The Nashville Predators have reassigned forward Frédérick Gaudreau to the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of tonight’s road game against the Chicago Wolves. Gaudreau follows the likes of Vladislav Kamenev who was reassigned late of yesterday’s contest as returning faces to the Admirals lineup tonight.
Gaudreau has now played 9 games this season for the Predators. It is still one of the true feel good stories given the path he traveled to make it into the NHL: undrafted, signed to the Admirals on an AHL contract, played for the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL, battled to earn an NHL contract in the AHL, and has pushed for NHL opportunities this season. Gaudreau has a lone assist in his work for the Predators with a plus/minus rating of +1. He was a healthy scratch in last night’s Predators game.
With the Admirals, Gaudreau has produced 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 24 games with a plus/minus rating of +2 and 4 penalty minutes. His return, as well as Kamenev’s for that matter, provides the Admirals with serious energy that was lacking last night and both provide work on both ends of special teams. There is no word as of yet if either Garrett Meurs, Shawn O’Donnell, or Derek Army will be released from their PTO Contracts at the moment as the forward depth returns to the Admirals roster.
Marek Mazanec will need to be a source of composure in net if the Milwaukee Admirals are going to steady the ship tonight. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Considering how last night played out perhaps the very best thing to come out of it is that there is a game tonight. The Milwaukee Admirals are facing a foe in the Chicago Wolves who they have seen ad nauseam for what feels like the last month or so now. The familiarity factor is incredibly high – as is playing at the Allstate Arena. After tonight’s game is said and done the Admirals play in Chicago two more times this month and they won’t have to travel into the Allstate Arena again for the rest of the regular season.
The Wolves enter this game with a record of 21-12-3-2 (47 points, 0.618 points percentage). They are in third place in the Central Division behind the Admirals (0.647) and Griffins (0.691). The Wolves are the most taxed team in the AHL in terms of games played to date, 38 games. They have played 4 games more to this point in the season than the Admirals.
As far as entertainment goes, whether you like them or not, the Wolves this season are a massively entertaining group to watch play. They have scored the most goals in the AHL this season (134) for an average of 3.53 goals forced per game. They also average 2.84 goals allowed per game as well as 13.9 penalty minutes per game.
At the forefront of this surging Wolves group, that has a record of 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games, is AHL All-Star Kenny Agostino. It has been an incredible season for the 24-year old forward. He leads the AHL in scoring this season with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists) in 38 games. The next closest to him in the league scoring race is 12 points behind.
Agostino is surrounded by a solid cast of forwards. Wade Megan and Ivan Barbashyov both have 34 points on the season. There are then three other players that are a goal away from reaching the double-digit plateau in Andrew Agozzino, Samuel Blais, and Bryce Gervais.
And, while the amount of goals allowed this season are still a touch high, the efforts in net this season for Pheonix Copley has been a real bright spot. He has a record of 9-4-1-1 from 16 games this season with a 2.42 goals against average, 0.914 save percentage, and a shutout.
The Wolves are up on the Amtrak Rivalry this season with a 4-1-1-1 record. They have beaten the Admirals in the last four meetings and scored 21 goals from open play in the process. In the last meeting, the Wolves won at home in a 4-3 shootout.
Expectations for tonight’s game? What will the Milwaukee Admirals need to do to limit the scoring ability of the Chicago Wolves? How nice will it be to have Vladislav Kamenev back for the Admirals tonight and can he be the spark plug they needed last night?
This man had a busy, busy night last night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The current state of the organization right now is being tested very hard. Injuries to the Nashville Predators for the past month or so has shown some of the strengths of the depth that exist with the Milwaukee Admirals but it has come and gone at different areas lately. In December, it seemed as though the defense was the area hardest hit. In January, the forward group is being put on a shelf and restocked with the prospects and hard workers available in Milwaukee.
