It is really down to crunch time in putting together the Allen Americans opening day roster for the 2020-21 season. The roster is due in the league office tomorrow afternoon. This is a unique year for roster numbers because teams can have up to three NHL/AHL contracted players for the first month of the season that don't count. The maximum number of players coach Martinson could keep would be 20 players on the active roster, three on reserve, three players that don't count and any players on injured reserve. However, Martinson is also operating with a salary cap and a budget so he won't be able to keep the maximum number of players. He has said all along he will end up with 23 or 24 players which means another player or two will be cut today or tomorrow.
- The Americans added another player from the San Jose organization yesterday, rookie forward Jake McGrew, a sixth round draft choice of the Sharks in 2017. Jake is a 21 years old, 5'11" and 190 pound pound right shot forward. He is from Orange, California and signed a NHL deal with San Jose in September 2018 but continued in junior hockey, turning pro for this upcoming season. Jake played his entire junior career in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Spokane Chiefs. McGrew played 132 games for Spokane and had 100 points (55G, 45A).
When Jake signed his NHL deal with San Jose this is what Sharks GM said, “Jake is an exceptional skater who is a threat to shoot from anywhere on the ice,” said San Jose general manager Doug Wilson in the team’s announcement. “He always seems to be around the net, ready to outwork his opponent for the puck. The California-born prospect really took his game to the next level during the WHL playoffs last season and carried that into Team USA’s World Jr. Selection Camp this summer before a strong showing in both the rookie tournament in Vegas and our NHL Training Camp this month. He has continued to exceed expectations, both on and off the ice, and we have been very impressed with his development under Spokane head coach Dan Lambert.”
Jake suffered a couple of significant knee injuries during his junior career, one his first year and one last season. He was limited to just six games before being injured last season however in those six games he had eight points (5G, 3A).
Here is a video that introduces you to Jake from growing up in California, to his junior career, his knee injuries, his style of play and some great personal information. A great way to get to know Jake. It is 28 minutes but worth watching to the end. This is a good one.
- Braylon Shmyr will start the season on the injured reserve (IR) after a lower body injury in the Americans intrasquad game. The IR requires the player to be out a minimum of 14 days but Shmyr will be out longer.
- Speaking of injuries, I saw a story which was in Norwegian, that four players from the Stavenger Oilers were injured in their game last week including Chad Costello. I used google translate to get the story from Norwegian to English which is always interesting. It said such things as it was "a messy match that got ugly and the last tackle is something that should not happen in that situation." The article described the four injured players as victims. The only thing it said about Chad's injury was, "Chad got a slap on the knee." I contacted Ashley Costello and there was definitely something lost in translation as Chad suffered a serious knee injury. Here was Ashley told me:
"Yes, it wasn't the way we imagined the season to go. Chad was on the power play in the third period. He had the puck and the player who hit Chad fell which took his legs out, making it an awkward hit. He had an MRI that is showing a broken femur, torn ligaments (ACL & MCL) and meniscus. We are awaiting to meet with the specialist to see what treatment will look like. Don't worry, as of all things Chad was most worried after the injury that he got credit for an assist on the play and he thinks he will return to play after Christmas, haha!"
One thing everyone knows about Chad Costello is he has overcome injuries in the past even though he played three seasons in Allen without missing a game, a total of 276 straight games (regular season and playoffs). This injury has to be difficult for Chad, Ashley and the family. With four young children, playing in a new country, dealing with COVID and getting a serious injury after just 11 games. I am sure all Allen fans will keep Chad and the Costello family in their thoughts and prayers.
- It is now official that Idaho, Cincinnati and Kalamazoo have opted out for the 2020-21 season. Fort Wayne and Toledo have been given additional time (mid-February) to decide if they are going to play. I have seen a lot of reporting on this since yesterday. Here is some of that reporting:
Justin Cohn (The Journal Gazette) reported "Fort Wayne Komet officials stressed that the new target date is so they can exhaust every avenue to try to get the season in, but it is not by any means now assured they will play."
ECHL Weekly reported, "Expect the next segment of the ECHL's regular season schedule (perhaps a month or so of games) to be released a bit later this month."
Steve Martinson, "Anything that allows for more teams to play and provide more jobs for players I am all for. I don't see why the complete schedule for the Mountain Division teams couldn't be completed now."
- Matt Harding of The Sin Bin published a story yesterday, "Five Burning Questions for the 2020-21 ECHL Season." In this article Matt covers where the teams stand now, team by team seating capacities under COVID, impacts of NHL and AHL on the ECHL and many other interesting details. Lots of good information pulled into one story, check it out: https://thesinbin.net/five-burning-questions-for-the-2020-21-echl-season/
- Four new coaches are in place for the start of the 2020-21 ECHL season. Andrew Lord (Greenville), Tad O'Had (Kansas City), Ryan Blair (South Carolina) and Mark French (Wheeling). Here is an ECHL press release about the opening weekend games that includes some details about the four new head coaches: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2020/12/echl-season-opens-on-friday
DID YOU KNOW: This is the longest DID YOU KNOW ever but in honor of Chad Costello I wanted to re-post part of a story I wrote a couple of years ago why in my opinion Chad is the best player in the history of the ECHL.
