Allen Americans Update - Announced Players, Players Signed Elsewhere, Signed But Unannounced Players, One Month of Schedule Hell, CBA Details and More

 

We just returned from our trip to the British Isles, and it was quite the respite from the Texas heat. We got on our ship in Aberdeen, Scotland (81 passengers, 65 crew members). We headed north with stops in the Orkney Isles, the Isle of Lewis, and down the western side of Scotland to the Isle of Mull, a couple of days in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then on to the Isle of Man, a couple of stops in Wales, and then ended our trip in Oxford, England. Highs were in the 60s and 70s, and the lows at night were in the 50s and 60s. Twice during the trip, it hit 80, and the locals were complaining about the heat. It was a fantastic trip filled with spectacular scenery, fascinating history, and unforgettable experiences. Now it is time to shift gears from the British Isles back to Allen Americans hockey. 

 

- Let's start with a roster update in three parts: announced players, players from last season who have signed elsewhere, and signed players who have not been announced. 

 

- Announced Players - Just three players have been announced thus far, and they are all very familiar to Allen fans. Here is a little about each

• Spencer Asuchak 
• 14th season in Allen.
• 728 games played (regular season and playoffs), 381 more games than any other Allen player.
• 3 championship rings in Allen.
• Best in the ECHL on faceoffs.
• He and his wife, Cass, are expecting their first child in October. 

 

• Hank Crone 
• 4th season in Allen, 172 games played.
• 2023 ECHL Rookie of the Year and MVP.
• Has averaged 1.22 points per game as an Allen American.
• He and his bride, Emma, got married just over a month ago.

  

• Brayden Watts
• 3rd season in Allen, 139 games played
• Led the team in points his first two seasons. 
• #2 in the ECHL in assists and #3 in points last season.
• Won the 2026 ECHL Sportsmanship Award presented annually to the player judged to have exhibited the best Sportsmanship with a high standard of playing ability. FYI, he had twice as many goals (24) as penalty minutes (12) last season. 
• Brayden and his wife, Briley, recently (May 27) celebrated their daughter's first birthday.   

 

- Players who have signed elsewhere

• Harrison Blaisdell - Sweden (Bik Karlskoga)
• Anthony Costantini - Austria (Pioneers Vorarlberg) 
• Marco Costantini - Italy (HC Bolzano) 
• Colby McAuley - Romania (CSM Corona Brasov)
• Ty Prefontaine - Northern Ireland (Belfast Giants) 
• Matt Register - Assistant Coach, New Mexico Goatheads 
• Braidan Simmons-Fischer - Iowa Wild, AHL (Allen still has his ECHL rights) 

 

- Players signed but not announced - This is what fans are looking forward to, and I have some good news after talking to Coach Martinson.

• The next announcement will be tomorrow (Thursday) scheduled for 9:00 am. Two new players to the team will be announced. They are experienced players who have played some AHL games.
• The announcements will keep coming, as the plan is to announce two rookie players next week.
• The week after next, there will be an announcement of some more players returning from last season.
• Needless to say, there are a lot more players signed than have been announced. My estimate is most teams have signed an average of 15 players. There is a large variance, since teams that expect many NHL/AHL contracted players to be assigned will sign fewer ECHL players. Teams like Wheeling, South Carolina, Reading, and Savannah fall into that category. 

 

- There is not much to report on what will happen in terms of NHL/AHL contracted players being assigned to Allen. It will be closer to NHL and AHL training camps starting before those decisions are made. I do know it never seems to go as smoothly as planned. I will predict that Coach Martinson will get players from more than one AHL team in 2026-27, just as he did last season. 

 

- I get a lot of questions about how many veterans (260+ games) will be on the team to start the 2026-27 season. Coach Martinson is a big believer that veteran presence is important, even though the ECHL trend has been fewer veterans on rosters. Florida has been an exception to the trend of fewer veterans, as they typically have five signed, which means one has to be on injured reserve. My guess is Martinson will save a vet spot to use later in the season, but will have four vets come playoff time. Martinson also reminds me that there are players on the roster who are veterans but have fewer than 260 games, especially if they have played in Europe, where most leagues don't count against vet status. Only seven leagues count. Teams can have players who have played four years in major junior hockey followed by four years in college and be 25-year-old rookies. Another example is a six-year pro that has spent three years in Europe and is under the 260 games limit to be a veteran. The point is there will be veterans by experience and veterans by definition on the roster. 

 

- After talking to Coach Martinson a few times since returning home, this is how I would summarize his thinking at this point in the recruiting process. Allen should have a lot of its skill retained and new scorers signed. Expect Allen to get more players from the American League this season. The team should be quicker than last season and not as big. I know one point of emphasis will be being better at pursuing loose pucks. 

 

- Allen didn't have a rookie in the top 70 in the league in points last season. Based on the rookies that Martinson has signed or expects to sign, I predict that will not be the case in 2026-27.     

