With a new look to match its NHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose are back in Winnipeg (Photo via Jets.NHL.com)
After a year filled with rumors on where the Winnipeg Jets would relocate its American Hockey League affiliate, Chairman of the Board for True North Sports & Entertainment Mark Chipman announced today that there would be no place like home for the club, as the Manitoba Moose are returning to the AHL four years after a successful 15-year run in the province.
The Moose will also be returning to their old rink as the MTS Centre will play host to the team, along with its parent club, the Jets. Manitoba becomes the second AHL to carry that arrangement, with San Jose as the other team which will house it’s primary development club (Barracuda) in the same rink. Toronto’s AHL Marlies are located in the same city as the Maple Leafs (and also share a practice facility), but play just down the road at the Ricoh Centre.
The former Manitoba Moose were originally an IHL franchise that began play in Winnipeg in 1996-97. Like Milwaukee, the squad joined the AHL in 2001 (Logo via Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net)
The biggest change for the Moose compared to its former incarnation is the color scheme, as the team will take on the same blues and grays to match Winnipeg, while essentially retaining its former logo. The Moose averaged 8,404 fans per game in their final season prior to relocating to St. John’s when Jets returned to Winnipeg in 2011-2012.
St. John’s which is losing the IceCaps, will gain the franchise formerly known as the Hamiliton Bulldogs, as Montreal’s primary affiliate will play in Newfoundland during the 2015-16 AHL season and another year beyond at minimum. The IceCaps name will carry over to the new team. Thunder Bay, Ontario was originally rumored as a destination for Winnipeg’s AHL franchise, but True North announced that it was moving the IceCaps to Winnipeg in March.
The addition of Winnipeg, means that further geographical redistribution of the AHL will be required this summer by the league.
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Former Nashville forward Olli Jokinen will be dressing for his third team in less than a month after a trade from Toronto to St. Louis today. Photo via TheScore.com (Bruce Fedyck / USA TODAY Sports)
UPDATE: 4:15 PM
That will wrap it up for our 2015 NHL Trade Deadline Live Blog. The biggest offensive pieces moving today were forwards Chris Stewart, Maxime Talbot, Torrey Mitchell, Ben Smith, Tyler Kennedy and Brian Flynn. Really there wasn’t much beef in this collection of front liners.
A few more significant defenders got traded, highlighted by Jeff Petry, Braydon Coburn, Zbynek Michalek and James Wisniewski. Others that relocated were Ben Lovejoy, Simon Despres, Jordan Leopold, Ian Cole, Robert Bortuzzo and Marek Zidlicky.
The biggest surprise was the lack of moving pieces as far as the goaltenders. Only Michael Neuvirth and Chad Johnson changed teams in an exchange for each other.
Nashville/Milwaukee were not surprisingly silent on this Monday. Their big shopping came a few weeks ago. Central Division rivals St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota and Winnipeg all made moves to improve their teams, while Dallas and Colorado sold off some spare parts.
Thanks for joining the Admirals Roundtable for our 2015 NHL Trade Deadline Live Blog. Feel free to continue to post your thoughts and comments on a very quiet wheeling and dealing day.
Welcome back Maz! (Photo via avalanche.nhl.com by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)
The Nashville Predators have reassigned goaltender Marek Mazenec to the Milwaukee Admirals this afternoon. The move comes at the perfect time as Milwaukee faces its final three games in three nights stretch of the season this weekend.
The news comes of the heels of goaltender Pekka Rinne proclaiming himself fit and ready for Thursday’s Predators game against Anaheim. Yesterday Rinne told reporters that he felt better and expected to be back this week. Originally he had been expected to be out three to five weeks with a sprained knee after injuring it against Vancouver on January 13. The Vezina and Hart trophy candidate gave up his first ever NHL All-Star game selection in process.
