2019-20 Amerks Report

[Scott-New York]

The first edition of the Amerks Report for this season kicks off with a bang. GM Jones has made a major move just days before the 2019 draft, acquiring Aaron Ekblad and Michael Ferland. It's no secret that he holds the #1 overall pick and that he's been fielding offers for that pick, but he found time to add another piece to the core of this team. We caught up with Jones this morning...

"We're very excited to announce that we capped off a deal late last night to add Aaron Ekblad to our team. Jon and I have been working on this deal for over a month and, to be honest, earlier in the day yesterday I was pretty sure that talks had stalled and we probably weren't going to be in a position to get the player. I have to give a lot of credit to Jon for continuing talks, we had some really solid negotiations, which is what it takes in this league to get a deal of this magnitude consummated. I'd like to thank Jon and the Seattle organization for the hard work. I'd like to point out that we are not fast tracking the rebuild with this move. Ekblad is only 23 and is signed long term so adding him makes perfect sense where we're at. What we did was add another core piece to the build. Including next year's 1st rounder and a great young player like Iafallo was the price we had to pay to bring in a stud right shot defenseman. We think Iafallo is about a year away from reaching his potential as a top 6 winger in this league so, yes, we gave up a hefty ransom but players like Ekblad are not around every corner in this league. At the end of the day, we're very happy with this deal. We wish Alex (Iafallo) nothing but the best in Seattle and with the rest of his very promising career. I don't want to ignore the other piece in this deal. We are bringing back a player we really liked when he was here before, and who we're still high on as well, in Michael Ferland. We actually traded Ferland to Seattle in November of 2017 and we're excited to be bringing him back. With him, we feel we're adding another scoring winger who we still have some control with contractually. I spoke with him this morning and he's pretty excited to be coming back. One last thing that I want to mention before I go is that we are not finished working on bringing in the players we think are going to help this team in the long term. We still have talks going on with other teams, the draft starts Saturday and free agency is still a very real option this summer. We're excited about the trade but there is more to come, we're going to keep turning over every rock until we find every treasure we're looking for. The core of this team is stronger today but it's not complete.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS SELECT PETTERSSON #1 OVERALL

At this time last year, we were talking about GM Jones' Swedish laden 2018 draft and off-season moves. Jones selected a pair of swedish defense prospects in Sebastien Aho and Calle Rosen, along with forwards Henrik Borgstrom and Axel Holmstrom, as well as goaltending prospect, Adam Werner, while also bringing in defenseman, Fredrik Claesson via trade. Jones has once again shown his fondness for Sweden's contributions to the hockey world by selecting center, Elias Pettersson, with his first overall pick in 2019. Jones commented briefly following the pick.

"We're excited to bring Elias in to our group. We're positive that this kid can play this season and he'll probably get a chance to play significant minutes for our club and make a huge contribution. Being GHL ready is not why we picked him, but it's certainly icing on the cake. We think this kid has unlimited potential, there is no ceiling. He can be a franchise center and that's something you just can't pass up because most teams don't have one and if you don't have a #1 center, you're always looking for one. We feel this makes us very strong down the middle, which a building block goal for us. With Pettersson, Backlund, Eriksson-Ek and Borgstrom, we feel we have a very good presence down the center of the ice and we are also working on a deal to bring back Zack Smith as veteran presence who can play either at center or the left side to give us good flexibility. We will continue to work through this draft to identify pieces that fill in the areas of our team we feel we need help in, we've got those players identified already and will just wait to see what falls to us with our trifecta of picks in the 2nd round. We think this team is coming together nicely and we're very happy with what we've done to this point".

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS TRADE CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS

The New York Americans have traded their Captain, Ryan Callahan, in a surprising move announced this morning. Known for his gritty, hard working style, Callahan had spent his entire GHL career with the Amerks. He was sent to Colorado this morning along with Goaltender, Jared Coreau, in return for a pair of draft picks. New York acquired pick #141 this year and a 4th next year while freeing up around $4.7m in cap space. Callahan finishes his Amerks career having played 683 games, contributing 194 goals and 171 assists. He was a +92 with the Amerks while racking up 838 blocked shots and doling out 1,758 hits. GM, Scott Jones, was available for comment following the trade.

