3 OT victory over the Bakersfield Condors.

“He was steady,” Barracuda head coach John McCarthy said afterwards. “That’s what we were looking for out of him. Be a good defender. Make a good first pass.”

“We’re excited about him,” Warsofsky said. “I think he’s got a bright future.”