I am coming to you from Minnesota where we are visiting friends and then I am heading to North Dakota tomorrow morning for the opening of pheasant hunting season on Saturday. Always fun with my best friend and hunting buddy of 60+ years. Nothing like the anticipation of another hunting season and the fall colors are spectacular right now. Lows in the 30's the next two nights but highs will be in the 60's for the North Dakota hunt. Since I will be hunting for a week just as training camp begins, here are my thoughts of what is in store for the Allen Americans.
- Coach Costello has finalized his 2022-23 roster with the exception of players to be assigned by Ottawa/Belleville. The final piece of the puzzle was no surprise to Allen fans. It was a forgone conclusion the Jack Combs would be part of the team and that was made official today.
- Jack Combs was arguably the most valuable player on the team last season when you consider he played in all situations (even strength, power play, penalty kill) and finished #2 on the team in points and #1 among forwards in plus/minus (+15). Here is how Combs ranked last season:
- 2nd - Points (62)
- 2nd - Assists (41)
- 2nd - Plus/Minus (+15)
- 2nd - Shots (200)
- 2nd - Game Winning Goals (4)
- 3rd - Power Play Assists (10)
- 4th - Goals
- Combs has played in 280 ECHL games over eight seasons dating back to 2009-10. In those 280 games he totaled 340 points (153G, 187A) for a points per game average of 1.21 which is top 15 all time in the ECHL among players with 280+ games played. He will likely have the highest points per game career average of all players in the ECHL this season other than players with a handful of games played.
- If Jack Combs stays healthy this season which is a big if considering he missed 12 games last season and will be 35 in January, he will likely lead the league in scoring. With Chad Costello now retired and behind the bench, Combs will be relied upon to take a bigger leadership role on the ice and in the locker room, in addition to his scoring prowess.
THE ROSTER
Goalies
Defensemen
- #3 - Ryan Gagnon
- #4 - Kris Myllari
- #5 - Nick Albano
- #19 - Jared Bethune (D/F)
- #23 - Colton Saucerman
- #55 - Lord-Anthony Grissom
- #?? - Dalton Skelly
Forwards
- #7 - Colton Hargrove
- #10 - Jackson Leppard
- #15 - Liam Finlay
- #18 - Zach Pochiro
- #21 - Jack Combs
- #26 - Spencer Asuchak
- #28 - Justin Young
- #32 - Mikael Robidoux
- #58 - Marcel Godbout
- #67 - Hank Crone
- #77 - Stephen Baylis
- With eight players at AHL training camps this week, the Americans will supplement the roster with some tryout players until the guys at AHL camps return. Belleville plays preseason games tomorrow and Sunday and my understanding is the five Allen players at its camp will all get to play in a game before they return to Allen, likely the Friday game. I would expect all eight players at AHL camps will return to Allen by Sunday or Monday.
- The big unanswered question is how many players Ottawa will assign to the Americans to start the season. A goalie is a given and the expectation is at least one defenseman and one forward will also be sent to Allen.
- Allen's roster of 19 players averages 195 pounds which is the 6th heaviest average in the league, but the average is a bit misleading since according to eliteprospects.com the Americans range is from 154 pounds (Finlay) to 249 pounds (Grissom). Finlay is the second lightest in the league and Grissom the second heaviest. Allen's average age of 26.63 years is the #7 oldest team in the ECHL.
- I have had some questions about whether training camp practices will be open to the public. Tommy Daniels was meeting with the City of Allen this afternoon and will put out the details soon thereafter.
- Will try and post again in a week.
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