The story of Chad Costello and the Allen Americans began in the summer
of 2014. Chad had played just 14 games in the 2013-14 season and his
hockey future was in real doubt because of serious concussion issues he
was dealing with. When Costello arrived at training camp he was on a
tryout contract because it was uncertain he would be able to play
symptom free. Chad got through training camp just fine, signed a
contract and began a three year career in Allen that is the best three
seasons in the history of the ECHL. Maybe the most amazing record and
there are many is the fact that Chad went from a tryout contract because
of health issues to not missing a single game regular season or
playoffs for three straight seasons. That was 276 straight games and he
played hurt for many of those games.
It is hard to know where to start when describing Chad Costello's
impressive accomplishments with the Allen Americans. He was in Allen for
three seasons, led the league in scoring each year and was selected as
the ECHL MVP all three years (by the PHPA in 2015). He won two Kelly
Cups, was the Kelly Cup MVP in 2016 and was a captain of the team his
last two seasons.
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| Chad lifts the Kelly Cup in 2016 |
As for Allen Americans team records many of these will never be broken. Here is a list of where Chad stands in the all time and single season record book.
Allen Americans all-time career records:
Points - Chad leads with 350 which is 115 more than second place
Assists - Chad leads with 252 which is 114 more than second place
Goals - Chad is tied with Greger Hanson at 98 goals
Allen Americans single season records:
Points - Chad is #1 (125), #2 (122) and #3 (103) in team history, no other player has more than 88 points
Assists - Chad is #1 (89), #2 (84) and #3 (79) in team history, no other player has more than 55
Goals - Chad is # 2 with 41 goals in 2014-15
Here is my case for Chad Costello as the #1 player in ECHL history. It is important to put scoring in perspective when comparing numbers over time. In the 1990's the style of the game was such that scoring was prolific. For example, in the 1996-97 season there were six fifty goals scorers and six players with over 100 points. In the history of the ECHL 50 goals have been scored 41 times. All but two took place prior to 2000. There have been 12 times an ECHL player has scored 120 or more points in a season. All but two of those seasons took place before 2000. The two exceptions are Chad Costello.
In my mind because of the prolific scoring in the 1990's the only way to determine the best player is to compare players with their peers. In the 31 year history of the ECHL the scoring champion has won the scoring title by more than 20 points only six times. Here are the six seasons where the ECHL scoring champion had at least twenty more points than the runner up.
45 points - 2014-2015 (Chad Costello)
43 points - 1992-1993 (Trevor Jobe)
35 points - 1989-1990 (Bill McDougall)
34 points - 2016-2017 (Chad Costello)
24 points - 1995-1996 (Hugo Belanger)
23 points - 2015-2016 (Chad Costello)
The stat above shows Chad is the most dominate point scorer relative to his peers of all time. Here are a few other stats to help make the case:
Chad is the only player in ECHL history to win the MVP Award more than once. He has three ECHL MVP awards, 2012 in Colorado, 2016 in Allen and 2017 in Allen. He should have also won the award in 2015 when he had his best season in Allen (125 points). He was selected as the MVP that season by the player's association (PHPA).
Chad is the only player in ECHL history to win the scoring title three years in a row.
In his three years in Allen, Costello had the #3, #5 and #12 best single seasons for assists in ECHL history. No other player is in the top 12 more than once. Only three players in ECHL history had more assists than the 89 Chad had in 2016-17 and they all played in the 1990's.
Chad's ECHL career points per game average is #5 in the history of the ECHL (350 games minimum) at 1.58. The four players ahead of him all played in the 1990's.
Chad won the 2015 ECHL Sportsman Award given to the player adjudged in a vote by the ECHL coaches to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct with a high standard of playing ability.
Chad won two Kelly Cups in Allen and was the playoff MVP in 2016. He is all over the ECHL record book for playoff scoring. Here are a few examples:
#1: Most assists one playoff year (29)
#1: Most assists in final series (10)
#2: Most points one playoff year (36)
#3: Most assists in playoff, career (61)
#3: Most points in playoffs, career (83)
#3: Most points in a final series (13)
The bottom line is if you just look at the numbers, Chad can't compare to the 85 goals, 93 assists and 161 points scored in a single season back in the 1990's. However, if you look at what Costello accomplished in his era compared to his peers there is no doubt in my mind he is #1 all time.
Ha ha. Wanted to make sure he got the assist!
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