“Our intention was always to keep Ryan here until he decided he was going to hang up his skates. He’s a great leader and that locker room is going to miss him. We’ll miss him on the ice and I’ll miss him personally, he’s a great man and a great hockey player. He can chip in offensively, he blocks shots, he hits, he’s just a vey well rounded player. We respect Ryan a ton and we’re sad to see him leave. I’m sad to see him leave. At the end of the day, it’s business. After sitting down with our cap guys, this trade makes a ton of sense financially for us. Personally, I don’t like the deal, but professionally, I have no choice but to make this trade. They are telling me it frees up almost 5 million in cap space and after internal moves, signings, etc., we have just shy of 16 million to reach the roster minimum of 45. We’re at 41 right now, some of those moves have not been announced yet but the business side is done, that’s internal stuff, so we only have to sign 4 players to reach that number. That gives us about four million to spend per player so we’re very comfortable with that. This trade gets us to a place in the cap era where we aren’t even close to being in cap trouble. But most importantly, we want to thank Ryan for his service to this team, he was a great leader and is a great individual”.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS WIN 3rd STRAIGHT

When the 2019-20 GHL season began, expectations for this years New York Americans weren’t high. Hopes were that the team would finish higher in the standings than last season and possibly qualify for the playoffs. A win against Moncton pushes the team into the playoff picture for the first time this season, landing them in 7th, for the time being, in the Campbell conference. The Amerks are one game below .500 but the locker room is holding their heads a little higher after reeling off 3 consecutive wins. Tonight’s 4-1 win over Moncton came without their #1 overall pick from this summer, Elias Pettersson, and Bandon Pirri, who are currently 2nd and 4th respectively in team scoring with Pirri leading the team with 8 goals. Neither is expected back in the line-up until late November but the Amerks rallied a game after losing both to injury, peppering Moncton goaltender, Martin Jones, with 49 shots. The Amerks have scored at least 4 goals in their last 4 outings, starting with an 8-4 loss to Syracuse, before rebounding with a 4-3 win over Philadelphia, followed by a 5-4 victory over Adirondack and the win over Moncton. The Amerks have a pair of games remaining on a 6 game home stand. Up first will be a rematch vs. Montreal, who blasted New York 7-2 on Oct. 8th, followed by a visit from Sidney Crosby and Hershey. “I think we’ve looked pretty good here recently” said GM Scott Jones after tonight’s win. “We’ve battled, and that’s what we want to see. We’ve only been out shot in 2 of our last 10 games and we’re 5-4-1 in that stretch. We’re going to battle, that’s who we are. We are without a doubt dedicated to this rebuild and we will continue to look to bring the right players in here. I think we’ve done a good job doing that, with the off-season moves, but we want to win. There is a lot of pride all the way through the organization and we will continue to compete and continue to try and win games during this process”.

Jones showed his dedication to building a winning culture again in New York following the Americans worst season to date in the contemporary GHL. Jones started his off season with the selection of Pettersson. He followed that up with a summer blockbuster which brought in Aaron Ekblad and Michael Ferland, whose 17 points leads all Amerks this season. He then traded for youngster, Jake Virtanen, before capping off the summer with the signing of Oliver Ekman-Larsson to solidify what is shaping up to be a very solid blueline. Ekblad and Ekman-Larsson join superstar, Roman Josi, and Jake McCabe as a formidable top 4. Ethan Bear is expected to join that group as early as next year with Madison Bowey and Jusso Riikola likely challenging for spots as well. Jones will look to add forward depth and surround Pettersson with some talent as early as this years trade deadline. The wins make the rebuild more fun and the excitement continues to build in the Big Apple.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS 0-6-1 IN LAST SEVEN

After starting out the month of November with a 3-1 record, the New York Americans have earned just a single point in their last 7 games. The Amerks have been plagued with some key injuries to Elias Pettersson, Bandon Pirri and Oliver Ekman-Larsson but it seems everyone will be back in the line-up for the upcoming game in New Jersey Monday. Over the 7 game win-less streak, the Amerks have been out-shot in just 3 games so the offense doesn’t seem to be a major part of the problem and getting Pettersson, Pirri and Ekman-Larsson back in the line-up will certainly serve the offense well. The trio has accounted for 36 points thus far this season. In their absence, Michael Ferland has been carrying the team. Ferland is averaging a point per game this season and is currently on a 3 game scoring streak despite the teams rough patch. On the flip side of the coin, the 7 defensemen that the Amerks have utilized this season are a combined -38. Of that group, only Jake McCabe is a plus player at +5. The goaltenders have a combined save % of .856 and a goals against average of 4.39. Even the Amerks respectable goals for average of 3.04 isn’t going to lead to winning hockey when you’re allowing almost 4 1/2 goals per game. There is no doubt that the Amerks are going to have to find a way to improve defensively if they want to gain any ground in the standings. Expectations for the Americans weren’t as high as normal this season in the 2nd year of the rebuild but they were higher than the teams current standing of 13th in the conference. Can the Amerks rebound from their lowest point in the season with a healthy line-up? It’s no secret that GM Jones wanted to see his team at least make the playoffs this season but at this point, that looks to be a pretty lofty expectation. The team will have to find that work ethic that we’ve talked about this season. There is a decent amount of talent in the line-up and even though that is not leading to wins right now, spirits continue to be high in the locker room and this team still comes to play every game night. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS WIN 3rd STRAIGHT