During his latest two-part stint in the Music City, Mazenec added two more NHL appearances to his budding resume, stopping 43 of 47 shots, allowing two goals in a 3-0 loss in his latest appearance on January 30 against Colorado, and a no decision in relief duty during a 5-2 loss to Detroit on January 17. The 23-year-old now has 27 games of NHL experience on his resume.
After a tough November and December, where he recorded just three wins, Mazenec has been a perfect five-for-five with Milwaukee in January, including a 27-save overtime shutout of Rockford.
The Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic native currently sports a 13-8-3 record in 25 games with Milwaukee this season. He has a 2.41 goals against average and .909 save percentage. Tandem partner Magnus Hellberg is statistically the best goaltender in the AHL, with a 12-5-3 record, to go along with a league best 1.80 GAA and .932 save percentage in 23 games.
If Tuesday night’s game against Toronto was indeed Carter Hutton‘s last appearance for Nashville for a while, he sure left quite the memory. The former Rockford IceHog made the save of the year last night preserving 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs.
So Roundtable . . . Are you excited to have Hellberg and Mazenec back in the net for Milwaukee? Will the two goaltenders continue to split games, or will coach Dean Evason pick one horse to ride for the stretch run based on play?
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This afternoon the American Hockey League is likely announcing five teams moving West for the 2015-2016 season. (AHL logo via Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos)
The westward relocation plans for five teams have been one of the worst kept secrets in the American Hockey League for a long time.
It seems that cat might finally be let out of the bag this afternoon as the league has scheduled a press conference in San Jose for 12:30 P.M. Pacific Time to discuss a major announcement. Attendees to the conference include AHL President and CEO David Andrews, Deputy Commissioner of the NHL Bill Daly, and members of the brass from the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.
The location of the event is actually relevant. It is the intention of the San Jose Sharks to have their AHL franchise become another tenant at the SAP Center (aka the Shark Tank), becoming the only team in the league to have said arrangement (The Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies play at Ricoh Coliseum, nearby to Air Canada Centre).
The four teams joining the Worcester Sharks on their journey across the Oregon Trail are in no particular order, Manchester (L.A.), Norfolk (Anaheim), Adirondack (Calgary), and of course, Oklahoma City (Edmonton), which announced it was ceasing the operations of the Barons in Oklahoma back in December.
Cities rumored in the past to be taking their place, via Joshua Cooper of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, are all located in California: Stockton, Bakersfield, Ontario, Long Beach and San Diego, to go along with confirmed San Jose. Fresno was also rumored in connection to the Sharks move west.
Kevin Oklobzija of the Democrat & Chronicle stated that AHL Board of Governors voted during the 2015 All-Star Classic on the approval of the Kings moving the Monarchs to Ontario, California; the Oilers moving the Barons to Bakersfield, California; San Jose moving the AHL Sharks to San Jose, California; Anaheim purchasing the Norfolk Admirals and moving them to San Diego, California; and Calgary moving Adirondack to Stockton, California.
The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton confirmed that Stockton will be the eventual stopping off point for Calgary, which last offseason moved its AHL affiliate nearly 3,000 miles east from then-isolated Abbotsford, British Columbia to Glen Falls, New York for what proved to be an ill-fated one year stint. Relocating to Stockton represents another nearly 3,000 mile trek in the other direction. Adirondack’s previous team, the Phantoms, had left for Lehigh Valley during the summer.
The result of all of the franchise moving is that five NHL Western Conference teams will have their AHL prospects much closer to home in California. Will they be as close as the famed Jack Skille trek from Chicago to Rockford? In the case of San Jose (same building), Anaheim (San Diego) and Los Angeles (Ontario), yes. Edmonton to Bakersfield? Not so much.
As for the rest of the AHL, in the near future Arizona and Colorado are looking into moving their affiliates, Portland and Lake Erie respectively, west according to Clinton. Back in December, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune suggested the same fates for Arizona and Colorado, and speculated that Vancouver could move Utica, which just successfully hosted the AHL All-Star Classic, back west to now vacant Abbotsford. However, that is not in the immediate horizon.
