Qualifying Offers, Player Signing Announcement, More Interviews, Update on 2020-21 Season, Could Chad Costello Return, An ECHL Record Full of Allen Americans

Today is a critical day for Steve Martinson as he continues to put together the Allen Americans roster for the 2020-21 season. The deadline for making qualifying offers is this afternoon 3:00 pm EDT.

- Here is the list of players on the season ending roster that could be given a qualifying offer. Remember, only eight players can be given qualifying offers and this is a way to retain the rights to players.

Defensemen 
Turner Ottenbreit
Ben Carroll
Cole Fraser
Les Lancaster
Kayle Doetzel
Cody Corbett
Matt Register*

Forwards
Jake Doty
Brett Pollock
Jared VanWormer
Spencer Asuchak - signed and announced
Jordan Topping
Corey Durocher
Josh Lammon
Gabe Gagne
Colton Heffley
Josh Brittain*
Alex Guptill*
Shawn O'Donnell*

*veterans



- Typically coach Martinson does not extend qualifying offers to veterans because the rules allow them to become unrestricted free agents on August 1st as long as they don't sign with another team prior to that date. If Martinson does qualify a veteran it would be Matt Register who spent the majority of last season in Iowa.


- I would expect qualifying offers will be extended to Jake Doty, Gabe Gagne and Turner Ottenbreit just to retain their ECHL rights as they are expected to play in the AHL in 2020-21.


-  Players like Lancaster and Topping may have to be qualified because they are still awaiting deals with an AHL club or clubs in Europe before they re-sign with Allen.


- Coach Martinson has already agreed to terms with many players on the team from last season. The young players from last season that are not on the qualified list are most likely already signed but not announced.


- The bottom line is Martinson has more than enough slots to qualify everyone he wants to qualify. He will not have to use all eight qualifying offers. You may see some individual teams put out press releases prior to the ECHL issuing the complete list.


- The Americans will be announcing their second player this afternoon (Tuesday) and another key piece of the puzzle will be added.


- Tommy Daniels is trying to do two video interview per week, on Wednesday and Sunday. It wasn't finalized when I talked to him yesterday but his plan was to interview the Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin and post that interview on Wednesday. Guerin was the Assistant GM in Pittsburgh for five years before getting the GM job in Minnesota so he has a lot of experience dealing with the relationship between an NHL club and their AHL and ECHL affiliated teams. This should be a informative interview.


- Here is Tommy's latest interview with Jake Doty with a special appearance by Jake's young son, Dallas:

 


- There is much uncertainty about the start of the 2020-21 ECHL season with a reluctance to suggest the season will be delayed. Yesterday the Fort Wayne Komets issued a letter to their fans and season ticket holders that provided an update which covered some topics of interest. It would be helpful if all teams would issue such a letter to reassure fans of their approach to 2020-21.  https://www.komets.com/en/news/2020/6/season-update


- I was doing some research for my ECHL Stats and Information post yesterday and was reminded why Steve Martinson has said many times his 2020-21 team will be more physical than last season. The Americans finished the shortened 2019-20 season ranked #18 in average penalty minutes per game (12.02), #14 in minor penalties (285), #15 in major penalties (21), #15 in misconduct penalties and #24 in game misconduct penalties (1). When the Americans won their two Kelly Cups (2015 & 2016) they were top five in almost all of these categories. When they won their first Kelly Cup in 2015 Allen was #1 in penalty minutes with 1644.


- This is my ECHL Stats and Information post from today. It just reinforces how tough it was when Allen won back to back Kelly Cups in 2015 and 2016.  Going back 10 years, five of the top nine players with the most games played in one season are Allen Americans.

Most combined regular season and playoff games played in a single season in the last 10 years, since 2010–11:

‬
‪98 - Brett Stern, Wheeling (15-16)‬
‪97 - Chad Costello, Allen (14-15)‬
‪97 - Jamie Schaafsma, Allen (14-15)‬
‪97 - Aaron Gens, Allen (14-15)‬
96 - Chad Costello, Allen (15-16)
96 - Matt Register, Colorado (17-18)
96 - Jake Marto, Colorado (17-18)
96 - Kevin Young, Allen (14-15)
96 - Mathew Maione, Brampton & Wheeling (15-16)



DID YOU KNOW: With the rumor or maybe better described as wishful thinking, there is more talk than normal about the possibility of Chad Costello not returning to Europe for the 2020-21 season because of all the issues surrounding Covid 19. Unfortunately there is as much uncertainty surrounding the ECHL as the leagues in Europe. If the stars aligned and Chad would sign with Allen and he was called up to Allen's AHL affiliate he would be playing in front of all of his friends and family in his hometown of Des Moines.

