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.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 18, 2014
AHL sources won’t divulge details, however, a west division comprised of LA, Ana, SJ, Cal and Edm is expected to launch for 2015.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 18, 2014
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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I like Viktor getting sent back always can use extra hands. As far as the realignment, im in favor of it a true west division will add some new rivalry and expand the league, sad to see okc dissolve probably one of the coolest jerseys and they had a good rivalry with Texas and san Antonio. Look for other teams to get dissolved to make the alignment happen perhaps Worcester Manchester and Norfolk will lose out we shall wait and see.
I wonder how more flights may affect AHL teams who are independently owned. If NHL teams want their own west division, and those teams own their AHL franchises, they are obviously ok with spending money for their AHL investments. However someone like Milwaukee who is independently owned… does Nashville chip in for Milwaukee costs, or is Turer and his ownership group covering all of the day-to-day operations of the franchise (like travel costs)? How does that work?
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