Allen Releases Olynek and Godbout, Roster Update, Looking Ahead to 13 December Games, Crone and Finlay Top Rookies, ECHL Scoring Leaders and More

After a tough three games in Idaho last week the Allen Americans have some time to regroup and refocus as they don’t play again until Friday when they start three games in three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) home series against the Rapid City Rush.

– Coach Costello has been retooling the roster adding goalie Eric Dop (trade with Tulsa) and forwards Joe Widmar and Aidan Brown (trades with Norfolk) since Allen last played a home game. Yesterday forwards Kolten Olynek and Marcel Godbout were released. Here are the 2022-23 stats for the forwards added and released:

• Joe Widmar – 12 points (5G, 7A) in 17 games
• Aidan Brown – 12 points (5G, 7A) in 14 games
• Marcel Godbout – 1 point (0G, 1A) in 12 games
• Kolten Olynek – 0 points (0G, 0A) in 7 games

– With the recent changes the Allen roster now has 23 players: two goalies, six defensemen and 15 forwards. Here is the complete roster:

Goalies

• #31 – Luke Peressini
• #1 – Eric Dop

Defensemen

• #4 – Kris Myllari
• #16 – Ryan Gagnon
• #19 – Jared Bethune
• #23 – Colton Saucerman
• #24 – Dalton Skelly
• #55 – Lord-Anthony Grissom

Forwards

• #7 – Colton Hargrove
• #10 – Jackson Leppard
• #15 – Liam Finlay
• #18 – Zach Pochiro
• #21 – Jack Combs
• #25 – Aidan Brown
• #26 – Spencer Asuchak (injured reserve)
• #28 – Justin Young (injured reserve)
• #29 – Nico Blachman
• #32 – Mikael Robidoux (suspended until December 4)
• #44 – Andrew Durham
• #52 – Joe Widmar
• #67 – Hank Crone
• #77 – Stephen Baylis (injured reserve)

– The problem for Allen is the players on injured reserve will not return soon. Baylis hasn’t played a game all season and it is not sure when/if  he returns to the lineup. Asuchak’s return is months not weeks away. Young will return to the lineup the soonest and hopefully he will be back by the end of December. Mikael Robidoux will be eligible to return to the lineup Sunday (December 4) against Rapid City after completing his 14-game suspension.

– The bottom line is unless a player is added this week, the Americans will play Friday with two goalies, six defensemen and 10 forwards. They will be one skater short of the 17 allowed. I know general manager Costello is looking to add to the roster. If you look at the list above an additional defenseman and forward would sure help given Allen plays 13 games in the month of December.

– Here is the current points percentage of the teams Allen will play in December. While they all have better points percentages than Allen (.393), none are higher than third in theie division. The Americans start December with a stronger lineup and that doesn’t include players that will be added soon. December could be a good month for Allen.

• .500 – Rapid City (3 home games)
• .633 – Reading (3 away games)
• .600 – Wichita (5 games, 4H, 1A)
• .533 – Tulsa (2 away games)

– Allen has played 20% of its games (14 of 72) so it is still early, but Hank Crone and Liam Finlay have to be in the conversation for the ECHL All-Rookie team and Rookie of the Year. They both have 17 points (7G, 10A) which is tied for #2 among all rookies. Finlay missed a couple of games so his points per game average is higher. He is #2 among rookies with a 1.42 points per game average and is #4 in plus/minus (+9). Crone is tied for #3 with three power play goals. Allen relies a lot on Finlay and Crone as they play in all situations. They both deserve a shot with some AHL team (they are AHL free agents) but if they don’t get loaned, they are going to be at the top of the rookie scoring list.

– This week Allen will have a lot of time to work on areas that need improvement given the Americans don’t play until Friday. It is the most time Allen will have off between games all season. One of the areas that needs improvement is special teams at home. Allen is dead last in-home power play percentage at just 8.3%. In its five home games, Allen has had just 12 power play opportunities and scored one goal. In those same five home games Allen has given up 31 power play opportunities to its opponents and allowed six goals for a penalty kill percentage of 80.6%. Cutting down on penalties and doing a better job on the power play will be key in the series against Rapid City.

– Here are some miscellaneous Allen records to ponder. It is pretty clear what leads to success and what doesn’t:

• 3-0-0-0: Leading after the first period
• 4-0-1-0: Leading after the second period
• 2-1-1-0: Tied after the first period
• 1-0-0-0: Tied after the second period
• 0-7-0-0: Trailing after the first period
• 0-8-0-0: Trailing after the second period
• 2-2-1-0: Out shooting opponent
• 3-6-0-0: Out shot by opponent
• 5-1-1-0: Scoring the first goal
• 0-7-0-0: Allowing the first goal

DID YOU KNOW: Last season the ECHL points leader had 83 points (Will Graber, Fort Wayne). It is still early but six players already have 20 or more points and are on pace to score 90 or more points. Here are the current ECHL point leaders:31 – *Zach O’Brien, Newfoundland26 – Orrin Centazzo, Newfoundland21 – Ryan Dmowski, Idaho21 – Jeremy McKenna, Kansas City20 – Max Newton, Reading20 – Ty Pelton-Byce, Idaho*O’Brien is on pace to score between 135-140 points if he plays in all 55 remaining Newfoundland games. The last player to come close that mark was Chad Costello who had 125 points for Allen in 2014-15 and won the scoring title by an all-time record of 45 points.