The New York Americans blanked Pittsburgh, 1-0 on Saturday, earning their 1st shutout of the season. Back-up goaltender, Shane Starrett, who earned the back-up role in training camp, turned aside all 31 shots he faced for his 4th win of the season. Starrett has been hot of late, going 3-0-1 in his last 4 starts with a save % of .947 and a GAA of 1.50 in that span. The streak has encouraged the Amerks to give Starrett a 2nd consecutive start for the 1st time this season on New Year’s Eve in Colorado as the team kicks off a 5 game road swing. The Americans have been better of late, going 5-4-1 in their last 10. Both Brandon Pirri and Michael Ferland were both healthy scratches vs. Pittsburgh as trade rumors circled but GM Jones announced today that both will be in the line-up Tuesday vs. the Pioneers. Ferland leads the team with 35 points and Pirri is tied for 4th with 22 points. Pirri is also tied for 2nd on the team in goals scored with rookie Elias Pettersson with 14 apiece.

Jones was available for comment this morning.

“We obviously felt we were very close on a deal or we wouldn’t hold out two of our top 5 scorers. It is no secret we are rebuilding, but we still want to win. I’m not going to tip my hand too much but I will say that we were extremely close to pulling the trigger on a deal with both of those players involved. We were getting back some really nice pieces but I honestly felt it was a bit early here, especially when we’ve been putting together some wins. Ferly is still restricted so we felt letting him go right now is premature when we really sat down and looked over the final deal. Brandon will likely move on at some point, he has indicated to us that he would like a chance to win, and dependant on the standings and the return, we will certainly consider that as we get closer to the deadline. Brandon would certainly help any team making a push this season. Realistically, we know we’re a season or two away yet but we’re still going to go out every night and try to beat you. Hard work has become a signature of this team and we will work to continue that tradition as we continue to build.”

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS WIN STREAK HALTED AT 4

The New York American’s won their final 4 games of 2019 but their first outing of 2020 saw their win streak come to an end with a 4-2 loss in Toronto. Connor Hellebuyck, who has struggled this season, posting the worst numbers of his career (.859 save %, 4.37 GAA) allowed 4 goals on 25 shots as the Amerks 29th ranked penalty operated at a mere 50%, surrendering 3 goals on 6 attempts to the Toro’s. The Amerks out shot Toronto 38-25 but couldn’t solve Carter Hutton. The Amerks will look to rebound from the tough luck calendar year opener vs. Cincinnati on Saturday night.

[Scott-New York]

The New York Americans enter the All Star break on a slight high note, eeking out a 5-4 win over Philadelphia. The Amerks have won 2 of their last 3 but 2020 hasn’t been kind to them. After closing out 2019 with 4 straight wins, the Amerks have gone just 3-6 to open the new year. The Amerks resume play on the 27th kicking off a 3 game home stand vs. Baltimore. It is expected that GM Scott Jones will announce his official trade block shortly after the All Star game with the Feb. 24th trade deadline being another key date in the Americans rebuild. Jones hasn’t kept the pieces he intends to offer up at the deadline a big secret. We expect to see Brandon Pirri on that list. The unrestricted free agent has been stellar this season for the Amerks. Pirri has 17 goals and 30 points and is a +6 on a team that is -56 on the season. Rumors have been circling around restricted free agent, Michael Ferland as well. In his 2nd stint with the Amerks, Ferland leads the team in scoring with 42 points in 49 games. Either of those two forwards would be very helpful to contending teams in a playoff run. Also expected to be tradable assets are UFA’s, Zack Smith and Korbinian Holzer, as well as Fredrik Claesson who are all decent depth options. It is unclear what, if anything, will be available beyond these players but one thing that we do know is that Jones will not break up what he has identified as the core of this team. The one wild card could be Chris Kreider. Kreider has one year left on his current contract after this season but it’s no secret that Jones is very high on Kreider and it is considered more likely that Jones would hold his top line winger and re-sign him next season, so we would guess that his asking price would be high if anyone brought him up in trade discussions. That being said, we do expect the next month to change the look of the New York Americans. Whether that change ends up be significant or minute remains to be seen.