There really is a give and a take aspect to this. On one hand, it is a fantastic sight to see players be rewarded and get their opportunity to play at the next level. That goes for the NHL as well as the NHL. Players such as Rick Pinkston, Derek Army, Shawn O’Donnell, and Garrett Meurs are all being afforded an opportunity to stake their claim to an AHL opportunity through the Admirals right now. The issue and the takeaway to all of this is that when top guys go down for the Predators and they get replayed by Admirals and they get replaced by PTO Contracted talent from the ECHL – things aren’t staying at a level to where they were and they really shouldn’t be expected to.
Last night, the Admirals had their defensive outfit that did so well for them back in November when they didn’t lose a single game in regulation. The problem is that the forward group was so dismantled that a spot was open at forward and, unlike recent games, the Admirals lacked a forward that could rotate that role as the team played seven defensemen. Vladislav Kamenev had been reassigned prior to the start of the game but wasn’t there in time to play. Something that baffles me considering Pontus Åberg was recalled earlier in the day. As far as organizational botches go, recalling someone up just to maybe think about sending someone down later but not getting him there in time to play, that’s a bad one. And it made Trevor Murphy, a left-side defenseman, play forward just to fill a gap in the lineup.
The Admirals then were not exactly playing with their proper full strength defense and were playing with a forward group that lacked serious two-way talent. The result was there on the wall before the game had started. And the opening few minutes of the game signaled as much. The Checkers saw a team that was depleted and skated them to pieces. They were checking hard and winning puck battles. They did everything that the Admirals when they are on their game – do.
What hurts so much about last night isn’t just that the Admirals lost 5-1 at home. It is that they lost 5-1 at home to the Charlotte Checkers. That team is atrocious. Even in the way they played last night – they were awful. And they still won by the scoreline that they did.
The Checkers entered with the second worst record in the entire league and the worst record in the Western Conference. They had the worst road power-play in the AHL and had only gone 8/91 (8.8%). After last night alone their power-play has increased to 10.4% and are now tied with the San Diego Gulls. It was the third time from 36 games this season that the Checkers scored 5 goals or more in a game and perhaps more profoundly just the sixth time this season they have held a team to a goal or less in a game.
If there is anything that I know about a Dean Evason coaches Admirals team it is that it does not matter who is in the lineup, who is called up, who is sent down, who is injured, or who is in net – you show up to play. The Admirals did not do that last night.
It would be easy to sit back and point at how the second period ended. Was it an elbowing call against Petter Granberg? Evason doesn’t think so. A lot of fans sitting around the South endzone said about as much, as well. Should Keegan Lowe have received a fighting instigator for racing down to start or fight or did Jimmy Oligny engage him first to prevent him getting to Granberg for the big hit? I don’t really know. What I do know is that all of that didn’t or shouldn’t have had an impact still forty-three seconds into the third period nor two minutes and thirty-eight seconds after that when the Admirals went from down 3-1 to 5-1.
Throughout the course of a regular season in hockey you are bound to get rough games such as last night. In a lot of ways it can be a positive as a learning device for the harder roads ahead. You hope that last night is simply a harsh reality check brought on by a group that has been stretched more than Silly Putty the last month and a half. If it isn’t, and it is the start of a rough trend due up, the opposition ahead for the Admirals down the line isn’t on the level of a Checkers – it is far better. A performance such as last night against the Chicago Wolves or Grand Rapids Griffins? And I would say losing 5-1 is a small victory. The Admirals, no matter who is in or out of the lineup, can’t afford to play like that ever again.
Comments on the comments? Will last night’s result be a catalyst to an Admirals group looking to run through walls tonight in Chicago? Why is it that Gunnarsson always seems to be in net in games where the Admirals lay an egg in front of him?
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-1 against the Charlotte Checkers Tuesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
At a time when the Admirals defense was at its strongest in months – this game was a letdown. The Admirals lacked an attacking pulse all night and their defense was torn apart as the game dragged on. The result is a devastating loss against a woeful opponent on a week that the Admirals could have really used two points tonight.
“We thought the whole game wasn’t good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game of the team’s effort tonight. “They skated, we did not. We looked slow, we were slow, they looked fast, they were fast. We had odd-man rushes just because they were beating us up the ice. Simply no excuse. They outplayed us.”
