We are back from visiting family (3-year-old granddaughter) in the Washington, DC area. I have a few things to cover this morning, plus a favor to ask:
- The Americans don't play again until Saturday, when Tulsa is in town after beating Allen twice last week, 4-1 and 4-3 in overtime. The team had a late practice yesterday after Coach Martinson had a team meeting. I attended practice, and from what I observed, it was a good practice. Here is what I picked up:
- As is always the case, some players are dealing with medical issues, but it is expected that everyone, except Malik Johnson, will be available for the game on Saturday and the long road trip to Idaho and Utah next week.
- Mark Duarte has been loaned to Belleville and is expected to be in the lineup. The Senators play in Rochester tonight, Utica on Friday, and Syracuse on Saturday.
- It is a great opportunity for Mark after he had an excellent training camp with Belleville. How long will Duarte be in Belleville? I am reminded of a story Martinson told me years ago about getting a request to loan this player just for the weekend, and he was gone for the rest of the season. All that ECHL contracted players, who are loaned, ask for is an opportunity, and that sometimes leads to an AHL contract. It would be great to see Duarte have success with Belleville, get signed to an AHL deal, and not return to Allen until the playoffs.
- With Duarte on loan, I decided to look at the Mountain Division and compare rosters to see how many NHL/AHL players are assigned and how many ECHL contracted players are loaned. Here is what I found. FYI, net help is NHL/AHL contracted players assigned minus ECHL contracted players loaned:
- Allen
- 1 player assigned
- 1 player loaned
- 0 net help
- Idaho
- 6 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +6 net help
- Kansas City
- 6 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +6 net help
- Rapid City
- 10 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +10 net help
- Tahoe
- 6 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +6 net help
- Tulsa
- 6 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +6 net help
- Utah
- 8 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +8 net help
- Wichita
- 6 players assigned
- 0 players loaned
- +6 net help
- Here is a recap of the stats above showing the net help for each team, which shows how little help the Americans are getting from Ottawa/Belleville. Note: Allen is the only Mountain Division team that currently has an ECHL-contracted player loaned to the AHL. FYI, this info is from ECHL transactions and can change daily. All ECHL contracted players currently on loan to the NHL/AHL (11 of them) are listed in the "DID YOU KNOW" section below:
- +10 Rapid City
- +8 Utah
- +6 Tulsa
- +6 Kansas City
- +6 Tahoe
- +6 Wichita
- 0 Allen
- Based on what I saw at practice yesterday, you can look for more line changes and power play unit changes for the game on Saturday. Loaning Mark Duarte is a big part of the changes, but Martinson is also looking to get speed on every line.
- Based on my conversations with Coach Martinson, I wouldn't look for any roster changes unless:
- Jackson Parsons is not assigned to Allen before the team leaves on the road trip next week.
- Injuries add to the 14-day IR
- A new CBA is approved.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen has played fewer games (9) than any other team in the Mountain Division, and the gap will widen with the Americans playing just one game until November 18. By my calculation, the games played by each Mountain Division team when Allen opens its series with Idaho on the 18th will be as follows. Allen will have a lot of games in hand:
- 14 games - Idaho
- 14 games - Tahoe
- 13 games - Kansas City
- 13 games - Utah
- 13 games - Wichita
- 13 games - Rapid City
- 11 games - Tulsa
- 10 games - Allen
- Years ago, I created a YouTube channel, which I primarily used to post interviews with Steve Martinson. I have decided to experiment with doing more videos with players and post them on my YouTube channel. FYI, this is not an attempt to make money (I will make none), but an effort to avoid transcribing audio into the blog. I can post this video content more often and more quickly. I ask this favor: if you use YouTube, please subscribe to the Allen Americans Blog channel. I will attempt to do the first video after practice today and upload it to my Allen Americans Blog YouTube channel this afternoon. Thanks
- There are four games on the ECHL schedule tonight, with three Mountain Division teams in action. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/11/echl-today-nov-12
DID YOU KNOW: In addition to having NHL/AHL contracted players assigned, ECHL teams also loan their contracted players to the NHL/AHL. Per ECHL transactions, 11 players are currently loaned to AHL teams. If they do well, these players could earn an AHL contract. This list is as of this morning, but can change daily:
And nobody is actually surprised that our "affiliate" is taking more than they're giving.
ReplyDeleteCome back and revisit this post and date this time next year.
DeleteBelleville is a one and done.
Wont be our affiliate next year.
Need to deal with the hand we have right now and hope Duarte kills it and progresses to the NHL.
Ownership, Leadership and SM are looking at a long term partner for affiliation as opposed to the transactional relationships we have had historically.
Any idea who??
DeleteThis will be a one and done with the Sens and the end of bad affiliations. Marty likely had a long term and actually helpful partner lined up for this offseason.
DeleteBelleville sucks as our affiliate!!!! They helped Orlando a ton last year. To bad we can get another one now
ReplyDeleteThey didn't have an affiliation with Orlando last year.
DeleteOrlando's AHL affiliation was Syracuse.
Belleville did not have an ECHL affiliation last year.
How do the affiliations work? Is Ottawa/Belleville obligated to loan players to Allen or are the Americans on their own? What happens if Duarte is signed long term to Belleville? Does Allen get paid a transfer fee like in soccer? Is Belleville obligated to send a player to Allen as replenishment? If Allen has only received one player on loan when the average seems to be around 7 what exactly is the benefit to Allen in the arrangement?
ReplyDelete1. Not obligated, but somewhat likely needed over the course of a season.
Delete2. It is more beneficial to the AHL team as an immediate cover, but can be beneficial downstream (ECHL) where they do get legit AHL quality players.
3. Allen gets $0 if Duarte stays in Belleville. Allen is the farm system.
4. Benefit to Allen is things change and we get Parsons back, plus we get AHL players over the course of the season and then hopefully back in red for a playoff run.
Costello went out and sought players during 2023 from other AHL teams that believed in Costello.
Last season we got Matikka, Gavin, Wells (G), Thornton (G) from Tucson. Duarte last season got a game with Cleveland (AHL). Based on our performances, last season was a miserable write off.
We were late to the table this season, behind the 8 ball, we settled on Belleville. Let's see how the season plays out. Hopefully the return is the same to us as the deliverables to Belleville.
Go Red!
Thanks, that helps. Ottawa/Belleville doesn't seem like the best partnership for Allen given the geography. Utah/Tucson seems like a better fit but for some reason they chose not to renew. Dallas/Austin really seems the most logical but I get that they might want to cover different parts of the country
DeleteOn that topic, I know there has long been bad blood between the Americans and the Stars. It would seem so long ago that the major players would all be somewhere else now. Is there anyone here who really knows what happened and can enlighten the ones who don't know and the ones who are new?
DeleteThe Idaho Steelheads and Texas Stars are affiliated with Dallas
DeleteThe above questions are not facetious. I am really trying to learn how all this works
ReplyDeleteFor the last almost decade Allen has been at the bottom of the league in number of AHL players sent down to play in Allen. It has long been a we provide all the help and get little back proposition
ReplyDeleteRiley Gill nominated to the ECHL hall of fame is great to see and well deserved.
ReplyDeleteBarry, love the videos, keep them up.
ReplyDeleteThey will get more views as people figure them out and know where to go.