Shocker: Rumors Abound About Allen, Rapid, Brahmas, Wichita

I attended the "Championship Fan Fest" at the Allen Event Center yesterday which was a nice event for the fans to hear from Americans leadership (Miller, Matvichuk, Deitsch, Martinson, & Ludwig) and have the opportunity to talk to and get autographs from the players. As I was listening to the various speeches I couldn't help but look at all of the players sitting behind the podium and wonder who might be back next year.

In talking to the players yesterday it is apparent they are not staying around to bask in the glory very long. Drew Daniels has already left town as he is headed to Boston to enroll in summer school (Northeastern University) to work on finishing his degree and several of the players are leaving today and Tuesday.

 So as the season winds down I decided it is time to talk about all of the rumors I am hearing and sort out what is happening around the league for next year. These rumors take place every year so I am not saying they will all come true. I also don't have any "official" information other than maybe a slip of the tongue here and there. Most of my information comes from various other sources that do know what is going on with the franchise they follow. So here goes.

Fort Worth - The Brahmas will not be playing in the CHL next year. They had the following posted on their facebook page, "Between the long confusing off season last year and the growing pains and grind of this season, the staff is taking a bit of time to regroup while the owners decide their plan for next year. Stay tuned for details as soon as they emerge." There has been solicitation for new investors (listed on Sports Advisory Group) which also isn't a good sign. The bottom line on this one is Fort Worth goes dark next year and awaits a new building or they could go junior and get a NAHL franchise. By the way, I also heard from a reliable source that Dan Wildfong has talked to Arizona about their coaching vacancy which fits in with the Brahmas not operating in the CHL next year.

Rapid City - This is the worst kept secret of all of the off season moves as Rapid City is headed to the ECHL. The announcement was scheduled to take place Wednesday (5/15) but has been postponed. This story has even been discussed on the local television station. From what I have heard from folks in Rapid City nothing has happened to cause the delay other than scheduling conflicts that prevented all of the right people to be in Rapid City on the 15th.

St. Charles Chill - While the Chill are supposed to start operating this fall in the CHL this is most likely not going to happen. They too have been advertising for new investors with Sports Advisory Group. The coach as well as the general manager of the team never talk about the team. There is no activity on their web page and nobody is promoting the team from what I can tell. Unless a miracle happens quickly for the Chill they will be dark in the fall.


 Wichita - From what I have heard and read the ownership of the Thunder want to keep the franchise in the CHL. I have heard from what I consider a very reliable source that Wichita ownership is in fact spearheading an effort to buy the Central Hockey League from the current owners.

I have heard less about the other teams in the league other than the league is either helping or running Bloomington & Quad Cities. The Oilers may be looking at going junior. I did hear from one person that is well connected in the coaching circles of the CHL that Quad Cities was trying to get to the ECHL. Bloomington has supposedly applied for SPHL membership.  Arizona and Brampton have been having big season ticket promotions so they are going full speed ahead. The Mavs mostly likely stay in the CHL.

I have left our Allen Americans for the end because I have the most to say about our future. To lay the ground work the agreement the Americans have with the CHL is in fact for ten years and we have just finished our fourth year of that agreement. There has been much discussion about the minimum number of teams the league must maintain in order to live up to the agreement with the Americans. That number of teams is six. So as long as there are six teams remaining in the league the CHL fulfills the provision on number of teams to have a viable league. The question that may arise from a legal perspective is whether there are six teams in the league if the league itself has to prop up several of them financially. There could be other provisions of the agreement with the CHL that could create legal arguments to void the contract including the elimination of all of the Texas teams since Allen joined the league, the excessive travel with the addition of Brampton and immigration issues with having a CHL franchise in Canada. This is all conjecture but legal arguments can be made to void the contract.

It is my opinion that the Americans will be moving to the ECHL. I do not base this on any first hand information as everyone associated with the team that I talk to is very careful to tell me they hear rumors but have heard nothing from management about the move. So with all of the caveats, disclaimers, & warnings I say this will happen and it will happen soon. If it doesn't happen I don't mind eating crow as I am a lifelong bird hunter. Not only are the Americans moving to the ECHL there is some change of ownership in the works. I don't have specifics about this but have heard it enough times that I know something is happening. For those of you at the AEC yesterday did you notice the owner of Other Side Landscaping, Mike Holum, was down in the front with the team ownership and players. Not sure if this was a 'tell" or not but he was the only corporate sponsor I saw and I know there are bigger corporate sponsorships than his. This Holum angle is pure speculation but some type of ownership changes are forthcoming from everything I am picking up. Not sure if it is merely adding additional minority owners or something more major but something is happening.

So let's assume we get what many readers of this blog, including me, have been wishing for in a move to the ECHL. Be carefull what we wish for. Here are my thoughts:

- The ECHL veteran rule is 260 professional regular season games while the CHL rule is 301 games. In the CHL you can have six veterans while in the ECHL the number is four. I did a quick calculation and by my count nine players on this years final roster would be considered veterans in the ECHL next year. Here are the players with the number of professional games.
969 - Robinson
689 - Bootland
537 - Deitsch
391 - Lukin
339 - Pineault
339 - Silverthorn
324 - Hendrikx
305 - McKenzie
297 - Schaafsma
268 - Trevor Ludwig
---------------------------
238 - Berube
207 - Tyler Ludwig
171 - McMillin

So you can see the veteran rule alone will make a big impact on the make up of the 2013-2014 team.