 

- Don't forget it will be a tough start to the season because the Allen Americans have been kicked out of the CUTX Event Center for over a month for an esports event. The Americans will not play a home game at CUTX Event Center until November 20. Allen will play 11 of its first 13 games on the road.  

The Americans will play two "home" games at the Comerica Center in Frisco. It is a 6000 seat arena that is home to the Texas Legends (NBA G League) and is the Dallas Stars' practice facility. The two games at Comerica Center will be on Thursday, October 29th (School Day Game) and  Friday, October 30.

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- If you follow my ECHL Stats posts, which I post every day, there were a lot recently relating to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). I am going to re-post a few of them here for those not on social media.

- The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the ECHL and PHPA runs from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2030. Here is the CBA by the numbers for the 2026-27 season:

$18,610 - weekly salary cap 1st 30 days.

$18,000 - weekly salary cap for the rest of the season.

$13,680 - minimum weekly salary cap.

$750 - rookie (fewer than 25 games) maximum weekly salary.

$610 - rookie weekly minimum salary.

$660 - minimum weekly salary for all others.

$61 - daily per diem allowance for travel.

$625 - salary cap charge for NHL/AHL contracted players assigned to ECHL

 

 

- CBA: Player Lodging

 

The team shall provide to each Player on the Active Roster, Reserve, or Injured Reserve during the Season, a minimum form of lodging as follows:

- Each Player without a Spouse shall be entitled to his own furnished bedroom in a shared furnished apartment.

- Each Player and Spouse shall be entitled to a furnished

apartment or residence of his own.

- Furnished apartments shall include paid electricity, water, sewer, gas, trash, recycling (where available), basic cable or streaming television, internet, and access to a washer and dryer.

 

 

- CBA: Mandatory Day Off

 

Except as otherwise provided herein, each Team shall provide its Players one (1) “Mandatory Day Off” every week of the Regular Season as determined by each Team. For purposes of this provision, a “week” shall mean the period beginning at 12:00 a.m. local time on Sunday and ending at 11:59 p.m. local time on Saturday.

 

Each Mandatory Day Off shall commence at 12:00 a.m. local time. If a team is traveling and does not arrive at its Home Arena until after 12:00 a.m. local time on the Mandatory Day Off, then the Mandatory Day Off shall begin upon the team’s arrival at its Home Arena or such other location designated as the final destination for the traveling Players. Should scheduling prohibit the Team from providing the Mandatory Day Off within the aforementioned seven (7) day period, the Executive Director of the PHPA shall be consulted for his approval. In no event shall more than nine (9) consecutive calendar days elapse without Players being provided a Day Off. Nothing herein shall be construed to limit a Team from providing additional days off to its Players beyond the Mandatory Day Off required herein.

 

 

CBA Definitions: “Reserve”

 

- Reserve shall mean up to three (3) Players in addition to the Active Roster of 20. (21 for first 30 days of the season).

- May consist of healthy or injured Players.

- One of these Reserve spots is to be used exclusively for a goaltender (i.e. no more than two position players may be on reserve at the same time).

- Salary paid to a Reserve Player does not count against the Salary Cap.

- Reserve Player may be added to the Active Roster at any time, not to exceed the Active Roster maximum. 

 

 

 

- For the 2026–27 ECHL season, the former 14-day Injured Reserve has been changed to a 7-day Injured Reserve, with an unlimited number of players permitted on the 7-day IR.

It is an open secret that teams hide players on IR to manage the salary cap. Going to a 7-day IR has the potential to exasperate this problem:

The Good: The new 7-day IR will definitely give teams more flexibility to deal with injuries since players won’t have to sit out a minimum of two weeks.

The Bad: It could give wealthier teams an easier way to expand their rosters by rotating more players thru IR. Remember, IR players don’t count against the salary cap, but they still get paid, so it is more of budget issue for the less wealthy teams. 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is a list of the top nine players in penalty minutes in the 2020s decade. If the names look familiar, it is because six of the nine players on the list have played for the Allen Americans.

 

As we enter the last half of the decade of the 2020s, here are the ECHL players with the most penalty minutes since 2020-21. Games played are in parentheses:

 

968 - Mikael Robidoux (242)

911 - Sean Allen (307)

826 - Nico Blachman (165)

787 - Jacob Graves (316)

737 - Cole Fraser (301)

645 - Kelly Bent (203)

640 - Kyle Neuber (225)

627 - Connor Doherty (324)

607 - Darian Skeoch (232)

  

 

Allen Americans Update – Player Announcements, Qualifying Offers, Player Signings, Martinson Quotes, Transactions Worth Noting, CBA Details, NCAA Freshman Stats

 

Before Nancy and I depart on vacation, a small ship (90 passengers) cruise around Great Britain, I want to post this blog to cover the latest information I have on several topics. Here goes:

- Player announcements: No doubt, I get more questions about this topic than anything else. There will definitely be at least one player announcement this week, and it could be more than one. Tuesday is the most likely announcement day, but that could change.

