Allen Americans Update, Josh Winquist Heads to Slovakia, Signing Players Explained, Joel Chouinard Establishes Hockey Scholarship and More

 

It has been a busy 10 days for general manager, coach and player Chad Costello as he has lots of  pucks in the air at the same time. Here is a recap of some of Costello's activities in the last 10 days:

• June 13 - Outstanding future considerations trades were settled. Forward Gavin Gould went to South Carolina as the future consideration that brought forward Colby McAuley to Allen and defenseman Phil Beaulieu went to Worcester as the future consideration that brought defenseman Nick Albano to Allen. The impact of these future consideration trades won't be fully known until it is determined if McAuley and Albano sign with Allen for 2022-23. 

• June 15 - Allen's season ending roster was submitted with the maximum of 20 players for which Allen has their rights. Luke Peressini, Nick Albano, Ben Carroll, Kris Myllari, Darian Skeoch, Nolan Kneen, Jake Kearley, Andrew Jarvis, Eric Roy, Corey Durocher, Chad Butcher, Josh Winquist, Branden Troock, Justin Young, Colby McAuley, Jackson Leppard, Jared Bethune, J.D. Dudek, Zach Hall, Kelly Bent. 

• June 16 - First day to sign players for 2022-23. Costello has until June 30 to sign as many players as possible off the season ending roster. He can retain the rights to a maximum of eight unsigned players beyond June 30 by giving them a qualifying offer which requires a 5% pay increase from last season.
   

 - General Manager Costello has been in contact with all of the players on the season ending roster. Thus far Branden Troock and Josh Winquist have signed in Europe. They have joined a long list of top ECHL players that will play in Slovakia in 2022-23. There are several other players talking to AHL teams and European teams or both. There is no doubt some more players will go to Europe and a couple may get AHL deals.

 

- A couple of players conspicuously absent from the season ending roster are Spencer Asuchak and Jack Combs. I interpret that to the fact that Costello already knows they will both be in Allen so no need to protect them. They are also veterans and can eventually become free agents, even if unsigned and given a qualifying offer.

 

- The only player that has been signed and announced is Jackson Leppard who scored 35 points (20G, 15A) and had 61 penalty minutes as a rookie last season. Coach Costello looks for Leppard to have a bigger role next season with a lot of upside.

 

- Costello has several other players, both new and returning, already signed, but as in the past, the team will string out the announcements over the summer. Costello did tell me he has enough players signed that he will be able to protect all the players he wants to have back with his eight qualifying offers.

 

- What is already known is Costello will have to replace the offensive production of himself, Brandon Troock and Josh Winquist. The three of them combined for 70 goals in 140 games last season. The good news is Costello has been talking to some high end offensive players (young players and veterans) and is encouraged about getting them to sign in Allen.

 

- As stated above, Allen traded the rights to Gavin Gould to South Carolina for the rights to Colby McAuley at the trade deadline (March 31). Gould had a season ending knee surgery and didn't play after January 22. McAuley played a key role as Allen fought to make the playoffs the last weekend of the season. I have said all along this would be a great trade if Allen could sign Colby McAuley for 2022-23. I have heard from several sources Colby is one of the players looking to play in Europe next season. 

 

- Recruitment is a full time job this time of year but Costello has plenty of other to do items on his plate. He is still working on identifying coaches to help him. The most important is an assistant coach and he hopes to have that position filled soon. 

 

- The other big action item that takes time is finding a NHL/AHL affiliate. The agreement with Seattle was for one year and they are one of several teams Costello has talked to, but nothing is imminent on the affiliation front.

 

- Between now and June 30 you might see players from the season ending roster be announced as going to Europe and maybe being signed by AHL teams though that will likely be later. And a reminder, players that have already signed to return to Allen will not be on the qualified list so when you see the list on the 30th it is always a guessing game whether the missing players are already signed or are now free agents. 

 

- Here is a diagram created by Andrew Zadarnowski which does a great job of showing the complete process of signing players. If you are on Twitter, Andrew is a great follow (@AZadarski):

 

-  There is no time to rest for Costello because he spends his weekends playing in the new six team professional 3-on-3 hockey league, 3ICE. He was in Las Vegas last weekend and had a tough start. His team, which is known as Team Trottier or the Blue Team, played the first game in the tournament so no time to adjust to all of the unique rules. Two eight minute running time halves with the winner advancing. Chad's team got beat 5-0 and was done for the tournament after one game. I heard some teams got together to practice and others had to get fill-ins because of visa issues with some of the Canadian players. This weekend the tournament is in Denver and Chad's team will play the second of three first round games against the Red Team (Team Carbonneau). Former Allen players J.C. Campagna and Jeremy Brodeur play for the Red Team. You can watch all of the action live on CBS Sports Network which is carried by most cable and streaming services. The action starts at 4:00 pm CDT on Saturday. Chad mentioned to me a side benefit of playing in the league is his ability to network and recruit.    

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- A couple of former Allen Americans are headed in different directions for the 2022-23 season. Olivier Archambault is leaving the Trois-Riviéres Lions (ECHL) to play in Italy. Archambault was the Lion's second leading scorer last season with 54 points (19G, 35A) in 51 games. Going in the opposite direction is Alex Breton who just signed with Trois-Riviéres after playing the last two seasons in Slovakia. Breton was the 2020 ECHL Defenseman of the Year when he played in Allen.

 

- I had a chance to talk to former Allen captain Joel Chouinard yesterday about a scholarship fund he created which is run through the Allen Americans Red Lamp Foundation. Joel is now President of his own financial services company and came up with the idea to help young hockey players in need. Yesterday, along with Allen coach Chad Costello, Joel presented checks to the first scholarship recipients. Here is how it all started in Joel's own words:

 

Last year, as I started my first season as an assistant coach for a local travel team, I realized how expensive hockey was down south. I grew up playing hockey in Canada. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a huge expense for my parents and not all my friends were fortunate like I was, but it was nothing compared to how it is now. Kids who play travel hockey in the south have to travel all over the country to play other programs and get good exposure. Unfortunately, that makes hockey a very cost prohibitive sport.  It is with that in mind that we started this award. To help elite young athletes pursue their dreams of playing hockey at higher levels.

Brooklyn and Keaton will both be playing for the Dallas Stars Elite AAA program this year, a top-ranked Tier 1 program in the country.

Good luck to both of you!!

And special thank you to Ana Gonzalez, the Allen Americans Professional Hockey Club and of course, all of our donors. Without you, this would not have been possible!!

-Here is the presentation and recap put out by the Allen Americans. Congrats to Joel and the Allen Americans.

 

 

 As today marks the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, the Allen Americans Red Lamp Foundation would like to recognize Brooklyn Japp (Dallas Stars Elite 16U AAA) and Keaton Martin (Dallas Stars Elite 14U AAA) on being awarded the Red Lamp Foundation - Rising Star Award for their exemplary work ethic both on and off the ice. Thank you to Americans Alumni Joel Chouinard, whose bright vision created this scholarship program, and to those who donated towards this great cause of helping young athletes pursue their dream of playing hockey at higher levels. 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans regular season record since they won the first championship in 2013:

 

2021-22:  35-28-8-1
2020-21:  45-23-3-1
2019-20:  40-14-6-2
2018-19:  25-41-4-2
2017-18:  35-29-6-2
2016-17:  40-17-4-2
*2015-16:  41-24-3-4
*2014-15:  48-14-6-4
*2013-14:  39-22-1-4
*2012-13:  39-18-4-5

TOTAL   396-30-45-27

*won championship