After a scoreless first period the Checkers were able to get on the board halfway through the second period on the power-play. The Admirals had cleared the puck just over the blueline from their zone and Mike Liambas raced to the bench to get a new stick. The Checkers raced down and saw a Phil Di Giuseppe shot near the glove side of Jonas Gunnarsson in net take a harsh deflection off of Adam Pardy’s stick and back into the net for a power-play goal. The tally for Di Giuseppe was his seventh of the season.
It took the Checkers twenty-four seconds to add to their lead and make it a 2-0 game. A wicked shot by Sergey Tolchinsky saw the Checkers forward spin around the right wing circle and snap a low shot clean through Gunnarsson for his fifth goal of the season.
The Admirals would get a quick answer after the rapid scoring from the Checkers. After Max Görtz worked a puck loose from the right wing corner it fell into the path of Justin Florek who delivered a step-in slap shot that exploded past C.J. Motte into the top shelf for his fifth goal of the season to get the game down to a 2-1 Checkers lead.
Petter Granberg marked his return in the second period with a big hit on Jake Chelios that was called for elbowing. This triggered Keegan Lowe looking for a fight and Jimmy Oligny was the man to oblige him. Heated scrap and there wasn’t an instigator called for the fight.
“You can watch the penalty. He doesn’t elbow him,” said Evason. “It’s a loud noise. It looks bad but it’s not. And it’s frustrating because then their defenseman comes flying in from the neutral zone and Jimmy Oligny tries to hold him from getting to [Petter Granberg] and the guy drops the gloves and fights Jimmy and there is no instigator. I don’t understand it. The guy flies from outside the zone to get into a fight and we don’t get an equalized call.”
On the Granberg hit he was called for elbowing and that allowed the Checkers to get one more power-play chance in the second period. Valentin Zykov was score off a net-front redirect on a shot from the right point by Chelios. Zykov had been the recipient of a huge check from Mike Liambas prior to scoring. In the end, the two players that were checked hard ended up getting the game to 3-1 Checkers. The goal was Zykov’s ninth scored on the season.
The Checkers scored with forty-four seconds remaining in the second period. They would open up the third period by scoring forty-three seconds in to make it a 4-1 lead. A howitzer shot from the high slot by Lucas Wallmark would cannon in and out of the netting quickly off his ninth goal of the season.
The damage would continue less than three minutes later. A quick one-two between Kyle Hagel and Kris Newbury saw the latter forward snap a shot from between the two face-off circles and into the top shelf for Newbury’s fifth goal of the season which made it a 5-1 Checkers lead.
With a little over eight minutes remaining the fans did get a chance to cheer for something as the gloves dropped between Shawn O’Donnell and Mitchell Heard. This was a very spirited scrap that saw the two land flush numerous times. Heard did get the final strike and takedown. O’Donnell left down the Admirals tunnel following the fight for repairs.
The game would finish right there. It was another unfortunate night for Gunnarsson to be the man in net for the Admirals. His stat-line just isn’t a true reflection of the effort he had in net as a team in front of him was about as flat as they have been all season. The Swede allowed five goals from thirty-five shots. Many of those shots to the net for the Checkers came with numbers barreling down on Gunnarsson on the rush.
The Admirals can thankfully erase this from memory fast. They are right back in action tomorrow night with a road game against the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 PM CST. Later this week on Friday they return to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for a game against the Grand Rapids Griffins at 7:00 PM CST.
“It’s a little fuel for the fire,” commented Justin Florek of the poor result tonight looking ahead to tomorrow night. “We want to look past this one and get ready for Chicago but, at the same time, it was a disappointing loss for us. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play. So, a little fuel for the fire for tomorrow and come out guns blazing.”
Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday night there have been a good chunk of roster moves made. Petter Granberg was placed on and cleared waivers by the Nashville Predators. He was then assigned to the Admirals. The Predators then recalled Pontus Åberg from the Admirals ahead of tonight’s game which saw the Admirals sign Garrett Meurs to a PTO Contract from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Then, hours before puck drop, the Predators reassigned Vladislav Kamenev to the Admirals. Kamenev was unable to make it to Milwaukee in time for tonight’s game. With that being the case, the Admirals ended up dressing Trevor Murphy at forward tonight. These were tonight’s line combinations: White-Smith-Meurs, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Murphy-Army-O’Donnell, Pardy-Carrier, Oligny-Granberg, Pinkston-Dougherty. Cody Bass was a scratch tonight as he missed his fifth game in a row due to a lower-body injury. Jonathan Diaby was a healthy scratch.
What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Considering that the Milwaukee Admirals did have their defense back at 100% strength tonight – what was the issue for them tonight? Are you concerned that the amount of injuries for the Nashville Predators in the past month has sapped all the energy and momentum from the Admirals?
The Nashville Predators have announced that Vladislav Kamenev has been reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals. The news comes only two-hours away from the start of both respective teams games tonight on home ice.
Kamenev made his NHL debut on 1/6/17 on the road against the Florida Panthers after making a cross-country flight after having traveled with the Admirals to San Jose. He played in 2 games for the Predators registering a shot on goal, a plus/minus rating of -1 that came during his first career NHL shift, and 2 penalty minutes.
With the Admirals this season he has played 31 games while amassing 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists). It isn’t clear just yet whether he will arrive in time for the Admirals game tonight against the Charlotte Checkers or if the team will need to dress seven defensemen to fill out a squad.
Mark Visentin has just been named the ECHL/CCM Goaltender of the Week. Visentin came up huge in all three games this past week for the Milwaukee Admirals’ ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones and had a 1.65 goals-against average, 0.940 save percentage, and shutout.
Mark Visentin of the Cincinnati Cyclones is the CCM ECHL Goaltender of the Week for Jan. 2-8.
Visentin went 3-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.65 goals-against average and a save percentage of .940 in three appearances last week.
The 24-year-old made 25 saves in a 4-3 win at Wichita on Wednesday, stopped all 25 shots he faced in a 4-0 victory at Quad City on Friday and made 29 saves in a 3-2 win at Wheeling on Sunday.
Under an American Hockey League contract with the Milwaukee Admirals, Visentin has appeared in 15 games for the Cyclones this season going 8-5-1 with one shutout, a 2.71 goals-against average and a save percentage of .902. He has also appeared in one game for Milwaukee with a record of 0-0-1.
A first-round selection (27th overall) of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Visentin has appeared in 16 career ECHL games with Gwinnett and Cincinnati while also seeing action in 89 American Hockey League games with Milwaukee, Rockford and Portland where he has posted a career record of 33-37-3 with three shutouts, a 3.04 goals-against average and a save percentage of .903. He has also appeared in one career NHL game with the Coyotes.
Prior to turning pro, he appeared in 166 career Ontario Hockey League games with Niagara posting an overall record of 89-55-16 with 14 shutouts, a 2.75 goals-against average and a save percentage of ..911.
Runners Up: Brandon Anderson, Norfolk (3-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .966 save pct.) and Parker Milner, South Carolina (3-0-0, 0.97 GAA, .954 save pct.).
Also Nominated: Anthony Peters (Florida), P.J. Musico (Fort Wayne), Branden Komm (Idaho), Eric Levine (Indy), Joel Martin (Kalamazoo), Jake Paterson (Toledo), Colin Stevens (Tulsa), Troy Redmann (Utah) and Sean Maguire (Wheeling).
Visentin has only appeared in a single game this season for the Admirals. That came during the food poisoning night for the Nashville Predators and he put on a great performance against his old team from a season ago but fell short in a 3-2 shootout loss.
In the ECHL this season Visentin has a record of 8-5-1-0 from 15 appearances with a 2.71 goals against average and 0.902 save percentage. In this past week he recorded his first shutout of the season stopping all 25 shots on goal in a 4-0 win for the Cyclones on the road over the Quad City Mallards.