- The style of play in the ECHL is one that emphasizes more speed so it will be important to recruit for speed. If we go about it the right way this will cause even more turnover of some popular players from this years team. This will not make the fans happy. The bottom line is we will need to put a team together next year that is younger and with more speed to be successful.

- Teams that have moved from the CHL to the ECHL have not been as successful as they were in the CHL. Colorado, Fort Wayne and Evansville are recent examples. There are many more established franchises in the ECHL with 23 teams and growing. The Americans will most likely be a middle of the pack or worse team. How will the fans who know nothing but winning adapt to less winning in a better league.

- If you look at the makeup of the ECHL they have two unbalanced conferences with the Eastern Conference  having three divisions with 14 teams while the Western Conference has only two divisions with 9 teams. Eight teams make the playoffs from each conference so you have the Western Conference with eight of nine teams making the playoffs. Here are the final standings from this year which show conferences and divisions by team.

	Eastern
Rank	Atlantic	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	S/O	PIM
1	y Reading Royals	72	46	19	3	4	99	0.688	246	185	0-1-0-1	8-1-0-1	3-4	1221
2	x Elmira Jackals	72	40	25	3	4	87	0.604	247	220	2-0-0-0	6-4-0-0	4-4	1210
3	Wheeling Nailers	72	31	29	3	9	74	0.514	193	225	0-1-0-1	4-5-0-1	7-9	1106
4	Trenton Titans	72	32	32	4	4	72	0.500	226	247	1-0-0-0	7-3-0-0	4-4	1171
Rank	North	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	S/O	PIM
1	y Cincinnati Cyclones	72	42	22	5	3	92	0.639	227	195	0-1-0-0	4-5-0-1	5-3	1119
2	x Toledo Walleye	72	37	26	5	4	83	0.576	224	195	2-0-0-0	6-4-0-0	0-4	982
3	Kalamazoo Wings	72	34	30	4	4	76	0.528	205	215	0-1-0-0	3-4-0-3	7-4	952
4	Fort Wayne Komets	72	33	35	1	3	70	0.486	205	246	1-0-0-0	4-5-0-1	4-3	1385
5	Evansville IceMen	72	25	40	3	4	57	0.396	207	272	2-0-1-0	3-5-1-1	3-4	1256
Rank	South	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	S/O	PIM
1	y Gwinnett Gladiators	72	43	26	2	1	89	0.618	211	191	2-0-0-0	8-2-0-0	3-1	1089
2	x Florida Everblades	72	39	22	4	7	89	0.618	260	241	5-0-0-0	7-2-0-1	2-7	1172
3	x South Carolina Stingrays	72	38	26	5	3	84	0.583	198	171	2-0-0-0	7-2-1-0	4-3	1006
4	x Greenville Road Warriors	72	36	28	2	6	80	0.556	226	219	0-3-0-0	4-4-0-2	8-6	1248
5	Orlando Solar Bears	72	28	37	3	4	63	0.438	197	253	0-4-0-0	2-7-0-1	6-4	1312
	Western
Rank	Mountain	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	S/O	PIM
1	z Alaska Aces	72	49	15	4	4	106	0.736	228	172	3-0-1-0	5-3-2-0	4-4	1086
2	x Idaho Steelheads	72	45	20	1	6	97	0.674	262	198	0-1-0-0	6-4-0-0	3-6	1337
3	x Colorado Eagles	72	34	31	3	4	75	0.521	239	224	1-0-0-1	4-4-1-1	3-4	1534
4	x Utah Grizzlies	72	29	30	4	9	71	0.493	217	277	1-0-0-0	5-1-0-4	6-9	1741
Rank	Pacific	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	S/O	PIM
1	y Ontario Reign	72	46	19	3	4	99	0.688	246	192	0-1-0-0	5-4-0-1	6-4	1621
2	x Stockton Thunder	72	37	26	5	4	83	0.576	223	216	4-0-0-0	7-3-0-0	4-4	1226
3	x Las Vegas Wranglers	72	37	30	2	3	79	0.549	196	192	3-0-0-0	6-4-0-0	7-3	1206
4	x San Francisco Bulls	72	25	38	2	7	59	0.410	191	252	1-0-0-0	4-4-1-1	4-7	1489
5	Bakersfield Condors	72	22	44	2	4	50	0.347	171	247	0-1-0-1	4-5-0-1	8-4	1292

You can look for the establishment of a third division in the Western Conference, I assumed it will be called the Central Division, which might include Colorado, Allen, Rapid City and one of the teams from the Eastern Conference North Division.

- One advantages the Americans will have is in recruiting as the area, the arena, Stars connections, the weather and probably affiliations will all attract players. As mentioned earlier recruiting speed will be essential.

- An ECHL team if they have an affiliation will have more contracted AHL players so the fans will have to get used to more movement of players to the affiliated club. Allen has a history of getting players stints in the AHL so it won't be as big a problem as in Rapid City.

- A big decision that will have to made after the ECHL announcement is completed and whatever ownership changes are consummated is the hiring of a coach. Steve Martinson was here without his family this year on a one year contract. He wants to come back but needs a three year contract so he can feel comfortable moving his family.

- There will be many logistical issues in order to get everything aligned to the ECHL. A brand new web site will be a welcome addition. The rosters in the ECHL are bigger so there might be some bus issues that have to be dealt with or maybe the rookies will be sleeping on the floor.

The bottom line is whatever happens over the next ten days the one thing that is 100% certain is the Allen Americans will be playing hockey at the Allen Event Center this fall. For most of the people who read this blog that is all we can ask. STAY TUNED!!!