An Allen Americans Update From the Roster to the Affiliation, ECHL Mascot of the Year Voting, Steve Martinson Update, ECHL Player Announcements

I just finished writing this long epistle only to realize for some reason most of the blog is in black on a red background and may be difficult to read. I apologize for that but want to get this posted ASAP.

It has been a long time since I posted an update on the Allen Americans. Nancy and I just returned from two weeks in Europe driving from Prague, Czech Republic to Bratislava, Slovakia to Budapest. Hungary. it was very educational learning about the history of these countries especially the impact of WW l and WW ll when the Nazis and then the Communists were in control before these countries gained their independence. While the big cities were amazing the small towns and villages provided many surprises. One of these surprises was fishing related. The small-town of Trebon (population 8000) in the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic is the center of a fishing region that includes over 500 fishing ponds that were constructed from the 13^th century onward. The individual ponds vary significantly in size and are connected by a labyrinth of canals, ditches and streams. The initial construction had the primary intent of draining the area, particularly swamps with aquaculture a secondary goal.

The primary fish raised in these ponds is the delicacy of the Trebon Carp. Carp is considered a trash fish in most of America but not in these countries. The centuries old tradition of eating carp for Christmas dinner is alive and well in the Czech Republic. If you thought eating carp was the strangest part of the tradition, think again. What is truly odd is families usually buy the carp a few days before Christmas from one of the many carp stalls or stands and keep them alive in the bathtub.

In the fall you can fish the ponds but most of the fish are caught by commercial fishermen that catch the fish with nets as the ponds are drained. The Trebon Carp is very much controlled (by the European Union) even though over 50 tons of Christmas Carp are sourced from ponds all over the Czech Republic. 

FYI, the ponds in the Trebon basin are proposed for inclusion as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I couldn't resist partaking in this gastronomic delight even though we had already had lunch. A quick stop at a street vendor on the Town Square for a full portion of fresh Trebon Carp Chips. The carp was delicious which was undoubtedly helped by the fact it was fresh and it was fried.  Might be time to do some carp fishing in Texas!

 

Trying fried Trebon Carp Chips in Czech Republic

 

 

- I have had a few days to get caught up with what is happening with the Allen Americans so wanted to share the latest from my reporting and my educated guess as what is to come. 

- Allen made its first player announcement (Easton Brodzinski) while I as was in Europe and it was an important one considering I don't expect most of Allen's top scorers from last season (McAuley, Crone, Murray, Myllari, MacArthur) will return. Here is what I posted on social media about Brodzinski. 

 

Easton Brodzinski returns to Allen. In 2023-24 he was #1 in shooting percentage (16.4%), #2 in goals (22), #3 in PIMS (91) and #4 in games played (62). From 12/8/23 to 01/13/24 he scored 16 goals in 18 games. He will be a key player on the team in 2024-25. This will be his third pro season (107 pro games) and he will be asked to play a prominent role on the team.

 

 

- Everyone is always asking when will the next player announcement happen. Good news is that will happen today and it will be another returning young player that will be an important piece of the puzzle for Allen in 2024-25.

 

 

- The ECHL released the list of players that received qualifying offers yesterday and it surprised me that Allen only qualified two players, the fewest in the league. Liam Finlay, who has already signed in Europe and Ty Farmer. Here is my ECHL Stats post from this morning that shows the number of qualified players for every ECHL team.

 

Here are the number of players that received qualifying offers for each ECHL team:

- A maximum of eight players can be qualified.

- Players already signed do not need to be qualified.

- Vets are not typically qualified because they can eventually become free agents.

- Qualifying offer requires a minimum 5% pay increase.

- Teams with lower numbers of qualified players either have a lot of players already signed or are moving on from players from last season or a combination of both. All players that did not receive a qualifying offer and are unsigned are now free agents and can sign with any team.

 

8: ADK, CIN, FW, GVL, IA, JAX, KAL, KC, MNE, RC, SAV, TOL, TR, TUL, UTA, WHL, WIC, WOR

7: IDH, IND, REA, SC

6: ATL, NOR

4: FLA, ORL

2: ALN

 

If you haven't seen the list of players by team here is the ECHL press release. You will find some former Allen players on these team by team lists: https://echl.com/news/2024/07/echl-announces-players-with-qualifying-offers

 

 

 

- Why did Allen only qualify two players? There is always a lot of guesswork when you look at the players on the season-ending roster and try to figure out what is going on. Remember there were 19 players on the Americans season-ending roster and a maximum of eight could have been qualified. Here is my take on where Allen might be on these 19 players and why only two were qualified.

 

• Players already signed don't need to be qualified so Brodzinski is covered. The real guessing game is players that may be signed but not announced. Young players that played well last season and were on the playoff roster would definitely be qualified unless they are already signed. You have to assume young players like Marco Constantini, Ryan Gagnon, Justin Allen, Nolan Orzeck, James Hardie and Chaz Smedsrud fall into this category and that is why they are not on the qualified list.   
  
• Veterans are typically not qualified because they can become free agents on August 8, so that is why Colton Hargrove, Colby McAuley, Kris Myllari, Eric Williams and Matt Marcinew weren't qualified. I do not expect any of these players will return in 2024-25, but that is just my opinion.
• That leaves five players, Andrew Jarvis, Dalton Gally, Dalton Skelly, Kameron Keilly and Solag Bakich that played more limited roles last season. They could be signed, but more likely they may be free agents at this point and are free to sign with any team.  

