For general manager Steve Martinson recruiting his team in the off season is paramount to having a successful season. Managing the roster during the season is equally important and takes up much more time than most would realize. The Allen Americans roster is currently comprised of 22 players including two goalies, eight defensemen and 12 forwards. Just as a reminder there are three components to the total number of
players on a team. The active roster can be up to 21 players for the first
month of the season and then goes to 20 however all of the players on the active roster must fit under the salary cap. In addition to the active roster there can be two
players on reserve. They can be moved off and on reserve at the team's discretion, the one exception is if you change a player's salary while on reserve they must sit out one game. The third component of the roster is injured reserve and there can be an unlimited number of players on
21 day injured reserve as long as they are certified by the medical
staff as injured. The 21 day IR is a minimum of 21 days, not a maximum.
- With the above in mind here is the current status of the Allen roster based on transaction changes reported by the ECHL yesterday. Jaynen Rissling and Vincent Arseneau have been activated from reserve. Peter MacArthur has been returned from bereavement leave and placed on reserve. Joel Chouinard has been placed on reserve. Finally, Mathieu Aubin and Miles Liberati have been placed on the 21 day injured reserve effective October 15. The players on reserve (MacArthur & Chouinard) can and most likely will change before the game on Saturday. The players on injured reserve will not be eligible to play for three weeks.
- The other roster change that could happen anytime is loans/call ups to the AHL. San Jose has five contracted players assigned to Allen (Asuchak, Makowski, Moore, Schoenborn, Williams) and the Barracuda are playing with a very lean roster. According to the AHL website the Barracuda have 13 forwards on the roster and remember in the AHL 12 forwards typically dress for each game. There are seven defensemen on the roster with six typically dressing for each game. That means the Barracuda have one extra forward, one extra defenseman and no extra goalies. If there are any injuries in San Jose (Sharks or Barracuda) it is almost certain they would take someone off the Allen roster. After a home game tonight the Barracuda have a five game road trip which includes four games in eight days with stops to play the Cleveland Monsters, San Antonio Rampage and Texas Stars. With a swing through Texas you could easily see one of the Allen players being called up.
- One of the many pleasures in writing this blog is meeting the families of the players. Yesterday at practice I met Jaynen Rissling's dad, Kelly, who is a real estate broker in Edmonton. Kelly played some professional hockey and shared with me he received a few face washes from Steve Martinson back in the early 1980's when they both played in the International Hockey League. Whenever I do player profiles I often hear about the sacrifices their parents made in time and money so they could pursue their love of hockey. Kelly shared with me what the last week was like for him. He drove Jaynen's truck from Edmonton to Rapid City to watch Jaynen play and hand over the truck. Jaynen did not play in either game in Rapid because of an injury. Kelly then drove to Allen from Rapid City with Jaynen, stayed a couple of days and watched practice but had to fly back to Edmonton yesterday. The tally for the week is 2100 driving miles from Edmonton to Rapid City to Allen and a four hour flight back to Edmonton all without getting to watch Jaynen play. That is a dad who loves his kids. Incidentally one of Kelly's daughters is on the Canadian women's Olympic bobsled team so he will be in South Korea in February watching her compete.
- If you are on Facebook you may have had the chance to check out the first in a series of ECHL games that will be broadcast via Facebook live this season. The Rapid City vs Allen game last Friday was the first ECHL Showcase game. According to ECHL Director of Communications, Joe Babik, there will be a showcase game every other Friday, so the next game will be on October 27th. The full schedule probably won't be released until sometime next week. All 27 teams will be featured during the course of the 2017-18 season. A great way to check out teams around the ECHL at no cost.
- The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) has adopted a playoff format for the upcoming season that is unique where the top teams will pick their opponent in the first round of the playoffs. This concept is not new as it has been used in Austria and Sweden. You never know where this might end up. After all, the SPHL was where 3 on 3 overtime hockey first started. Here is the story with all of the details: http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/10/16/sphl-gets-creative-adopts-pick-your-opponent-playoff-format/
- There are some gaudy shooting percentages for a few Allen players which accounts for a lofty team shooting percentage of 19.4%. A team shooting percentage of around 13% will typically lead the league. Check out these percentages after the first two games.
50% - Joel Chouinard has one goal on two shots
50% - Dalton Thrower has one goal on two shots
40% - Jonathan Lessard has two goals on five shots
37.5% - Zach Pochiro has three goals on eight shots
33.3% - Bryan Moore has one goal on three shots
25% - Olivier Archambault has two goals on eight shots
25% - Casey Pierro-Zabotel has one goal on four shots
DID YOU KNOW: Allen forward Mathieu Aubin is third all-time on the ECHL playoff games played list. He has been in the playoffs seven times (five with Cincinnati and two with Utah) and played in 93 playoff games which includes two Kelly Cups in Cincinnati (2008 & 2010). He needs 11 more playoff games to take over the all-time lead. Since joining the ECHL Allen has never played in fewer than 11 playoff games in a season. Good chance Mathieu could be #1 by the end of this season.
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