Allen Announces Two Players Today, Qualified List, Affiliation News, CBA Thoughts, Players to Europe and More

 

The day has finally arrived for the official start of naming Allen Americans players for the 2025-26 season. If you remember back to Steve Martinson's first stint in Allen, he always made the first player announcement of the season a big one, and he won't disappoint today. Somewhere around 11:00 am, look for the team to make the announcement of not one, but two players.

 

- Yesterday, the ECHL released the list of players who have been given qualifying offers. A maximum of eight players can be given qualifying offers. It is a way to retain the rights to players who have not signed a contract. The Americans qualified two players, the fewest in the league. See the breakdown of qualified offers for each ECHL team in the "Did You Know" section at the bottom of the blog. Here are some things to remember about qualifying offers:

• Players who have already signed a contract do not have to be qualified.
• Veterans are typically not qualified because they can become free agents even if they are qualified.
• Nick Isaacson is signed to play in Europe (Scotland), so he was qualified to retain his ECHL rights if he returns during the season.
• Mark Duarte was qualified because he is pursuing an AHL contract and is not ready to sign an ECHL contract. 

 

-  If you look at Allen's season-ending roster, there are three possibilities for each player. They have already been signed, are now free agents, or were qualified. Here is the season-ending roster:

• Goalie (1)
• Luke Richardson

• Defensemen (8)
• JC Brassard
• Cole Fraser
• Kenny Johnson
• Artem Kulakov
• Trevor LeDonne 
• Mike Van Unen
• Quinn Warmuth
• Hudson Wilson

• Forwards (11)
• Spencer Asuchak
• Harrison Blaisdell 
• Mark Duarte 
• Michael Gildon
• Nick Isaacson 
• Noah Kane
• Ayden MacDonald 
• Brad Morrison
• Reid Perepeluk 
• Brayden Watts 
• Jared Westcott

My assumption is that the majority of the players on this list have signed with Allen and just a handful are now free agents. I say that because Martinson has only coached a couple of the players on the list. He will want to see for himself if they fit into his system, if they show up to training camp in shape, are good teammates, and can play at both ends of the ice. My guess is the Allen training camp will be as big and as competitive as it has ever been. There are not many players on the list above guaranteed to make the opening day roster.  

 

- There is some news to report on the affiliation front. The President of the NHL Utah Mammoth hockey club (Chris Armstrong) held a press conference the other day after the conclusion of the team's development camp. The last question of the 17-minute press conference was:

Q: Last year you guys signed a one-year contract with the Allen Americans to be your ECHL affiliate. Is that a team you want to be affiliated with again?

A: I don't anticipate that changing for us; it has been a good working relationship with Allen, and we are in talks with them to continue. I think with the recent news about the Grizzlies (being sold) and speculation around us, we haven't had time to consider anything else. What is working in Allen, and I think that is probably what we will continue to do.

Here is the Armstrong press conference, which is a good listen about Utah's roster and player development. Great background information if Allen affiliates with them. FYI, the Allen question is the last 40 seconds of the 17 minute press conference:

  

 

- It is interesting that two of the NHL teams without an ECHL affiliate are Utah and Ottawa, Allen's recent affiliates. I can almost guarantee Steve Martinson has been in contact with both teams about a possible affiliation with Allen for 2025-26. With Martinson at the helm and Zawyer no longer involved, it will be fascinating to see how this works out. One thing is for sure, Allen does not want to be the only ECHL team without an NHL affiliate and have to operate as an independent team. Getting slots in NHL/AHL training camps is a critical part of the recruitment process in attracting young players, so finding an affiliate soon is critical.  

 

- I have heard nothing recently about progress in agreeing to a new CBA (collective bargaining agreement). The last I heard was that the two sides are not close on some key issues, especially the salary cap. At this point, the teams are operating under the provisions of the expired CBA. Neither the PHPA nor the ECHL has said anything publicly about the negotiations, but it appears they are at a stalemate.  

 

- Allen has only lost one player to Europe (Isaacson), but the ECHL total players signing in Europe has now surpassed 60. It is getting close to reporting time for many of the leagues in Europe, so the pace may quicken. 

 

- DID YOU KNOW: Here is a breakdown of the ECHL players that received qualifying offers. To start, here is the ECHL press release if you haven't seen it: https://echl.com/news/2025/07/echl-announces-players-with-qualifying-offers

Here is the ECHL Stats post from today:

The ECHL qualified offers list was issued yesterday, and a lot fewer players were given qualifying offers than one year ago. 

 

Last season (2024-25), 18 of 27 ECHL teams qualified the maximum of eight players, and the total number of players qualified was 194.

 

This season (2025-26), there were two additional teams (BLM & TAH) issuing qualifying offers. Just 10 of 29 teams issued the maximum of eight qualifying offers, and the total was only 179. Seems like the lack of a CBA did not affect player signings, so teams didn’t have to qualify as many players.

 

Here is the breakdown of qualifying offers by team.

8 - CIN, GVL, IND, KAL, KC, REA, TR, TUL, WHL, WIC

7 - BLM, IA, NOR, ORL, SAV, UTA, WOR

6 - ADK, FLA, MNE

5 - FW, IDH, JAX, SC

4 - TAH

3 - ATL, RC

2 - ALN