I want to stress this is my best guess on what is going on with these players based on going through this exercise for many years in the past. I will not get these right in every case but it should be close.  

 

 

- The other big mystery to be answered is what is happening with affiliations in Allen and around the ECHL. As usual at this point in the off-season very few opportunities to affiliate are left. Most recently Cincinnati won the lottery as it was announced the Cyclones will be affiliated with Toronto. That means Cincinnati will get a bunch of NHL/AHL contracted players from Toronto and will be one of the favorites to in the Central Division. 

 

I think there are just five NHL teams that have not named an ECHL affiliate and they are Carolina, Columbus, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Utah. The no-brainer on this list is Las Vegas. The Zawyer owns the Savannah Ghost Pirates who were affiliated with Las Vegas last season and switched to the Florida Panthers for 2024-25. That means Las Vegas can affiliate with the Zawyer owned Tahoe Knight Monsters. Not sure why that hasn't been announced but it would be a shock if that didn't happen. Three-peat Kelly Cup champions Florida is looking for an affiliate after the NHL Florida Panthers switched to Savannah. The Everblades have been affiliated with Carolina in the past so it is possible that could happen again and the geography is favorable.

 

- That leaves the Allen Americans the only other team looking for an affiliate. If you look at the ECHL website it shows Allen is still affiliated with Ottawa, but that one year agreement expired at the end of the 2023-24 season. Based on the amount of help Allen received the past two seasons from the Senators, I don't see that agreement being extended. If that is the case Allen will end up affiliating with one of the three NHL teams left (Columbus, St. Louis, Utah). The most intriguing of these options is Utah who has moved from Arizona. The NHL team was just bought by the majority owner of the NBA Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, who became a billionaire before he was 40 by selling the tech company he started. Very similar to Mark Cuban's path into professional sports. He is also the owner of a MLS soccer team, Real Salt Lake City. Smith is known for being hands-on and all-in in everything he does. Not sure which of the three teams Allen will end up affiliating with, but Utah could end up being a real good opportunity. I know some of you have conjectured Allen will not have an affiliate in 2024-25 and will be independent and there is no chance that will happen. FYI, here is a profile about Ryan Smith from a year ago before he bought the NHL Arizona Coyotes. https://www.capitalism.com/ryan-smiths-net-worth-how/   

 

 

- When will the Allen Americans announce its affiliation? My understanding is the tentative plan is to have a joint meet new coach, B.J. Adams, and the affiliation announcement sometime during the last two weeks in July.  

 

 

-  The 2024 ECHL Mascot of the Year voting is currently underway from July 8-11. Here is a link where the voting takes place. Biscuit does a great job for the Allen Americans and certainly deserves this recognition. Throw him a bone and give him your votes: https://tinyurl/VoteBiscuit

 

 

- I Had a chance to check in with Steve Martinson who is headed to Athens, Georgia on Thursday and will be formally introduced as the coach of the Athens Rock Lobsters at a meet and greet with a Q & A session on Friday, which is right up his alley. The Rock Lobsters are a new franchise in the single A Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) that has been around since 2010. I asked Martinson why he signed to coach in the FPHL and he said, "I have had some other opportunities to coach but I knew if I was going to coach again it had to be with the right organization. This group is committed to everyone pulling in the same direction. We have a brand new rink and a great city to play in. Let's go!

 

Martinson will have the same style of team as he had in Allen and will set up the team the same way. He will have a combination of older players who want to win a championship and younger players that want to develop to move up or go to college. He has ECHL training camp slots to offer his recruits and will loan players to ECHL teams during the season. His team will play at the Classic Center Arena, a $150,000,000 new all purpose facility which will also be the home of the University of Georgia Ice Dawgs. The arena will hold 5500 for hockey and up to 8500 for concerts.

 

The Rock Lobsters play a 58 game schedule, but will not play a home game until December because the facility is behind schedule and will not ready. Martinson sounded like the four time Allen champion who plans to have the best team, the best rink, the best apartments, the best workout facility and the best players. He looks forward to meeting with fans after every game just like he did in Allen before COVID. His enthusiasm was palpable and there is little doubt his ability to recruit players that know his championship resume will put him in a position to win an 11th championship. 

 

Add the fact that Michelle Martinson will be managing the Rock Lobsters team store and they get to live and work in Athens, a college town culture, small city (130,000) 70 miles from Atlanta and they couldn't be happier.  

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: It is that time of year when ECHL teams start announcing players for the 2024-25 season. You can't tell much from the numbers because every team and coach takes a different approach:

• Some teams announce players almost in real time.
• Some coaches don't announce any players for fear it hurts in recruiting.  
• Some teams use announcements as a marketing tool and dribble them out over the summer.
• Some teams don't have many players to announce because they get so many NHL/AHL contracted players.

With all those caveats here are the 13 ECHL teams that have announced players as of early this morning:

 

• 8 - Trois Riviéres
• 7 - Florida, Fort Wayne
• 4 - Wichita
• 3 - Iowa, Maine
• 2 - Kansas City, Reading, Toledo, Worcester
• 1 - Allen, Norfolk, South Carolina