The ECHL will likely be losing a big chunk of its Pacific Division, including the Bakersfield Condors, Stockton Thunder and Ontario Reign.
What does this all mean for the Milwaukee Admirals? For now mostly nothing, as the team is secure through 2016-17 with its extended affiliation agreement with Nashville. None of Milwaukee’s Midwest Division rivals, Chicago, Rockford, Lake Erie and Grand Rapids are expected to move west, east, north or south at this point either. The close geographically Iowa Stars also seem secure in near proximity to their NHL affiliate in St. Paul, Minnesota.
As far as league realignment and the schedule for 2015-16, obviously there are huge ramifications to be determined at a later date, via Clinton:
“One of the odder developments about the new division, however, is that they may play primarily against each other. Oklobzija stated the relocated franchises might have a reduced schedule, in the range of 60 to 66 games, while other teams in the league play upwards of 70. This would effectively allow for proper travel time while not lengthening the season, but the costs may hinder travel between the long-standing east coast divisions and the new, yet to be named division.”
Beyond ’16-’17, if, and this is purely an if, the Nashville Predators or another NHL team was looking to move their AHL affiliate, Norfolk would likely be an attractive option for a new AHL home base, as well as the currently NHL/AHL-devoid Atlanta area. Norfolk averages 4,553 fans per home date, ranking 16th, while Milwaukee averages 4,401, good for 18th out of 30 teams. Distance-wise Norfolk is actually further away from Nashville than Milwaukee. The Gwinnett Gladiators (near Atlanta), average 4,543 fans per home date in the ECHL.
So Roundtable . . . What do think of the AHL’s Westward Expansion? Can it last and be successful? Are more teams on the move in the near future, and if so, which teams will be packing their bags for greener pastures?
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Magnus Hellberg will have company in Utica, as Brendan Leipsic was added to the AHL Western Conference All-Star Classic roster. (Photo Credit: @TheAHL // Twitter)
Sometimes it a takes a seven-game winning streak for a team to get noticed. The Milwaukee Admirals and Brenden Leipsic earned some much deserved recognition when the forward was selected to join the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today several rosters changes for the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Turning Stone Resort Casino, set for this Sunday and Monday in Utica, N.Y.
Added to the Eastern Conference AHL All-Star roster are Hershey Bears defenseman Connor Carrick, Syracuse Crunch forward Jonathan Marchessault, Binghamton Senators forward Shane Prince and Albany Devils forward Paul Thompson.
Joining the Western Conference AHL All-Star roster are Milwaukee Admirals forward Brendan Leipsic, Rockford IceHogs forward Mark McNeill, Oklahoma City Barons forward Andrew Miller and San Antonio Rampage defenseman Alex Petrovic.
In addition, the AHL announced that Syracuse defenseman Nikita Nesterov, Manchester forwards Brian O’Neill and Nick Shore, Providence forward David Pastrnak, San Antonio forward Bobby Butler, Oklahoma City forward Anton Lander, Rockford forward Joakim Nordstrom and Grand Rapids defenseman Xavier Ouellet will all be unavailable for the event.
The AHL also announced the results of the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic Fan Balloting presented by CCM, as league fans voted to determine the starting lineups for Monday night’s 2015 AHL All-Star Game:
Eastern Conference
G – Anton Forsberg, Springfield
D – Austin Madaisky, Springfield
D – Derrick Pouliot, W-B/Scranton
F – Chris Bourque, Hartford
F – Tom Kostopoulos, W-B/Scranton
F – Vladislav Namestnikov, Syracuse
Western Conference
G – Jacob Markstrom, Utica
D – T.J. Brennan, Rockford
D – Bobby Sanguinetti, Utica
F – Connor Brown, Toronto
F – Cal O’Reilly, Utica
F – Teemu Pulkkinen, Grand Rapids
It has been a stellar first season for the Nashville Predators’ 2012 third-round draft pick. Leipsic leads the Admirals with 29 points and all league rookies with 25 assists. He ranks third among AHL first year players in points.
