ECHL teams have had four weekends of play, enough time for us to get a sense of interesting early storylines. 

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Here’s a look at five of the biggest things I’m watching – most are good, some are bad, some are interesting – as most teams have played around 10 games.

Savannah Ghost Pirates Are Surging

The Ghost Pirates have had good stretches before – early and late in their inaugural season of 2022-2023 and a 12-6-3 run to close last season – but they haven’t finished better than sixth in the South Division, and they came into this season with a 58-68-18 all-time record.

They are 7-4-0 and showing a lot of promise, paced by forward Riley Hughes (seven goals, 13 points), forward Reece Vitelli (four goals, 13 points), defenseman Will Riedell (two goals, 12 points) and goaltender Evan Cormier (4-1-0, 2.80 GAA, .901 SP).

One reason I can point to for the improvement is the new affiliation with the NHL’s Florida Panthers and AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. 

Savannah has two players on NHL contracts (defensemen Zach Uens and Evan Nause) and another 10 on AHL deals, including Huges, Riedell, Cormier and goalie Keith Kinkaid. Their defense, which ranked 13th heading into Wednesday with 2.80 goals against per game, is almost entirely comprised of NHL- and AHL-contracted players.

Last season, when the Ghost Pirates were affiliated with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, they typically had only about six players on higher-level contracts, including only one (defenseman Joe Fleming) on an NHL deal.

The Stanley Cup-champion Panthers previously had been with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades, who won the past three Kelly Cups, and the move to Savannah seems to have created some intended symmetry between the Ghost Pirates and Checkers, who both are owned by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment.

Indy Fuel Need To Ignite

The most striking statistic in the entire ECHL daily report heading into Wednesday was this: The Fuel had played eight games and scored only eight goals. Somehow, though, they’d managed to win three games, and they followed that up with a decisive 4-1 victory Wednesday over the Toledo Walleye in a School Day Game at the Huntington Center, giving some indication the Fuel is ready to ignite.

Peyton Jones had 23 saves for his second shutout of the season in Sunday's win over Reading. Were it not for Jones, who stopped 96.2% of the shots he faced in four games, and rookie Ben Gaudeau, who stopped 90.2% in the other four, the Fuel might really have dug itself a hole in the difficult Central Division with its timid eight-game start.

The plot thickened Monday when Jones left Indy to play in Austria, but the Fuel was able to take solace in knowing that their defensive prowess – they ranked first in goals against with only 1.75 per game – had been about a lot more than just the netminding.

Indy came into Wednesday allowing only 23.25 shots per game, lowest in the ECHL, with a competent stable of defensemen, including hard-hitting Christopher Cameron, Victor Hadfield, Ty Farmer, D.J. King and rookies Adam McCormick and Nick Grima.

The concern had been the offense. 

Against Toledo, Colin Bilek finally got his first point of the season by assisting on a goal. Andrew Bellant remains without a point. Matus Spodniak has two assists. Kyle Maksimovich, one of the ECHL’s most exciting players, has only three points. Only Brandon Saigeon has been noticeably productive with three goals and five points. There’s no way the Fuel forwards don’t break out eventually, right? Perhaps it started with the victory over Toledo, which brought Indy's record to 4-5-0.

There are two big reasons for further optimism about the Fuel.

First, the Fuel are preparing to open a new arena in Fishers, Indiana, which is why they’re playing their first 15 games on the road. The Dec. 6 home opener is approaching, and the Fuel just need to make sure they don’t dig themselves too deep a hole, because a back-loaded schedule will help them out.

Secondly, we saw last season that coach Duncan Dalmao knows how to adapt after early struggles, even if it means changing the makeup of his lineup. 

The Fuel began 3-8-1 and were in the ECHL cellar before acquiring Hadfield and Anthony Petruzzelli from the Jacksonville Icemen for Luc Brown and Kirill Chaika, and that helped spark Indy, which finished 39-25-8 and clinched a playoff berth.

I don’t think the Fuel should be blowing up the current, especially not with such a good defense, but that offense has to get going soon. As for the goaltending, the Fuel signed Joe Vrbetic on Tuesday to join Gaudreau, who stopped 22 of 23 shots Wednesday. Last season, Vrbetic was strong for the Trois-Rivières Lions.

Pastujov gives us the lead! Short-handed goal, 4-3 Oilers! pic.twitter.com/vrBsEtX8AU

— Tulsa Oilers (@tulsa_oilers) November 10, 2024

Tulsa Oilers Making Waves In Mountain Division

The last couple of seasons, the talk has been all about the Idaho Steelheads, who set a record for regular-season success during the 2022-2023 campaign, and the Kansas City Mavericks, who won the regular-season title last year. 