The defense is back to full-strength tonight for the Milwaukee Admirals but the offense keeps getting more and more depleted. The Nashville Predators have recalled Pontus Åberg from the Admirals ahead of both teams’ games tonight. In response, the Admirals have added forward Garrett Meurs from the Wheeling Nailers on a PTO Contract.
Åberg has 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 9 games this season for the Predators. The 23-year old has 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists) in 23 games at the AHL level with the Admirals. He now joined the likes of Harry Zolnierczyk, Vladislav Kamenev, and Frédérick Gaudreau as recent forward call-ups to the Predators roster.
Meurs currently leads the Nailers in goal scoring and joins his ol’ teammate Derek Army to the Admirals roster on PTO basis. Meurs has 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 31 games this season in the ECHL as well as a plus/minus rating of +13 and 49 penalty minutes He is a former draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche and has played 87 career AHL games including 6 career games played against the Admirals as a member of the Lake Erie Monsters.
Tonight’s game for the Milwaukee Admirals is an exciting one for a few reasons. The first of which being that it is a home game. The Admirals have played the second fewest home games in the AHL this season. Only the team they face tonight, the Charlotte Checkers, have played at home less – one game less.
Then, there are these visitors that are coming in tonight. For the Checkers this is their second game in Milwaukee this season and the first time in town they lost 3-2 in overtime. What is exciting about their arrival, paired with a full strengthened defense for the Admirals, is that the Checkers -on paper- are doing terribly this season. It can be a quick sense of relief on a week where they will face the Chicago Wolves on the road (tomorrow) and then the Grand Rapids Griffins at home (Saturday).
The Checkers are 13-20-2-0 (28 points, 0.400 points percentage) this season. That record has them in dead last of the the Central Division and Western Conference standings. The only team in the entire AHL that has a record worse than that are the Hartford Wolf Pack who have a record of 12-20-3-1 (28 points, 0.389 points percentage).
The Checkers have averaged 2.31 goals per game while allowing 3.00 goals against per game. Their road power-play has gone 8/91 (8.8%) which is the worst in the AHL. And, being the most taxed team in the AHL with road games this season, the Checkers road record is the second worst in the league: 5-16-2-0 (12 points, 0.261 points percentage). Only the Rockford IceHogs (18 road games, 0.222 points percentage) are worse off.
A pair of AHL rookies are leading the way in scoring for the Checkers this season. Andrew Poturalski lead the team with 21 points (7 goals, 14 assists) in 35 games. He is followed by Lucas Wallmark with 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists) in 35 games.
In net the Checkers dearly miss the likes of Michael Leighton who is currently up with the Carolina Hurricanes. They have been trying to find an answer and are right now stuck with two goaltenders who have played so little they don’t register as qualified goalies in AHL statistical lists.
Daniel Altshuller has logged the most games of their current tandem. He has made 7 appearances, holds a record of 2-3-0-0, has a 3.49 goals against average, and 0.892 save percentage. His battery mate, C.J. Motte, has stopped every single shot he has faced this season… 11 shots.. from a 19:51 relief appearance in the Checkers last game played on Saturday on the road against the Wolves.
What will be important tonight is for the Admirals to not simply write-off these Checkers as poor and expect to win. The Admirals were flat in their last game and need to bounce back strong ahead of these important games against the Wolves and Griffins later this week. The Checkers will be a good way to set the tone for those match-ups. The Admirals, no matter which forwards are available, need to deliver.
Expectations for tonight’s game? How will the return of the Milwaukee Admirals full-strength defense help tonight?
Yesterday, Petter Granberg was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators. The waiver wire process has completed and no team opted to pick him up. That has allowed the Predators to reassign the defenseman to the Milwaukee Admirals. He could be available for the Admirals when they face the Charlotte Checkers tomorrow night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena at 7:00 PM CST.
Granberg has played 9 games this season for the Predators. For the Admirals he has played 16 games and during that time the Admirals have a record of 12-2-1-1.