The Winnipeg native will join Milwaukee goaltender Magnus Hellberg at the team’s representatives in Utica for the two-day event beginning on Sunday with the skills competition and concluding with the game on Monday night. Neither player were named as starters. Three Comets earned that honor, including former Admiral/Predator Cal O’Reilly.
Riding the season-high seven game winning clip, Milwaukee currently stands in fourth place in the Western Conference and three points behind Midwest Division leading Rockford. Tonight’s opponent Utica, leads the North Division and is one point clear of the IceHogs.
So Roundtable . . . Has justice been served for Leipsic? Are you excited to see Leipsic take his place among the AHL All-Stars?
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Rob Madore was recalled to Milwaukee, after Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne left Tuesday night’s game against Vancouver. (Photo Credit: Cincinnati Cyclones)
The Milwaukee Admirals have recalled goaltender Rob Madore from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL this afternoon. This move comes after Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne left last night’s game with a lower-body injury that is being considered day-to-day.
GIF: Rinne left the game after this, although it took him several minutes to make up his mind http://t.co/0yce6cO3hK
Carter Hutton relieved Rinne in third period and preserved a 5-1 victory, improving the Predators to the NHL’s best record of 29-9-4 (62 points). Certainly, there are some concerns about the extent of the injury, but here are few more details of the collision which saw Rinne get injured courtesy of Thomas Willis:
At 2:55 of the third period, Chris Higgins drove toward the Preds net as Nashville D-man Anton Volchenkov looked to cut the forward’s angle off to the crease. Upended, Higgins’ momentum carried the trio of players into the end wall behind the Predators goal.
Rinne hit the boards and stayed down briefly before standing up and gingerly testing how he felt. After a brief conference with Head Athletic Trainer Andy Hosler, Rinne decided to exit the contest and did not return with a lower-body injury. Rinne was listed as day-to-day after the game, with an update expected on Thursday after the goaltender is re-evaluated.
“Of course you never want to see a goalie like Rinne go down, especially as important as he has been to us, but hopefully it’s not too bad,” Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said.
At least as a precaution, Madore was recalled today by the Milwaukee Admirals. To date Madore is 8-8-3 with a 2.71 goals against average and .900 save percentage in 20 ECHL games. Last season Madore carried the Cyclones to the Kelly Cup Finals, and was named playoff MVP after posting a 14-7-3 postseason mark.
Rinne as stated above is still being evaluated, but my guess is either Marek Mazanec or Magnus Hellberg are likely on their way up to Nashville soon, likely at the latest after tonight’s game in Hamilton. That possible NHL recall may be on a emergency basis or longer depending on newly minted NHL All-Star’s status. Currently, Rinne’s considered day-to-day, and the Predators aren’t scheduled to practice until Thursday.
The Tennessean’s Eric Stromgren reported that Rinne is upbeat about his recovery.
The Predators are off of game action until Friday when they host former coach Barry Trotz and the Washington Capitals.
So Roundtable . . . How concerned are you about Pekka Rinne’s injury? Is Rob Madore ready for some AHL action if needed? If you were Nashville, who would you recall, Hellberg or Mazanec?
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Unfortunately Milwaukee will be without suspended Mike Liambas for this weekend’s home-and-home tilts with the Rockford IceHogs. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The AHL has announced that Mike Liambas has been suspended 3 games for an illegal check to the head. The Admirals forward was given a match penalty for his hit to Louis-Marc Aubrey in the second period of Milwaukee’s 4-2 in Grand Rapids.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today announced that Milwaukee Admirals left wing Michael Liambas has been suspended for three (3) games as a consequence of a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of an opponent, assessed in a game at Grand Rapids on Jan. 2.
