Allen Americans Update - Protected List, Steve Martinson's Roster Comments, Kelly Cup Update, The Missing Kelly Cup, Patrick J. Kelly and More

After a drive of 1358 miles (one way) for a week of fishing in Ontario on an isolated lake off the famous Red Lake Road and the long trek back to Allen it is time for an Allen Americans update. The fishing trip was great as any time you can spend all day in a pristine environment with the sites and sounds of nature it is good for the soul. For the record our group of five caught 355 walleyes over the week along with some small-mouth bass, northern pike, muskie, perch and crappie. While each fisherman can only take four walleyes home we managed to eat around 120 walleyes using four different recipes. I hope I don't get to go on this fishing trip next year as it would mean a deep playoff run for the Allen Americans.


- You may have seen the Allen Americans protected list that was released yesterday. As a reminder there are three roster related lists that will be issued in June.

June 1st - Protected List (unlimited number of players)
June 15 - Season-Ending Roster (max 20 players)
June 30 - Qualifying Offers (max eight players)

Allen's protected list is more telling by who was not included. Since there is no down side to putting players on the list as there in no limit on the number of players that are included those that were omitted were given a clear message they will not be back in Allen. Here is Allen's protected list which totals 20 players.

Goalie
Lukas Hafner

Defensemen
Alex Breton
Ben Owen
David Makowski
Joel Chouinard
Duggie Lagrone
Josh Atkinson
Dalton Thrower
Mike Gunn
Curt Gogol

Forwards
Zach Pochiro
Braylon Shmyr
Riley Bourbonnais
Casey Pierro-Zabotel
Thomas Frazee
Spencer Asuchak
Jacob Doty
Gary Steffes
Chad Butcher
Alex Guptill


- Here are the protected lists for all ECHL teams:  https://www.echl.com/en/news/2019/6/echl-announces-2019-protected-lists


- Players on AHL/NHL deals cannot be protected (Josh Thrower, Chase Lang, Dante Salituro). The players that could have been protected by coach Martinson but were not are now free agents. Those players include:

Adam Miller
Alex Ranger
Mitch Maloney
Malcolm Gould
Kevin Sundher
Etienne Boutet


- Of the 20 players on the protected list the next step is making the season ending list which will come out on June 15. While all of the players on the protected list could be on the season ending list because it can have a max of 20 players I expect there will be less than 20 players on the season ending list when it is released. The bottom line is many of the players on the protected list will not return next season.


- I had a chance to sit down with coach Martinson yesterday and he shared the following about the recruiting process for the 2019-20 season.

The discussion with the Wild about the players that will be assigned to Allen have gone very well. There will be significantly more players under contract with the Wild assigned to the Americans than last season. While Martinson did not mention a number I could see as many as 10 AHL contracted players in Allen next season.

Coach Martinson has been working with the Wild identifying players that could be recruited as depth players for Iowa and top players for Allen. The Wild will then offer two way contracts to these players.

Martinson has not started talking to the Allen veterans from last season and won't start this process until he has a better idea of who will get assigned to the Americans by the Wild. He will then fill in the gaps using the four veteran slots he has available for the final roster.

 It is too early to talk to players coming of AHL deals but that will be another source of recruitment later in the summer.

With Manchester folding all of their non AHL/NHL contracted players became free agents and can sign with any ECHL team when signing begins on June 16th. Manchester has some good young players that will be highly recruited by coaches across the ECHL. Another potential recruiting source for coach Martinson.


- If you haven't been following Allen defenseman Josh Atkinson since the end of the Americans season he has been on quite a ride. Josh was loaned to the Chicago Wolves and played in their last regular season game. He is on Chicago's playoff roster and played in the first playoff game against Grand Rapids. He is still with the team as they are now in the finals of the Calder Cup. While it is unlikely Josh will get in another game unless there are injuries he could become a Calder Cup champion. Chicago is facing Charlotte in the finals and the series is tied 1-1with the next three games in Chicago. Hopefully Atkinson will get an AHL deal for next season.


- Other players from last season that could get AHL deals include Alex Breton, Riley Bourbonnais, Braylon Shmyr and Dante Salituro. Hopefully Iowa would be interested in some of these players and they could be assigned to Allen. Last season Breton spent time with Belleville and Springfield, Bourbonnais was with Iowa and Shmyr spent time with Springfield and San Antonio. Salituro is coming off a three year NHL deal with the Minnesota Wild. All of these players are free agents as it pertains to the AHL and can sign with any team.


- Another unknown is which players from the 2018-19 roster are pursuing deals in Europe. There is little doubt that some of them will head overseas. Etienne Boutet, Alex Ranger and C.J. Motte have already signed to play in Europe next season. More will follow.


- Newfoundland has a chance tonight to win the Kelly Cup. After taking a 3-1 series lead before losing game five in Toledo the Growlers have two chances to get the fourth win at home. The Newfoundland Growlers are the story of the playoffs. A first year team affiliated with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies, the Growlers had their head coach (Ryane Clowe) step down in January for medical reasons. Assistant coach John Snowden, who played in Allen, was named the new head coach. Newfoundland won the North Division easily but struggled at the end of the regular season losing nine of their last 14 games. The Growlers won the first round of the playoffs against Brampton 4-2 but three of the wins came in overtime. Newfoundland improved each round and by the time they took on the favored Florida Everblades in the Eastern Conference Finals they were playing their best hockey. Newfoundland went to Florida to start the series and beat the Everblades twice and the series was essentially decided. It ended up going five games but the Growlers were dominate. Now in the finals, Newfoundland has a 3-2 series lead over Toledo and the odds of the Growlers winning the Kelly Cup are about 80% depending on the data you use. In NHL history, according to the website whowins.com, in the finals the team with a 3-2 lead wins game six about 60% of the time and wins the series 80% of the time.


- I know this is old news at this point but I couldn't help but notice all of the information on social media pertaining to the Colorado Eagles refusal to return the Kelly Cup to the ECHL. Apparently there is some dispute over the exit fees charged to the Eagles for leaving the ECHL for the AHL. The league was forced to create a new Kelly Cup that will be presented to Newfoundland or Toldeo. Since the Cup is presented to the ECHL champion by Mr Kelly who was the first commissioner of the ECHL and is going strong at 83 years of age it is disrespectful to Patrick Kelly and poor form by Colorado to not give up the trophy over some financial squabbles. C'MON MAN!



DID YOU KNOW:  From the start of the ECHL in 1988-89 to 1995-96 the playoff champion was awarded the Riley Cup. Beginning in the 1996-97 season the Patrick J. Kelly Cup is awarded to the ECHL champion. Named in recognition of Patrick J. Kelly, one of the founding fathers of the league and the ECHL Commissioner for the first eight seasons before being named Commissioner Emeritus in 1996. Kelly just celebrated his 66th season in hockey. It is interesting that it is the Colorado Eagles that are refusing to return the Kelly Cup as Kelly was the coach of the Colorado Rockies (NHL) in 1977-78 and is the only coach to lead the Rockies to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The franchise was moved to Colorado from Kansas City (Scouts) after being in Kansas City from 1974-76. The Rockies were in Colorado from 1976-82 and were then moved to New Jersey where they became the New Jersey Devils.