A reminder of what Chad Costello can do in the Steve Martinson offense. Scoring more than 110 points in a season has happened 26 times in ECHL history but 23 of the 26 took place prior to the turn of the century. Here are the three exceptions:

125 - Chad Costello, 2014-15, Allen Americans
122 - Chad Costello, 2016-17, Allen Americans
114 - Tyler Donati, 2009-10, Elmira Jackals

Steve Martinson was the coach for all three of these achievements. Also, Chad Costello is one of only 12 players who have scored 120+ points in one ECHL season. Chad's 125 points in 2014-15 is #9 all-time and his 122 points in 2016-17 is #10 all-time. The eight players ahead of Costello on the single season point list all set their marks between 1989 -1996 during the high scoring years of pro hockey.  
 

Allen Americans Weekly Update, Player Announcement, Road Schedule, New ECHL Streaming Service and More

- It has been a week since ECHL players could be signed and undoubtedly many have been inked to a contract but announcements have been few and far between around the league. Just five or six ECHL teams have issued press releases on players that have signed for the 2020-21 season. You can expect the pace will quicken this week.


- The Allen Americans will make their first player announcement tomorrow (Tuesday). They were teasing the annoucment over the weekend and you can expect more teases today. The first player announced each season is always well received and that will certainly be the case tomorrow.


- It is still unknown when the 2020-21 ECHL schedule will be released as decisions will have to be made by the Board of Governors (BOG) on how to proceed. They will be meeting this week (virtual meeting) so it will be interesting to see what is made public after the meeting.


- As part of the BOG meeting the ECHL will announce the winners of 13 individual and team awards given to front office personnel. This will be live on Facebook on June 24th (Wednesday) at 3:00 pm CDT. Best of luck to Allen's two nominees, Ali Addikson for Sales Rookie of the Year and Tommy Daniels for Broadcaster of the Year. 


- With the uncertainty about the start of the ECHL season many teams have not released their home schedules. Allen will obviously visit the other six Mountain Division teams (Idaho, Kansas City, Rapid City, Tulsa, Utah, Wichita). I did a quick search around the league to find teams that had released their home schedule and Allen was included. I was able to find 11 of the 36 road games:

Idaho - December 2, 4, 5 and January 6 & 8
Rapid City - November 11, 13, 14 and January 22 & 23
Cincinnati - January 17
Toledo - January 30 & 31  


- The ECHL will have a new provider for televised streaming services when the season does begin. One can only hope with Neulion out, the cost and quality that the AHL and NHL enjoy will be available to ECHL fans. Stay tuned.


- For the many Allen Americans fans that are always wishing for the return of Chad Costello you probably noticed that the Costello's returned to the US from Germany this past week. From what I have read the league Chad played in (DEL) has been delayed until the end of October at the earliest, they typically start in August. It doesn't mean Chad won't return to Europe as other countries/leagues are planning to play as scheduled. I am sure coach Martinson is saving some money in case Costello decides he wants to stay in the US for the upcoming season. Unfortunately the situation in the ECHL is also very much unsettled.


- Tommy Daniels latest interview is with the Allen Americans Fan Club. This group does a lot to support the team. Take a look at the video for the details on what they do and how you can get involved:

 


DID YOU KNOW: I came across this stat recently and it is one of the most impressive in the record book. It is a page that shows the Kelly Cup playoff overtime records of all current ECHL teams. Allen is by far the best with a OT playoff record of 7-0 which includes 3-0 at home and 4-0 on the road. Here is the playoff overtime record of all current ECHL teams with a minimum of seven OT games.