Liambas has already served one game of the suspension. He will also miss Milwaukee’s games Thursday (Jan. 8) vs. Rockford and Friday (Jan. 9) at Rockford.
Liambas sat out the Admirals last game to serve an automatic suspension that is imposed when a player receives a match penalty. As Dean Evason stated after the game, he could have played but the league would have tacked on the automatic one-game to his suspension. He served it. And now really only needs to sit for two games.
Aubrey, who was on the receiving end of the hit, missed the rest of the game following Liambas’ check. The Griffins don’t play until tomorrow. Keep an eye out for whether or not he remains out of their lineup.
You can watch the hit that Liambas dished out and the follow up fight in the early going of Friday night’s game highlights:
So Roundtable . . . What do you think of the Liambas suspension? Was three games warrented or was this a bit excessive? Do you think Milwaukee will miss their tough guy against always physical Rockford?
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Could Vladislav Kamenev be destined for Nashville/Milwaukee in the not so distant future? (Source: Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
Earlier today, Admirals Roundtable Editor-in-Cheif Daniel Lavender, offered some terrific reporting on former/future Admirals during his where are they now update.
To expand on Lavender’s post, I thought I would bring up a little situation that is brewing half a world away in the Kontinental Hockey League, which might (also might not) have a huge impact on the future of the NHL/AHL.
The mainly Russian-based KHL is suffering quite a bit right now with the collapse of the ruble, combined with Russia’s economic santions resulting from the Ukraine crisis, all tied into that country’s oil-dominated economy. Many players that went to Russia over the past few years looking for big pay days in the “K” and low taxs are feeling the heat right now as their contracts are now worth about half of what they were this past summer.
Some teams are being rumored to fold up shop during the season (even in the good times very few KHL teams are actually profitable, a situation that never made much sense to me in the first place).
Check out @SlavaMalamud‘s timeline for update on KHL growing crisis…. Safe to say I think we’ll see a smaller KHL next season
What does this all mean? Well some NHL prospects currently playing Russia, might be on their way over to North America sooner than later. A couple of notables with ties to the Admirals/Predators playing in the KHL right now are defenseman Joonas Järvinen and prospect Vladislav Kamenev, Nashville’s second pick (42nd overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
From my knowledge Kamenev’s team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, is one of the league’s more stable franchises (they are also the defending KHL Champions, coached by “iron” Mike Keenan), but this situation is certainly something worth keeping abreast of. Usually, Milwaukee or other AHL teams rarely are development ground for Russian players with interest in playing in the NHL. Same goes for a lot of Finns, Swedes and so on, with the obvious exception being Milwaukee.
However, if the financial benefits to playing in the KHL continue to go south, expect a lot of international players to start looking for other playing options.
“Those (foreigners) who want to, can leave” – Kovalchuk on KHLers worried by the league’s troubles.
Just like every other Lake Erie power play on Tuesday, this one came and went in vain thanks to great work from Admirals captain Joe Piskula and goaltender Marek Mazenec. (Photo Credit: Lake Erie Monsters // flickr)
Remember when the only thing you could complain about as an Admirals supporter was that the team wasn’t in first place in it’s own division?
That sadly wasn’t a very long time ago, which shows how fast AHL teams can lose ground when they only earn two points in a seven-game stretch. As of Tuesday morning Milwaukee wasn’t even in the playoffs and needed a regulation win against Lake Erie to pass their Midwest Division rival from Cleveland to move back in.
Thanks to a 4-0 shutout of the Monsters, Bessie has fallen back below water (aka the eligible playoff team line) and Milwaukee and Lake Erie switched spots in the both the division and conference standings.
This time around the Admirals are gunning to start a winning streak. Prior to Tuesday’s win Milwaukee’s last victory came back on November 26 (pre-Thanksgiving) in a 4-1 beatdown of Chicago, aka the famed Rich Clune hate, hate, hating on the Wolves game.