With Granberg back the Admirals finally have their defensive pairings that were in place when the completed a perfect month of November that saw them never lose in regulation in 10 games. That run is what has helped cushion the blow on the past few weeks when the injuries topside have caused the Predators to resemble more of a hodgepodge of the Admirals.
This could help see the return of three left-handed shots paired with three right-handed shots which is a preferred method of Admirals head coach Dean Evason. It does put a question mark over the next steps for Rick Pinkston and Jonathan Diaby.
Smile! Because Joonas Rask and Juuso Puustinen became best friends at HIFK in their native Finland. (Photo Credit: Tomi Hänninen)It’s that ever so lovely time of the year where we stop to take a look at what some of our former Milwaukee Admirals are up to right now. Specifically, we’ll be looking in on some of those who helped to contribute to the highly successful 2015-16 season to find out if they’re continuing to do well. We’ll also scan over some other names from the past few seasons.
Johan Alm: After two unfortunately injury plagued seasons with the Admirals Alm returned back to his hometown team, Skellefteå AIK. He is already approaching the points total that he had when he last played for Skellefteå AIK but -almost as importantly- is approaching the games played total from a season ago.
Taylor Aronson: After ditching the Admirals after they clinched to Central Division title to go home and skip the playoffs ahead of his Russian deal be signed he ended up signing with HC Lada. That’s the condensed version. If you feel like you having punched enough walls lately, Odell Beckham Jr., you can read the full story here. As much as this could be a point and laugh situation – I feel pretty bad for Aronson right now. He has had a really rough go of things in the KHL: 13 points (1 goal, 12 assists) in 39 games with a plus/minus rating of -10 and 24 penalty minutes. He is currently out of action with a concussion which is something that has plagued him previously.
Daniel Bång: The last man to wear #50 before Vladislav Kamenev was forced to wear it for the Nashville Predators was Bång. Ever since leaving the Predators organization he has played for Lausanne HC in National League A (NLA) based in Switzerland. Unfortunately, it appears that concussions have derailed his career the past two seasons. He hasn’t played a game in the 2016-17 season.
Zach Budish: What slowed down Budish out of his college career was injuries. His last two seasons in the organization he was finally fully fit and you could tell that his play benefited from it. He’s since joined Mikkelin Jukurit in Finland’s top flight Liiga where he has been putting together a really nice season for himself: 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 37 games with a plus/minus rating of -2 and 22 penalty minutes.
Patrick Cehlin: Much like Alm, Cehlin’s time in the organization wasn’t all that it could have been due to unfortunate injuries that weighed him down. He also returned back to his native Sweden and last season, with Rögle BK, he did phenomenally: 36 points (20 goals, 16 assists) in 52 games. Unfortunately, his follow up season for the club has hit a snag with injury sidelining him once again. The 25-year old does still have 9 points (6 goals, 3 assists) in 17 games this season.
Stefan Elliott: Currently, the Nashville Predators do still have Elliott’s NHL rights because they did tender him an offer before he cut loose for the European scene. He ended up joining Ak Bars Kazan in Russia’s KHL and has produced 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 25 games with a plus/minus rating of +1 and 12 penalty minutes.
Triston Grant: The ol’ workhorse is still scrapping it out around the North American pro scene. This season Grant signed up to play for the Wichita Thunder in the ECHL but found himself quickly traded to the Rapid City Rush. He has logged a single AHL game this season as a member of the Binghamton Senators on a PTO Contract.
Magnus Hellberg: Still popular among Admirals fans, Hellberg continues to be the go-to option in net for the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate the Hartford Wolf Pack. This season he has a record of 9-9-3-1 in net from 24 games with a 3.00 goals against average and 0.902 save percentage. He has still only ever logged a single NHL appearance since leaving the Predators organization, coming in relief, in a game that was a disaster for the Rangers. He has yet to ever start a game in the NHL. This is the last season he is under contract to the Rangers.