[Scott-New York]

Roman Josi represented the New York Americans at the 2020 GHL All-Star game and he put on a show. Josi scored twice and added an assist in a losing effort as the Campbell conference fell 6-4, to the Prince of Wales, despite out-shooting the POW 47-36. Anton Khudobin made 43 saves in net for the Wales but he couldn’t solve Josi, who was perfect vs. Khudobin, with his pair coming on the only 2 shots he recorded. Josi will lead the Amerks into the final 32 games of the regular season starting tonight as the Amerks host Baltimore. With the GHL trade deadline less than a month away, it is expected that GM Jones will announce his official trade block in the very near future, as he spoke last week about releasing his list soon after the All-Star festivities. Josi will assuredly not be on that list.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS ACQUIRE YOUTH IN 6 PLAYER DEAL

The New York Americans kicked off the 2020 trade season in a 6 player deal with Johnstown. New York parlayed pending UFA’s, Brandon Pirri and Korbinian Holzer, along with pending RFA, Dryden Hunt, into some promising youth. 21 year old Brett Howden and 24 year old Josh Ho-Sang, along with 26 year old Martin Frk will join the Amerks re-build. Ho-Sang and Howden will make their Amerk debuts on Friday. Ho-Sang has only scored twice, adding 3 assists in limited duty with the Chief’s this season but he will be given more opportunity to showcase his offensive talent in New York. Ho-Sang took line rushes with the Amerks 2nd line at this mornings practice along side Mikael Backlund and offensive surprise Greg McKegg. Howden centered Zack Smith and Jake Virtanen on the 3rd line. Smith moves to the left wing as he previously centered the Amerks 3rd line, but the acquisition of Howden pushes him to the wing so that Howden can play his natural center position. The Amerks do not expect the pair of youngsters to replace Pirri’s 34 points or even Hunt’s 21 points but they will be given every opportunity to prove they can help push the team to the next level in the re-build process. Head coach, Justin Brassard, briefly commented on his line combinations as he gets an infusion of youth from his GM.

“Ferland will be moved up to the top line with Petey (Elias Pettersson) and Kreids (Chris Kreider). Ho-Sang will be play the right side with Backlund and McKegg. Greg has been awesome this year and was recently given this promotion to the top six, so we think Ho-Sang’s skill will work well with the two vets. Moving Smitty (Zack Smith) to the left side on the 3rd line gives Howey (Brett Howden) the chance to get some meaningful minutes with him and Virts (Jake Virtanen). Hopefully it spreads out the scoring a little bit while Quickie (Jesper Fast), Ek (Joel Eriksson-Ek) and Cal (Matt Calvert) can shut down opposing lines. We really like what we saw in practice but we’ll see how it looks in motion against a pretty talented Blazer's team Friday night”

GM Jones took the mic to give us his input.

“Moving pending free agents makes sense for us right now given the standings and where we are in the season. We’re excited about these three guys and wish the players we moved the best of luck in Johnstown. We had quite a few teams interested in Pirri but we felt Al (Kurek, Johnstown GM) was the most willing to give us at least a couple young pieces that we liked, so we moved on it. Howden is GHL ready. He’s versatile, has leadership qualities and two-way ability. That’s great to see in a 21 year old kid. We like the offensive promise that Ho-Sang brings. He’s got a ton of skill and we’re going to give him a chance this season and see what he can do. Frk will start in the minors but he brings a cannon of a shot and also a ton of offense. He’s been around the league a little bit. I think we’re his 5th team, but we see a lot of promise and he’ll have a chance to prove it. We think this move makes us better in the long run and that’s the goal over the next week and a half. We will continue to work and have talks. If a deal makes us better, we’re going to do it but we’re not giving players away and I think we proved that here. If we’re not getting better, we’re not making the deal”.

Trade rumors in New York continue to surround UFA, Zack Smith. We fully expect him to be moved before the Feb. 24th deadline. Defenseman, Fredrik Claesson’s name has been circulating around even though he is under contract until 2022. An interesting name that also keeps coming up is pending RFA and leading scorer, Michael Ferland. A Ferland deal could be tricky for Jones considering his talent but propensity for injury. Jones’ comments regarding his deadline approach tell us what we need to know about a deal with Ferland involved. Stay tuned as the Amerks assuredly are not done making moves ahead of the freeze.