Meanwhile, the Admirals’ last winning streak? That requires a Mr. Peabody and Sherman way back machine to go all the way back to Nov. 21 when the Admirals survived the Wolves 3-2 in overtime for their third straight “W“. Therefore, in the famous words of Major League Skipper Lou Brown, it has happened before:
In fact the schedule sets itself up well for Milwaukee to turn things around and begin remembering just how good a team they can be.
After tonight’s second pit stop in Cleveland, the Admirals roll out to Rochester (currently 13th in the West at 10-17-1-0) and then to Toronto for a little playoff payback (currently 12th in the West at 10-13-3-0), before returning home after Christmas. At the very worst the following two games are not within the Midwest Division, where five the conference’s 10 best squads reside.
~Oklahoma City is Folding~
In other news, the Oklahoma City Barons have decided to cease operations at the end of the season. The team just recently lost coach Todd Nelson, who was promoted to interim coach with OKC’s NHL affiliate, Edmonton, when the Oilers fired Dallas Eakins.
Via TSN’s Darren Dreger, big realignment changes are afloat for the AHL. Take a look at his latest series of tweets:
Sources tell TSN, the Edmonton Oilers will be pulling their AHL team out of OKC at the end of the season. Lease agreement expires end of yr.
As others have noted, the Oilers own the ECHL team in Bakersfield, so AHL transformation won’t be a big deal. — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 18, 2014
~Stalberg Placed on Waivers for Purposes of Returning to Milwaukee~
The Nashville Predators placed Viktor Stålberg on waivers today ahead of the Holiday roster freeze. The Predators intend to have the oft-injured forward clear waivers and reach Milwaukee:
Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the team has placed forward Viktor Stalberg on waivers with the intention of assigning him to the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.
After missing six weeks of action due to a knee injury, Stalberg is prepared to return to action. The move was necessary before the team heads out for its final three games before the holiday break.
“A couple of injuries early in the season have prevented this from being the season Viktor trained all summer for,” General Manager David Poile said. “He has worked hard to return to the lineup. With Paul Gaustad and Taylor Beck day-to-day and still on our 23-man roster, the best option for Viktor and the organization at this time is to place Viktor on waivers with the hope that he will clear, go to Milwaukee to play games and continue his efforts to be ready for NHL game action.”
So Roundtable . . . Do you think Milwaukee can get a winning streak started during this all-important road trip? What do you think of the rumored new AHL West Division? Are you expecting Stalberg to clear waivers and rejoin Milwaukee?
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Patrick Cehlin’s return road to Milwaukee starts in Cincy. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
In the coming weeks Milwaukee Admirals coach Dean Evason might have another forward at his disposal. Today the team announced that Patrick Cehlin would be assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.
As Daniel Lavenderreported on Sunday, the spark plug forward is currently working on regaining his fitness as he recovers from off-season hip surgery. With Milwaukee’s forwards plenty stockpiled at present, Cehlin is now on his way to the Queen City to accelerate his recovery and log his first games of the 2014-15 hockey season.
The Stockholm, Sweden native is in his third minor league season within the Nashville Predators organization, accumulating 41 assists and 56 points in 108 American Hockey League contests in the two years prior.
Coach Dean Evason had this say about the bout, via Lavender’s Admirals Roundtable recap:
“There is no way that Patrick Cehlin cuts his tie-down,” exclaimed Evason. “He’s never been in a fight. They say that it came off too easy. Which is indication that they feel that we doctored it in some way. I don’t understand it.”
Cehlin was previously sent down to the ECHL for one game back in 2012-13, where he scored an empty net goal in a 3-1 win. The speedy Cehlin was Nashville’s fifth-round pick in 2010, chosen 126th overall. He could appear with the Cyclones as early as tonight as Cincinnati hosts Evansville, before a weekend series at the Indy Fuel.
So Roundtable . . . Is there a place for Patrick Cehlin with Milwaukee once he’s back up to full speed? Are you excited at the prospect of having him back in the near future?
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