Kevin Henderson: This season has slightly mirrored the last one for Henderson. It’s a dip of the toe in the ECHL and fly to Europe. He went from the Quad City Mallards (ECHL) to SaiPa (Liiga). He joined the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) to start this season but, after 4 games, saw himself in Slovakia playing for HK SKP Poprad. So far, he’s actually done well for the club: 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 20 games with a plus/minus rating of +7 and 14 penalty minutes.
Cody Hodgson: This is yet another sad story. Hodgson joined the Nashville Predators last season and, while it didn’t work out well, continued to conduct himself as a solid pro and teammate at the AHL level with the Milwaukee Admirals. However, back spasms had been weighing him down very badly and his season came to a close at the start of March 2016. He left to get his back spasms further evaluated and decided to retire from the game this off-season.
Joonas Järvinen: Before there was Arvi – there was Järvi. Last season the big Finn had a career year with HIFK in his native Finland: 18 points (2 goals, 16 assists) in 49 games with a plus/minus rating of +19 and 73 penalty minutes. That work came paired with two fellow former Admirals that are coming up later on this list, Puustinen and Rask. Despite the great success at home in Finland Järvinen opted to give Russia’s KHL a second try after a miserable first effort in the 2014-15 season with HC Sochi. He has played for Kunlun Red Star this season and is doing well enough – just not as well as a season ago.
Mike Moore: The former Admirals captain (2012-13 season) currently finds himself playing in Europe for the first time in his career. The 32-year old defenseman plays for Fischtown Pinguins in Germany’s DEL. He has 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists) in 29 games with a plus/minus rating of -8 and 79 penalty minutes.
Simon Moser: Our former Olympic hero has continued on at SC Bern in his native Switzerland since leaving the Nashville Predators organization. These last two years have been really productive for the 27-year old: 57 points (25 goals, 32 assists) in 85 games.
Steve Moses: This situation didn’t work at all a season ago. In fact, it is starting to feel like Moses’ 2014-15 season might just be something he never approaches ever again: 57 points (36 goals, 21 assists) in 60 games. That put him on the map and the Nashville Predators radar. He didn’t stick with the Predators and, after a brief while with the Admirals, was placed on unconditional waivers before returning to Russia’s KHL – this time with SKA St. Petersburg. From 2015-16 to 2016-17 to date, Moses has scored 33 points (15 goals, 18 assists) from 59 games.
Patrick Mullen: The 30-year old defenseman made his journey to the European scene for the first time this season and did so by landing in Russia’s KHL. He plays for Dinamo Riga this season and has scored 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) in 39 games with a plus/minus rating of -12 and 26 penalty minutes. He did score an astonishingly good goal that is well worth watching.
Garrett Noonan: It didn’t seem like Noonan was ever given the greatest of opportunities to make it up to an AHL role for the Admirals. Unfortunately, that chance could have been welcoming to him this season – he just wasn’t brought back by the Predators. In the off-season, Noonan was given a look with the New York Rangers organization and has since been bumping around their minor league affiliates: Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL) and Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL). The bulk of his season has been spent at the ECHL level and that plus/minus rating of -14 in 19 games has me thinking David Poile might have been on to something.
Kristian Näkyvä: It was a difficult adjustment last season for the Finn to adapt from the European game to North America’s faster paced scramble. In the end, it was a one and one. The 26-year old is back in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and plays for Linköping HC. He has 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 32 games with a plus/minus rating of -7 and 22 penalty minutes.
Joe Pendenza: We’ve already had the chance to see ol’ Joe as a member of the Cleveland Monsters this season. He tried giving the Albany Devils a go ahead of this season but ended up moving towards the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) and has nearly completed the entirety of his PTO Contract to stay with the Monsters in the AHL. They can give him one more PTO Contract before having to sign him to a standard contract. Should he stay up with the Monsters for the rest of the season that scenario will have to play out.
Joe Piskula: After a season spent with the San Diego Gulls in which he didn’t get a look up with the NHL – Good Guy Joe from Antigo took the trek to Europe. It is the first time he has journeyed to the European pro game and he has settled in very well with Leksands IF in Sweden. His numbers almost completely mirror his summary from a season ago with the Gulls in the AHL.
