Big Week for the Allen Americans as Chad Costello Returns, Seattle Becomes Affiliate, Lancaster and Sheehy Off to Great Starts

 

- It has been a big week for the Allen Americans with the announcement that Chad Costello has returned after spending the last four seasons in Europe, playing three years in Germany and last season in Norway. Another big piece of the puzzle fell into place on Friday as it was announced the Americans would affiliate with the Seattle Kraken for the 2021-22 season.

 

- I am sure these two announcements were not a surprise to most Allen fans since Costello shared he was moving to North Texas a couple of months ago and Allen goalie, Frank Marotte, attended the Seattle Kraken training camp. So while these announcements were anti-climatic for many, they couldn’t be more important for the success of the Americans 2021-22 season. After talking to coach Martinson there will still be some surprises as he puts the final touches on the roster before the start of training camp later this week.

 

You could write a book about Chad Costello’s ECHL/Allen records but I will highlight just a few for the future Hall of Famer:

 

• In the history of  the ECHL the scoring champion has won the scoring title by more than 20 points just six times. Costello has three of the six including 2014-15 when he won by  the largest margin ever, 45 points. In that season Chad had more assists (84) than any other player in the league had points.
• Chad is #1 (125), #2 (122) and #3 (103) in Allen history in points in a single season. No other player has more than 88 points.
• Chad is #1 (89), #2 (84) and #3 (79) in Allen history in assists in a single season. No other player has more than 55 assists.
• In three seasons in Allen, Chad didn’t miss a single game, regular season or playoffs, playing in 276 straight games.
• Chad has won the ECHL MVP award three times (2012, 2016, 2017) and was selected by the players association (PHPA) as the MVP in 2015.

 

With all of his past accomplishments it is important to put the 2021-22 season in perspective as it relates to Costello. He is now 35 and coming off an injury that ended his season after just 11 games last year in Norway. With his skill, vision and leadership what he brings to the Allen Americans is immeasurable but everyone should tamp down expectations and just enjoy watching what I believe is the best player in the ECHL.

- The affiliation with Seattle is another important step for the Americans and is a unique opportunity given the Kraken is a first year team. Seattle has an AHL franchise that will not start operating until the 2022-23 season. For the 2021-22 season Seattle has a temporary AHL affiliation with the Charlotte Checkers. Charlotte also has an affiliation with the Florida Panthers (NHL) and Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL). This startup situation could be a mixed bag for Allen. On the plus side, with Seattle not fielding their own AHL team, the Americans are slated to the get the #4 goalie in the Kraken system rather than the #5 goalie they would typically get assigned. The downside is Seattle will not be signing all of the depth players that would be at the ECHL level for their AHL team. It means the Americans will not get as many contract players, especially early in the season, but the players that are assigned to Allen will be prospects. As the Kraken sign players later in the season you could see more players sent to Allen. Steve Martinson always talks about how it takes time to develop a good working relationship with a new affiliate that benefits everyone. 

- I have had several questions about the fact the Charlotte Checkers have a dual affiliation (Seattle & Florida) and will be working with two ECHL teams (Allen & Greenville). With Charlotte providing players to two NHL teams could it mean more Allen players going to the Checkers and fewer coming to Allen?  I posed this question to coach Martinson and he expects if Charlotte needs players because they supply reinforcements to Florida they will come from Greenville and if the Checkers need players because they send players to Seattle they will come from Allen. The bottom line is he is not concerned the dual affiliation will have a negative impact.

- If you haven't seen the press release announcing the affiliation with Seattle here is the link. Seattle's GM Ron Francis had this to say, "The ECHL plays such a key role in the development of NHL players. This is a very important decision for the long-term success of our organization and we are excited to be engaged with a championship level organization in the Allen Americans."   https://allenamericans.com/media/americans-seattle-kraken-sign-nhl-echl-affiliation-for-2021-22-season/

 

- If you haven't been following how Allen players from last season are doing in Europe check out these great starts. Tyler Sheehy and Les Lancaster went to top leagues in Europe. Sheehy to the DEL in Germany and Lancaster to the Liiga in Finland. Lancaster leads his team (Ilves) and is tied for the league lead among defensemen with eight points (all assists) in six games. He is #1 in points per game at 1.33. Sheehy leads his team (Nurnberg) and the entire league with eight goals in eight games. It is clear in my mind that both of these players would have been successful in the AHL had they been given the opportunity. 

DID YOU KNOW: I posted on ECHL Stats recently the stats for the percentage of rookies to total players in the ECHL the last three seasons. Here is that information with a comparison to the percentages for the Allen Americans:

2021-22: 38.9% of all ECHL players and 50% of Allen players were rookies

2020-19: 37.3% of all ECHL players and 39% of Allen players were rookies

2019-20: 46.3% of all ECHL players and  24.4% of Allen players were rookies