Ben Owen Released, Josh Winquist Arrives, Roster Size Explained, Allen's Points Percentage by Month, Allen Dominates Career Points Per Game Leaders and More

 

I saw a headline on social media this morning that said, "Time to regroup and do work next week" and thought it was appropriate for the Allen Americans after they won four of five games against Kansas City and then lost two straight to Wichita. 

 

- It has clearly been an  up and down season for Allen and time is running out to get things turned around. It seems like one step forward and one step backwards has been a good way to describe this team all season. I have sliced and diced this many ways, but haven't computed points percentage by month to see what that shows. Here is what I found:

• .500 - October
• .409 - November
• .714 - December
• .533 - January
• .450 - February

You add it all together and you have a team that has hovered around .500 hockey for too long. The Americans will have to play at least .600 hockey over the final 25 games of the season if they want to be a factor in the playoffs. It means Allen needs to win two of the three games in Cincinnati to avoid returning home with a .500 points percentage.

 

- Allen released defenseman Ben Owen yesterday. Ben is a great hometown story, having grown up in Allen and working for years at the Allen Event Center. He has played for Allen three different seasons including 26 games this year. Owen had not played much recently and it was a numbers game that caused his release. Once injured players started returning, the addition of Josh Winquist on Saturday, coach Martinson had to trim the roster.

 

- It is always confusing when trying to figure out how many players can be on the Allen roster. Here is my unofficial explanation:

• Active roster - teams can have up to 20 players on the active roster, but they all must fit under the weekly salary cap which is $13,900. Allen is usually at no more than 19 on the active roster.
• Reserve - In addition to the active roster, teams can have two players on reserve (healthy or injured). Reserve players don't count against the salary cap and can be moved off and on reserve at any time.
• Injured reserve (IR)- there is no limit on the number of players on IR but once placed on IR the player must stay for a minimum of 14 days (no maximum). Teams must send in a statement from a doctor when placing a player on IR. Salaries for players on IR don't count against the salary cap.
• In addition to the ECHL rules above, another limiting factor that Steve Martinson must deal with is the budget he has to live by from team ownership. He is only budgeted for a certain number of apartments and housing costs, which is decided before the season begins. Married players and married players with kids cost more for housing than single players because they are entitled to their own apartment. Single players (even with girlfriends) share apartments. It is a constant juggling act for Martinson to accommodate all the players coming and going during the season. Let's just say, getting another apartment is rarely if ever the answer. 

 

- When I talked to coach Martinson yesterday he was confident Branden Troock would return to the lineup this week. Josh Winquist will arrive in Allen today, hopefully in time for a rare afternoon practice. Allen's lineup for the three games in Cincinnati this week will be stronger with these players added. According to Martinson it is looking unlikely any of the other injured players (Butcher, Carroll, Hall, Jarvis, Poulsen) will be back this week. There could always be a surprise but don't count on it.

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Newfoundland won again yesterday, beating Reading on the road by a score of 5-3. The Growlers are a perfect example of what happens when you lose a bunch of players to injuries, COVID and call ups. If you remember, when Newfoundland was in Allen for three games at the end of January, the Growlers had to sign five or six players off the street just to have enough players to play. Allen ended up sweeping the three game series. Here is Newfoundland's points percentage before and after it lost all of the players:

• .875 (14-2-0-0) October 21 to December 1
  
• .233 (2-10-3-0) December 3 - February 5
• 1.000 (7-0-0-0) February 9 - present

 

- Four ECHL teams have points streaks of five or more games. Teams that start playing well at this time of the season usually perform well in the playoffs. Here are the hottest teams in the ECHL right now:

• 9-0-2-0 - Wichita
• 7-0-0-0 - Newfoundland
• 5-0-0-0 - Jacksonville
• 5-0-0-0 - Wheeling

 

- Allen's road points percentage (.522) is higher then its home points percentage (.500). Cincinnati is more traditional with a home points percentage of .635 and road percentage of .455.

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The post from ECHL stats today shows that four of the best players in the ECHL will be on the ice in Cincinnati this week. There are only nine players in the ECHL with a 170+ games played and a career points per game average above 1.00. Four of the nine will be in the series with Cincinnati this week and three of them are on the Allen roster.  

 

A select group of ECHL players. There are just nine current players that have played at least 170 ECHL games and have a career points per game average above 1.00:

 

1.54: Chad Costello, Allen

1.25: Jack Combs, Allen

1.15: Zach O’Brien, Newfoundland

1.05: Olivier Archambault, Trois Rivières

1.03: Shawn Szydlowski, Fort Wayne

1.03: Matt Berry, Toledo

1.01: Aaron Luchuk, Orlando

1.01: Jesse Schultz, Cincinnati

1.01: Josh Winquist, Allen