But the Oilers may be changing the narrative with a 6-2-1 record heading into Wednesday – better than the Mavericks (6-2-2), Steelheads (6-4-0) and Wichita Thunder (6-4-0).

Next up for the Oilers: The expansion Tahoe Knight Monsters, who also have been good so far with a 4-2-1 record.

Sasha Pastujov, who is on an NHL contract with the Anaheim Ducks, has been leading the way for the Oilers with eight goals and 13 points in nine games, after he had 10 goals and 23 points in 46 games last season for the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.

Then there’s Tyler Poulsen, who has six goals and 10 points; exciting rookie Ruslan Gazizov, who has five goals and 10 points; Alec Butcher, who has six goals; and defenseman Andrew Lucas, a rookie with nine points.

There’s something interesting going on in net with the Oilers having Talyn Boyko and rookie Vyacheslav Buteyets. 

Boyko, a New York Rangers prospect, was inconsistent last season with the Cincinnati Cyclones, but this season he’s 3-0-1 with a 2.45 GAA and .916 SP, and it’s noteworthy that the Rangers sent him to Tulsa rather than their affiliate in Bloomington (which has Rangers prospect Hugo Ollas). Buteyets is 3-2-1 with a 2.63 GAA and a .898 SP.

Tulsa leads the ECHL in offense with 4.33 goals per game and has the top-ranked power play at 31.3%, though we can poke holes in the difficulty of schedule; the Oilers’ first game against Kansas City is Nov. 27, and the first against Idaho is Dec. 11, with a total of 20 games this season against the Rapid City Rush and Allen Americans – teams that have been dreadfully bad.

Since 2021, the Oilers have missed the postseason twice and lost in the first round of the playoffs twice, but they’re on the upswing and making things interesting in the Mountain Division, where I thought it would be a two-team race between Kansas City and Idaho.

Free-Agent Signings Flourishing

There were a bevy of bold moves made in the offseason when it came to signing free agents, and plenty of them are paying off big so far.

The Fort Wayne Komets signed some prominent names, and they have played well, including Alex Aleardi, Odeen Tufto and Justin Taylor, but Kyle Mayhew has been the biggest standout. 

The offensive-minded defenseman has tallied at least one point in all nine games for the Komets (7-2-0), totaling three goals and 13 points, the most among ECHL defensemen.

The only player with a longer point-scoring streak is Idaho forward Hank Crone, who has seven goals and 16 points through his 10-game surge. The ECHL’s 2022-2023 MVP has looked very comfortable after leaving Allen for the Steelheads and their multi-faceted offensive corps.

Tyler Spezia signed with the Toledo Walleye (7-3-1), familiar surroundings for the 31-year-old forward after five seasons in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He’s got five goals and 13 points in 11 games, looking more dangerous than he was with the Walleye from 2018 to 2020. 

Another big Toledo signing, defenseman Jalen Smereck, has eight assists in 11 games

For the reigning-champion Everblades, forward Alex Kile has only played three games, so it’s too early to judge, but the other huge free-agent signing, forward Colton Hargrove, has been hot with three goals, nine points and a plus-10 rating in nine games, looking every bit as dangerous as he’d been with Allen.

Big Fights Galore

There have been over 50 fights in the ECHL, according to HockeyFights.com, and Kansas City’s Daniel Amesbury has been involved in three of the biggest – against Yanick Turcotte with his former team, Fort Wayne; against Rapid City’s Garrett Klotz; and against the Iowa Heartlanders’ Nico Blachman on Tuesday, when Blachman also scrapped with Josh Thrower. 

Amesbury is divisive, and you can see why: He’s doing what he’s there to do, fight and help put butts in the seats, but the Mavericks also have gone 0-2-1 in the games he’s fought.

The Norfolk Admirals, off to a 6-2-3 start and looking again as if they’ll compete for a North Division title, have Spencer Kennedy, and he’s fought Shaw Boomhower and Darian Skeoch of the Adirondack Thunder (4-1-1), and Cole Crowder of the Worcester Railers (5-4-0).

Rapid City, only 1-6-3, has Connor Mylymok, and he’s fought Tulsa’s Mike McKee and Paxton Leroux, and Kansas City’s Thrower.

The ECHL changed its in-game roster size this season – teams now can dress 20 players, instead of 19 – and teams seem to be taking advantage by carrying more toughness. 

It’s safe to say… Daniel Amesbury is BACK💥🥊 pic.twitter.com/fu0jYZzs1X

— Kansas City Mavericks (@kc_mavericks) November 2, 2024

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