7-0 - Allen
6-4 - Greenville
4-3 - Manchester
20-17 - Toledo
19-16 - Idaho
18-16 - Florida
18-16 - Cincinnati
15-13 -Wheeling
12-14 - Reading
9-11 - Fort Wayne
25-33 - South Carolina
6-13 - Atlanta
2-5 - Kalamazoo
3-13 - Utah

        

Allen Americans Update, Signing Date Arrives, Zoom Interviews With Lukin, Whitley, Lammon, Front Office Awards and More

The day has finally arrived, today is the first day for ECHL teams to sign players for the 2020-21 season. Because of the uncertainty surrounding what will happen with the NHL and AHL seasons, it creates some unique issues for Allen general manager, Steve Martinson. Here is my take on what is taking place.


- The season ending rosters for all ECHL teams were released this morning. For the Allen Americans the season ending roster looks very much like the protected list that was released two weeks ago. Just two players from the protected list are not on the season ending list (Jake Paterson & Josh Atkinson). Here is the ECHL press release with all of the season ending rosters:  https://www.echl.com/en/news/2020/6/echl-announces-season-ending-rosters


- Martinson will quickly sign players from last season that are ready to sign now. If players wait there might not be a spot available. Some players will wait to see if they can get an AHL deal.


- Each team is entitled to reserve the rights to a maximum of eight players from the season ending roster by extending a qualifying offer no later than June 30. Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. Teams are not required to extend a qualifying offer to players who sign a contract prior to June 30.


- Because only eight qualifying offers are available and players that sign before June 30 don't have to be qualified, there is incentive to sign players before the end of June. It is almost certain Martinson will extend qualifying offers to two players that have already signed AHL deals to retain their ECHL rights for next season. Jake Doty and Gabe Gagne have AHL deals but if they are given qualifying offers by Allen, their AHL team will have to send them to Allen if they are sent down to the ECHL. That would leave just six qualifying offers for players waiting to see what will happen with possible AHL deals.


- Because of the uncertainty of when the AHL season will start it is hard to know when they will sign players. Martinson will have to plan for two different scenarios, one which would have no NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to Allen and one where contracted players are assigned.


- Look for the Americans to announce their first player signing sometime this week. While players can be signed today, the contracts must be sent to the league office for approval and then the team has to decide when to make announcements. I would expect the first player announced will be one of the popular players from last season.


- Tommy Daniels will have a video chat with Steve Martinson tomorrow so stay tuned for that as I am sure they will cover the recruiting process in detail and what is happening now that the player signing date has arrived.



- Here are some of the more recent Zoom interviews Tommy Daniels has posted in case you haven't seen them. Former players Jarret Lukin and Chris Whitley from Allen's first team and Josh Lammon from last season:

    

- The ECHL will announce the winners of 13 individual and team awards given to front office personnel live on Facebook on June 24th at 3:00 pm CDT. There are five nominees for each of the 13 categories with awards ranging from Community Service Team to Marketing Team to Broadcaster of the Year to Sales Rookie of the Year. Congrats to the two Allen nominees, Ali Addikson for Sales Rookie of the Year and Tommy Daniels for Broadcaster of the Year.


- I took a look at which teams received the 65 nominations for the ECHL Awards with some interesting results for Mountain Division fans. Eight of the 26 ECHL teams received no nominations with four of the eight (Wichita, Utah, Kansas City, Tulsa) being from the Mountain Division. All six teams in the Central Division received nominations and they had a total of 28 of the 65 nominations (43%). Just three of the seven teams in the Mountain Division received nominations and had a total of 9 of the 65 nominations (14%). FYI the North Division also had nine nominations while the South Division had 19. Cincinnati led all teams with nine nominations.


- This is just my opinion but unless social distancing recommendations are relaxed going into the fall and the AHL/NHL start their 2020-21 seasons on time, the ECHL season will be delayed. I know it is a topic that teams don't want to deal with right now but they will have to soon.



DID YOU KNOW: I saw a lot of posts on social media this week with memories of Allen's past championships. Here are the dates and results of those four championship games which were amazingly all won at home.

May 11, 2013 - A 4-3 OT win over Wichita in the CHL Presidents' Cup finals
May 10, 2014 - A 5-2 win over Denver in the CHL Presidents' Cup finals
June 14, 2015 - A 6-1 win over South Carolina in the Kelly Cup finals
June 9, 2016 - A 4-2 win over the Wheeling Nailers in the Kelly Cup finals