- Player signings: Qualifying offers must be completed by the end of the day on Tuesday, and remember, only eight players can be qualified. General Manager Martinson has been busy trying to sign players he wants back from the season-ending roster.

- Here are the players from the season-ending roster who have already signed elsewhere for 2026-27. The only way to retain the ECHL rights to this group is with a qualifying offer. Caron is the one exception because he falls under the new CBA rule that players with more than 190 games can’t be qualified. 

• Harrison Blaisdell - Sweden
• Thomas Caron – Wales
• Anthony Costantini – Austria
• Ty Prefontaine – Northern Ireland
• Braden Simmons Fisher - Iowa Wild (AHL)

The other players from the season-ending roster that may need to be qualified are players looking for AHL deals and aren’t ready to sign an ECHL contract. I would put Andre Anania, Mark Duarte, and Sam Sedley in this group. All three could get AHL deals, and qualifying them will retain their ECHL rights.

When I asked Coach Martinson about the players he has signed. This is what he had to say: 

"We have some of our top players signed, as well as some depth players."

"We have some rookies signed."

"I am happy where we are right now."

"This coming week is a big week for recruiting because all AHL players under AHL-only contracts last season that were not re-signed became unrestricted free agents on July 1.

Other comments

I posted this on my ECHL stats page yesterday, and it is quite telling. There have been 87 ECHL transactions since June 19. Here is the breakdown:

• 33: signed with or rights moved through future considerations to other ECHL teams
• 24: signed overseas
• 20: signed with the same ECHL team*
• 5: signed AHL deals
• 3: retired
• 1: signed with a college team
• 1: signed with a Canadian protein

*Even though only 20 players have been announced as having re-signed with the same team, many more have been signed but not announced. A lot of teams hold off on announcements for marketing and other reasons. Because teams can only qualify/protect eight players and it must be done by Tuesday, July 7, coaches/general managers are busy trying to sign players off of their season-ending rosters. A conservative estimate is that at least 175 players have already been signed by their teams from last season.

- When looking at all of the transactions, here are a few worth noting:

Dylan Wells - former Allen goalie and key to Kansas City’s runner-up finish in the Kelly Cup has signed in Austria.

Bobo Carpenter - has retired after averaging 1.02 points per game in the regular season and leading Kansas City in goals in the playoffs, 10.

Blake Murray – former Alan Ford, who played in Fort Wayne last season, has signed in Austria for the same team as well.

Jake McGrew – former Allen player has resigned with Tahoe.

Anthony Beauregard – the 2020-21 ECHL MVP and Trois-Rivières' leading scorer last season has re-signed with the Lions.

Ryan Wagner - Rapid City's leading scorer last season has resigned with the Rush.

Aaron Luchuk – the longtime ECHL player and Orlando’s leading scorer last season has re-signed with the Solar Bears.

Ryan Mahshie - former Allen player has signed with Rapid City.

Brandon Hawkins – the two-time ECHL MVP has re-signed with Toledo.

- The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is actually already in its second season and has still not been published with all of the details. The CBA runs from the 2025–26 season through the 2029–30 season. Here are some numbers:

Salary Cap (after 30 days)

• $17,000 – 2025–26
• $17,300 – 2026–27
• $17,612 – 2027–28
• $17,937 – 2028–29
• $18,275 – 2029–30

Affiliate Payment (per week)

• $600 – 2025–26
• $625 – 2026–27
• $637 – 2027–28
• $650 – 2028–29
• $675 – 2029–30

As a frame of reference, the salary cap in the final year of the last CBA (2024–25) was $14,600. The affiliate payment was $525 for many years. The 2013 CBA shows it at $525. The increases in the affiliate payment in the new CBA will cost teams with a lot of NHL/AHL contracted players more against the salary cap than in the past, but it is still a big advantage. 

- This is the ECHL stats post from yesterday. It shows the changes taking place in NCAA Division I hockey. Canadian major junior players (WHL, OHL, QMJHL) attending NCAA Division I colleges under the recent rule changes (effective in 2025–26) have had a big impact. What does this mean for the ECHL, and what do you think the long-term impact will be? Here are some possibilities 

– ECHL could get older and more experienced. Top major junior players who don't get NHL/AHL deals will opt for NCAA hockey rather than signing in the ECHL

- The number of first-year ECHL players may decline.

-  The NHL may rely more on the NCAA as its developmental league.

 

DID YOU KNOW: Seven ECHL teams have lost their leading scorer last season (2025-26) to Europe for 2026-27:

 

Keaton Mastrodonato, Greenville (Germany)

Zach Okabe, Kalamazoo (Switzerland)

Brooklyn Kalmikov, Maine (Slovakia)

Nicholas Zabaneh, Savannah (Finland)

Simon Pinard, South Carolina (Finland)

Danny Dzhaniyev, Utah (Sweden)

Peter Bates, Wichita (Northern Ireland