Corey Potter: The Nashville Predators really hoped to keep the veteran defenseman around past last season after how well he performed. Unfortunately for both the Predators and Admirals the 33-year old wanted to explore the hockey world in Europe. He signed for Kölner Haie in Germany’s DEL and has really done a great job: 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) in 35 games with a plus/minus rating of +15 and 52 penalty minutes. He happens to be joined at the club with an Admirals teammate from a season ago due up in two players on this list.
Juuso Puustinen: Always one of my favorites when I watched as a fan, Puustinen’s time playing back at home with HIFK in Finland has been going real well the last three seasons. Unfortunately, it seems he has hit a rough patch for himself this season. His production has dropped to just 11 points (2 goals, 9 assists) in 29 games.
Joonas Rask: It hasn’t been the easiest of season’s for Puustinen’s teammate at HIFK, Rask, either. This season he has only played in 10 games after logging 40+ games the past two seasons at HIFK. He’ll be hard pressed to approach double-digit goals and assists as he has the previous two campaigns.
Max Reinhart: Remember how I said Potter had a friend at German club Kölner Haie? It’s Max! That’s right, there are two European clubs that we can all support because they have Admirals duos on them right now. Reinhart’s contributions in his first DEL season has seen him produce 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists) in 35 games with a plus/minus rating of +1 and 24 penalty minutes.
Charles-Olivier Roussel: If I ever had the ability to make a hockey movie I think it would be fascinating to center the story around Roussel. He won a QMJHL title in juniors, was drafted in the 2nd Round (42nd Overall) by the Nashville Predators in the 2009 NHL Draft, battled up and down between the AHL and ECHL with the Milwaukee Admirals and Cincinnati Cyclones, had a 2014-15 season that saw him bounce between the Utah Grizzlies to the Greenville Road Warriors in an ECHL trade before finishing the season off winning the LNAH championship with the Thetford Mines Isothermic. He has since played for the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) and HC Banska Bystrica (Slovakia) a season ago. He then tried playing for Ducs d’Angers in France before going back to Thetford briefly. He has since decided to retire from pro hockey and I know that he will continue to be a really good guy.
Vinny Saponari: The Mayor of Toe-Drag City has taken his talents to Europe. He now plays for Frisk Asker in Norway and has been putting together a good season: 31 points (9 goals, 22 assists) in 29 games with a plus/minus rating of -2 and 6 penalty minutes.
Mathieu Tousignant: While most names on this list go to more elite level pro leagues in Europe the next two are slightly different stories. Tousignant left the AHL scene after the 2014-15 season and opted to sign for Ravensburg Towerstars who are based out of the second tier of Germany’s pro hockey scene, DEL 2. They were not promoted last year and he remains there this season. That said, he has been amazing for that team: 84 points (35 goals, 49 assists) in 72 games the last two seasons.
Mark Van Guilder: Somewhat similar to Tousi, I was surprised to see someone of Van Guilder’s ability go the route that he did last season. He signed for Ritten Sport in Italy. As odd as that sounds – he did damage and won their championship in the process: 57 points (18 goals, 39 assists) in 42 games. This season MVG finds himself in a higher profile league in Norway with the Stavanger Oilers where he might be doing an even better job that last year: 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 32 games. He is the leading scorer in the Norwegian league right now. Since leaving North America after the 2014-15 season he is a 1.39 point per game player across Italy and Norway.
Brandon Whitney: Last season, Whitney briefly filled a bench role on a few occassions but struggled for the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL. He wasn’t at Nashville Predators Rookie Development Camp. He wasn’t at Milwaukee Admirals Training Camp ahead of the 2016-17 season. And he wasn’t at the Cyclones Pre-Season Camp, either. He was put back on the news beat when he was part of the trade that brought Adam Pardy in earlier this season. He hasn’t shown up for the Springfield Falcons (AHL) or Manchester Monarchs (ECHL). I legitimately have no idea where he is or if he has retired.
Admirals Roundtable 