It will be short and sweet today as there is not much new to report. The team will be back at practice today after taking three days off. The Americans now prepare for two critical games in Tulsa this weekend. I will attend practice and hopefully get an update on the roster for the weekend. As a reminder, here is the list of injured players with my guesstimate on their return based on conversations with coach Martinson:
- Gavin Gould* - out for season
- Chad Butcher* - out this week
- Ben Carroll* - out this week
- Ryan Lohin - expected to play in Tulsa
- Tyler Poulsen* - out this week
- Andrew Jarvis - tried to return last week but wasn't ready. May be available for Tulsa
- Zach Hall* - should be available for Tulsa, day to day
- D-Jay Jerome - could return for Tulsa, but questionable
- It is hard to overstate the importance of the two games in Tulsa this weekend. If the Americans win both games they will be in a playoff spot with a legitimate shot at finishing in second place in the Mountain Division. With a sweep in Tulsa, a tall order indeed, the Americans points percentage would improve to .528 and within striking distance of the top three teams. Here are the points percentages of the top three teams:
- .598 - Utah
- .579 - Rapid City
- .545 - Idaho
- As depressing as it sounds, if the Americans lose twice in Tulsa (in regulation) they will drop below .500 again with a points percentage of .491. Allen will have just 18 games remaining with a lot of ground to makeup. While still mathematically possible to make the playoffs, practically it will be a long shot.
- Another way to look at the standings, given the games played vary from 52 (Allen) to 57 (Rapid City & Kansas City) is the number of wins above .500 for each team. This stat shows how many wins Allen will have to make up to get to fourth place or higher in the Mountain Division. Here are the wins above .500 for each team:
- +11 Utah
- +9 Rapid City
- +5 Utah
- +2 Tulsa
- +1 Allen
- 0 Wichita
- 0 Kansas City
- You are starting to see more and more players signing AHL and ECHL contracts as the college playoffs in US and Canada progress and teams are eliminated. These players are biased to the top teams in the standings that are more likely to make deep playoff runs. And of course many wait to see if they can get an AHL deals before signing in the ECHL. Yet another obstacle for general manager Steve Martinson to overcome. Keep in mind if Seattle/Charlotte signs players it could push other players to Allen.
- South Carolina will be looking for a new coach for the 2022-23 season. They fired second year head coach Ryan Blair this week and named assistant coach Brenden Kotyk as interim coach. The Stingrays have the worst record in the ECHL with a points percentage of .389. Blair was in his second year as the head coach and took South Carolina to the Kelly Cup finals last season. South Carolina will not make the playoffs this season, it will be just the second time since the team began play in 1993 the team won't be in the playoffs.
- The ECHL Stats post (see below) today is about the record setting number of goalies used in the ECHL this season. Allen has used six goalies this season which is tied for the most goalies the Americans have used in any single season. Here is the list of names of the goalies by season with minutes played in parenthesis:
- 2021-22
- Hayden Lavigne (1008)
- Antoine Bibeau (816)
- Frank Marotte (709)
- Luke Peressini (416)
- Alexis Gravel (120)
- Chase Perry (61)
- 2020-21
- Jake Paterson (1639)
- Justin Kapelmaster (1093)
- Frank Marotte (732)
- Zach Sawchenko (423)
- C.J. Motte (360)
- Hayden Hawkey (99)
- 2019-20
- Jake Paterson (1571)
- Zach Sawchenko (792)
- Dereck Baribeau (700)
- Andrew Shortridge (576)
- Evan Weninger (120)
- 2018-19
- C.J. Motte (2457)
- Kyle Hayton (826)
- Jeremy Brodeur (558)
- Lukas Hafner (480)
- 2017-18
- Jeremy Brodeur (1942)
- Stephon Williams (1434)
- Jake Paterson (1389)
- Riley Gill (114)
- 2016-17
- Riley Gill (2376)
- Jamie Murray (1885)
- Peter Di Salvo (80)
- Thomas Hodges (1)
- 2015-16
- Joel Rumpel (2136)
- Riley Gill (1530)
- Jake Hildebrand (364)
- Jamie Murray (208)
- Peter Di Salvo (102)
- Nolan Bowker (2)
- 2014-15
- Riley Gill (2868)
- Aaron Dell (676)
- J.P. Anderson (485)
- Joel Rumpel (250)
- Raphael Girard (81)
- Josh Trimberger (2)
No comments:
Post a Comment