[Scott-New York]

PIRRI NETS A PAIR, ADDS AN ASSIST IN JOHNSTOWN DEBUT

If there aren’t a few teams in the G kicking themselves after passing on Brandon Pirri during trade talks with the Amerks, they should be. In his first game for the Johnstown Chiefs, Pirri assisted on Andrei Svechnikov’s 1st period goal before adding goals of his own in each of the 2nd and 3rd period’s, collecting a point on all 3 of the Chief’s goals in a 3-0 blanking of Moncton. Pirri now has 21 goals and 37 points on the season. Amerks GM, Scott Jones, commented on Pirri’s impressive debut with the Chiefs.

“We’re happy to see Brandon succeed with Johnstown. When you part ways with a guy, I think the hope is that the team he went to is happy with the deal. Brandon has been up and down in his career but he’s having a heck of a season and we had no doubt he’d be a great addition to a line-up. I think with him over there, that club has a great shot of securing a wild card bid. They already had a strong roster, with McDavid and Svechnikov, and Brandon will compliment those guys nicely. He has a nose for the net and he’s finding it with regularity this year. We are happy for him and to be honest, it’s kind of nice to thumb our noses at a few teams that tried to undervalue him”.

Rumors still surround Michael Ferland, Zack Smith and Fredrik Claesson but there is no pressure for Jones to move Ferland as he is still restricted and under team control.

[Scott-New York]

Amerks GM, Scott Jones, pulled the trigger on another deal ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. The Americans leading point producer, Michael Ferland, was sent to Norris division rival, Suffolk. The Stampede have apparently decided that the 14 point climb into a wild card spot is not insurmountable. New York acquired pending RFA’s, John Quenneville and Kalle Kossila in exchange for Ferland.

“This is another deal to bring in talented youth” said GM Jones in a quick morning presser on game day from Cleveland, as the Amerks kick off a 4 game road swing tonight. “We felt the only way we could move Ferland was if we were able to bring back players who were still under control contractually. When Chris (Frey, Suffolk GM) approached us offering two players that fit the bill, I moved pretty quickly on it. We feel like we’re on the right track, making deals of this nature. We definitely feel we still have some pieces that can help a contender down the stretch so we’ll continue working over the next handful of days and see what else we can add”.

GM Jones has expressed his willingness to move UFA, Zack Smith as well as depth defender, Fredrik Claesson. Claesson still has 2 more seasons under contract after this year, so he might be a tricky move for Jones, who has not publicly advertised any other players as yet, but rumors around the team indicate that there have been discussions around other roster players. The trade window closes at 12am on Tuesday, which leaves 5 days for Jones to continue talks, and it seems he’s more than willing to make moves as he has shipped out 4 players leading up to the freeze thus far.

[Scott-New York]

PETTERSSON SURPASSES 30 GOAL MARK

New York Americans rookie, Elias Pettersson, netted a hat trick and added an assist in the Amerks 8-1 win over St. Paul on Tuesday night. Pettersson scored his 29th, 30th and 31st goals in his 59th GHL game. The Amerks star rookie brought his point total on the season to 46, which gives him the team lead, surpassing Chris Kreider for the honor. Roman Josi also had a 4 point night in the lop-sided victory with a goal and 3 assists. Kreider also scored and added a pair of helpers. Coach, Justin Brassard, commented on Pettersson’s night in a post game interview.

“Petey has been amazing this year, without a doubt. He’s accomplished so much this year and we can’t wait to see him continue to grow. The kid has a nose for the net and he’s gonna score a lot of goals in this league. 31 in his first season is incredible and he has still has 16 more games to play. He’s definitely gotta be in the mix for rookie of the year honors”.

Pettersson’s numbers are even more impressive when you take into account the Amerks season numbers. The Amerks have been on the wrong side of tonight’s final score often this season. New York has lost by 5 or more goals 10 times this season, but that doesn’t have management down. With players like Pettersson in the system, things are definitely starting to look up in New York as the second season of the re-build come to a close. The Americans plan of infusing the roster with a mixture of youth and key veterans has accelerated the re-build. With additions like Pettersson, 23 year old Jake Virtanen (who has career high marks in goals and points this season), Aaron Ekblad and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the off-season, GM Jones has shown his commitment to winning. Core players like Connor Hellebuyck, Josi, Michael Backlund and Kreider add to the talented roster. Depth pieces in Joel Eriksson-Ek, Jordan Greenway, Matt Calvert and Jake McCabe shape the Amerks into a formidable opponent moving into next season and Jones and his management team will be looking to fill in a few key areas again this summer as there is no question that the Amerks want to return to contention as early as next season.