Allen Loans Three Players to AHL This Week, Steve Martinson's Op-Ed, Allen vs Kansas City Preview, Americans on Record Overtime Pace and More

Before I preview Allen's game in Kansas City tonight I wanted to share a conversation I had with coach Martinson about recruitment, loaning players and contract players. This has been the topic of conversation many times this season when talking to fans as well as the coaches. Let's start with the numbers.


- Just this week Martinson loaned Les Lancaster to San Antonio, Turner Ottenbreit to Iowa and Gabe Gagne to Rockford. Three other players signed by coach Martinson have been with AHL teams all season. Matt Register and Josh Atkinson in Iowa and Jake Doty in Ontario. In addition Brett Pollock and Jake Paterson have spent time in the AHL this season.


- The numbers above do include the eight NHL/AHL contracted players on the Allen roster who can be recalled at any time. Of the eight contracted players four (Sheehy, Boka, Baribeau, Shortridge) have spent time in the AHL this season.


- Steve Martinson has always been known as a coach who loans players and that is part of his recruitment process. Here are Martinson's thoughts on recruitment, loaning players and contract players. If I was a real journalist I would call this a Steve Martinson Op-Ed. One thing you can always be assured of when you ask Steve Martinson his opinion on a topic is you will get his honest answer.  

"We tell our players that if they come to Allen we will loan them. I always answer the phone when AHL teams call. It is not like we want to lose our players but my word is good. AHL teams tell me about coaches that don't answer and wait to call back until after they have seen a player get called up. It is not hard to tell which teams don't want to loan their players."

"I said at the beginning of the season to beat Newfoundland you are either going to need a lot of contracted players assigned or gamble on signing ex AHL players. Signing free agent players that are good enough to play in the AHL is a risk. We didn't get enough contracted players assigned so if you want to be good enough to win you have to gamble and that is what we did."

"Newfoundland, who has won 16 straight home games, has a team made up almost entirely of one way AHL contracted players from Toronto. When the Toronto AHL coach, Sheldon Keefe, went to the Maple Leafs to replace Mike Babcock, one writer referred to Toronto's AHL roster as being by far the most expensive in the league. It is no secret the Toronto organization spends like no other. To put it in perspective they average 14 guys that make three times what Chad Costello made in Allen. It is just wishful thinking for our owners to think anyone else will duplicate Toronto's spending. We should cap the number of contracted players for the same reason we have a salary cap. There is something called the mean, our league isn't about who can spend the most money. The ECHL should have caps and budgets that allow for more parity and a chance for more teams to compete and stay in business."

"The majority of AHL teams have budgets restraints and they don't care who wins in our league. It is like the lottery, we have 25 teams hoping they can win the 15 one way ticket jackpot. It is not a realistic strategy."



ALLEN VS KANSAS CITY PREVIEW

- The Americans are in Kansas City tonight to take on the Mavericks in the fourth of eight meetings between these teams this season. The visiting team has won the three previous games. Allen won the first meeting 4-2 (November 19), Kansas City won 5-3 and 4-2 in Allen on January 2 and 3.


- The Mavericks enter the game tonight after being on the road for nine of their last 10 games. They won four straight including two games in Allen early in the road trip but have lost their last three games. In the three game losing streak the Mavericks scored just two goals and were outscored 15-2. Just like Allen, the Mavericks are dealing with roster issues. Their leading scorer and captain, Rocco Carzo was hurt on their road trip to Newfoundland along with defenseman Justin Woods. Two other defensemen have been playing with cages. Another forward, Ryan Galt was injured recently and will be out a while. Their highest points per game player (1.33), Mitch Hults is currently in Stockton (AHL).


- Allen will have enough players even though three players (Lancaster, Ottenbreit, Gagne) were loaned to AHL teams this week and two players (Asuchak, Campbell) stayed home with illness/injury.


- Allen has won three of their last four games with two of the wins coming in overtime. Just like the Mavericks the Americans have allowed 15 goals in the last three games. Coach Martinson spent the majority of practice time this week working on drills to deal with the all of the goals allowed in recent games.


-  Despite vastly different records, Allen is first in the division with a record of 27-8-6-1 while Kansas City is last in the division with a record of 17-19-2-0, these teams are close in many stats. The Mavericks have the edge when comparing Allen's road and Kansas City's home special teams stats. The Mavericks have the edge on the power play (17.2% vs 15.2%) and the penalty kill (80.8% vs 79.4%).


- Allen beats the Mavericks in average goals scored (3.86 vs 3.13) and average goals allowed (3.24 vs 3.32).


- Dereck Baribeau will get the start in goal for Allen. Dereck is 3-1 with a GAA of 3.48 and a save percentage .906.


- Allen has had a lot of practice in playing close games with the 17 overtime games they have been involved in this season. The Americans have only lost one game in regulation time by one goal. Their overall record in one goal games is 13-1-6-1.


- Right after the game tonight the Americans will get on the bus and make the 475 mile trek back to Allen where they will have a rematch with Kansas City on Monday afternoon (1:05 pm). 



OTHER COMMENTS

- Zach Sawchenko was in goal last night for the San Jose Barracuda as they beat Iowa 3-1. He stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn his third win in four decisions since being recalled by San Jose. Zach is making the most of his opportunity with a GAA of 1.74 and save percentage of .937.


- Matt Register was in the lineup for Iowa in the loss to San Jose. He has been in Iowa all season on a tryout agreement and has played in 21 of Iowa's 41 games. He has just one point, a goal back on October 18. Turner Ottenbreit who was just loaned to Iowa was a healthy scratch.


- Les Lancaster had an assist in his first game with San Antonio as the Rampage beat Toronto 4-3 on Thursday. San Antonio was idle last night and will play Wilkes-Barrie/Scranton at home tonight.


- You never know how long players who are loaned will be gone but it is likely some of these recent loans will be short term.


- Congrats to Casey Pierro-Zabotel who played in his 600th ECHL game last night. Since Casey came into the league in 2009-10 he is #2 in games played, #1 in points (530), #2 in goals (167) and #1 in assists (363). Casey was injured most of last season in Allen but has come back strong this season playing for Adirondack. He is the only player on the team that has played in all 42 games and he leads the team in goals (18).



DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans have gone to overtime in 17 of their 42 games this season  and are on record pace. At their current pace the Americans will go to overtime 29 times this season. Here are the leaders in overtime games for each season since Allen joined the ECHL:

29 - 2019-20 (Allen projected, 17 through 42 games)
21 - 2018-19 (Rapid City)
22 - 2017-18 (Utah, Colorado)
20 - 2016-17 (Missouri)
19 - 2015-16 (Atlanta)
21 - 2014-15 (Indy)