The blog was late yesterday for two reasons. First and foremost I wanted to wait until the official announcement was out that center Luke Henman was being reassigned by Seattle to Allen from the Charlotte Checkers. Secondly, this is the last blog until December 20th as I am heading to North Dakota for some late season pheasant hunting with my long time hunting buddy (60+ years) and best friend, Dave Carter. Hunting in the cold and snow may not sound like fun but spending time in nature this time of year is when passionate and hardcore pheasant hunters hit the fields and sloughs with little competition from fair weather hunters. You hope for a couple of inches of fresh snow every day to track the pheasants. It can be tough hunting this late in the season because after a couple of months of hunting pressure, pheasants are either very smart or in the freezer.
- The big news today was the assignment of Luke Henman to Allen. Henman will always be known in trivia circles many years from now no matter how his career turns out as the answer to the question, Who is the first player signed in Seattle Kraken franchise history. Henman was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL draft but opted not to sign him to an entry level NHL deal. Ron Francis, general manager of the Kraken and several of his staff were in Carolina when Henman was drafted and were high on him so signed the free agent center to a three year entry level contract last May.
In looking at many scouting reports before Luke was drafted there were doubters, primarily because he was very thin at 6'0" and 143 pounds when he was drafted. The Hurricanes scout, Tony MacDonald had this to say which you see consistently in scouting reports, "Very smart, tenacious, plays well with and without the puck...He's tall enough, he is just a skinny, light kid who needs to add some mass. Tremendous competitor, very gritty kid."
When Henman signed with Seattle, general manager Ron Francis described Luke this way, "Luke is a smart. skilled player with strong leadership qualities. He brings solid character and we look forward to working with him as he continues his development.
- Here are a couple of videos that will help you get to know Luke Henman. Here is a link with a story from the Seattle media about Luke's journey. This was right after he signed with the Kraken in May: youtu.be/yWTRQ4pTzkM
- This is a video in Luke's own words on how he ended up signing with Seattle in the middle of the QJMHL playoffs last season: https://youtu.be/mmi5cHp-1Lc
- The Americans practiced this morning and left for Wichita at 1:00 pm. Luke Henman was meeting the team in Wichita tonight. Look for him to be in the lineup Thursday night. He has played 10 games in Charlotte and has one goal, but like Ryan Lohin when he was assigned to Allen, Luke will have the opportunity to play a lot of minutes and really show what he can do.
- Needless to say the three games against Wichita this week are very important in getting the season heading in the right direction. Allen needs a minimum of four points from this series.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL & PHPA have signed a two year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) extension thru 6/30/25. The current CBA was not set to expire until 6/30/23. Here are the salary cap weekly maximums after the first 30 days of the season. The salary cap is slightly higher ($500-$530) the first 30 days of the season because teams can carry one extra player on the active roster:
Let’s go hunt’n!! NoDak here we come!!
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