This morning I trekked on in for the Admirals morning skate at the Kern Center and then had the chance to chat with the group. Before going straight into the audio – let’s go over some of the morning skate.

I was very happy to see that Patrick Cehlin was on the ice with the team during practice today. He was wearing the red, assuming football logic here, no-contact jersey – but did participate a lot. He was working with Mark Van Guilder and the newbie Francis Wathier on most drills. As you will here in the audio from head coach Dean Evason later on – he is not expected to play Wednesday.

Here are the lines from today in practice:

Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Beck
Salomaki-Watson-Saponari
Wathier-Van Guilder-Cehlin
Liambas-Tousignant-Rask

Bitetto-Piskula
Valentine-Ford
Rodney-Roussel

In addition, all three goalies were in action at practice. Magnus Hellberg actually worked a bit of overtime in morning skate with goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok (who I spoke with today – and hope to provide a feature story on in the coming days). It appears Hellberg is making huge strides these last few days and could well be back in the mix soon.

What drove me in for today’s morning skate was seeing our new addition, Wathier, in action. In practice he swapped wings, looked comfortable on either side of Van Guilder, and is physically imposing to see skating around: 6’4″ and 210 pounds. I was a big fan of the recent checking line combo that saw Van Guilder and Watson match up with the likes of a Jeremy Morin type – and shut him down. I feel Wathier is going to be a great addition to this group in that sense and for his leadership on and off the ice.

Righto! I talked with Dean Evason, Francis Wathier, and Mathieu Tousignant today. Here is what they said following the morning skate.

Dean Evason talks about the forward group following recent injuries:

Evason expects to recall Zach Budish for tomorrow night’s game:

Evason updates the status of Patrick Cehlin:

Evason’s thoughts on where the recent offensive output has come from:

Evason describes Francis Wathier:

Evason give an update on Magnus Hellberg:

Evason’s expectations for the Iowa Wild tomorrow:

Francis Wathier on joining the Milwaukee Admirals:

Wathier talks about his professional career with the Stars:

Wathier on a change of scenery:

Wathier on joining the Admirals playoff push:

Wathier describes his game:

Wathier and I talk about joining a locker room with guys he has fought against:

Wathier on his leadership role within the locker room:

Mathieu Tousignant on former-Texas Stars teammate, Francis Wathier:

Tousignant speaks about Wathier’s on-ice presence:

Tousignant and I talk stitches (Tousi had some serious patch work on his lower lip):

Tousignant talks Iowa Wild:

Inside Joke Clip

As seen in an above photo, Joonas Rask is always (and I mean always) working hard on getting his sticks perfect on the work bench. He is often always around while I do these interviews and, probably, you hear him working away on the bench during some of these interviews. Starting with last week – I figured it was time to get him involved with some of the fun and continued that today by asking his linemate Tousignant what he think of his buddy Rask-o.

Comments on the comments? What are your thoughts on Francis Wathier? What can his playing style bring to the Admirals?