TORONTO, ON- OCTOBER 15 – Trevor Smith celebrates his first goal as a Leaf in first period action as the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Minnesota Wild at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. October 15, 2013. (Photo Credit: Steve Russell // Toronto Star)
The Milwaukee Admirals have announced that Trevor Smith will be serving as team captain for the 2016-17 season. In Smith’s previous two AHL seasons he was the captain of the Toronto Marlies. The Admirals also announced that Matt Irwin and Mike Liambas were named as the team’s alternate captains.
In Smith’s AHL career he has logged 453 games while amassing 346 points (153 goals, 193 assists). The 31-year old Ottawa native also has 106 games of NHL level experience where he has 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists) to his name in spurts with the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Last season he ventured to Europe for the first time in his career playing for SC Bern in Switzerland.
The process for who becomes the Admirals captain has always been the same way under head coach Dean Evason. The locker room gets to vote for their candidate and the coaching staff gets the last say. There hasn’t been an alteration from who the players chose to what the coaching staff feels is right since Evason has been behind the bench.
To go along with the alternate captain selections of Irwin and Liambas the team also has named a list of players in reserve that will wear an “A” in the event of injuries or call-ups. Those players were: Harry Zolnierczyk, Adam Payerl, and Félix Girard.
Happy Wednesday, everybody. The Milwaukee Admirals 2016-17 regular season is nearly upon us. Today was the second to last practice the team will have in Milwaukee before traveling to San Antonio on Friday for their first two games of the season on Saturday and Sunday.
Yesterday provided a really solid look into how this year’s Admirals team could look on opening night. All reinforcements from the Nashville Predators, including two that passed through waivers, were on hand and the same can be said for early this afternoon. Today saw the exact same line combinations used.
I’m extremely curious as to how Justin Kirkland and Matt White will fit in. They were again used as flex options that rotated in and out with different groups and in a few different situations. I would have expected the two odd-men out to actually be Mike Liambas and Justin Florek but, per practice, it looks like this could be what you get this weekend.
After practice I had the opportunity to swing by the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and get a close up look at the new Admirals locker room. It is simply stunning. The look and feel of the place is NHL quality. Players seem just as awestruck as those of us who have been around the team at the BMO Harris Bradley Center for a number of years. It’s remarkable. And it is still in the process of being fitted with more bells and whistles that will make the place that much more world class.
Once I got the shock factor of my new environment relatively in check I managed to round up a good chunk of interviews. Inside today’s Chatterbox we have: Frédérick Gaudreau, Jack Dougherty, Austin Watson, the aforementioned Kirkland, and Admirals head coach Dean Evason. Here is what everyone had to say this afternoon from the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Apologies if the audio for today’s interviews came in on the loud side. Tried editing that as best I could without distorting things but it just seemed like a hot mic with all the goings on around the locker room construction zone today.
This is the final week of the Milwaukee Admirals Training Camp. Frankly though, Training Camp is already over and this week has the look and feel that it should. The 2016-17 AHL regular season begins this weekend and the Admirals have two games against the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday and Sunday. So, it isn’t as much Training Camp anymore as it is prep for competitive game action.
I attended this morning’s practice with the excitement surrounding the fact that all of Sunday’s roster moves should have pretty much cemented the Admirals roster to what it should be come opening night. There might still be some moves down to the ECHL to be made but even in saying that the group is rather set. So, how would this team shape up? Especially now that Austin Watson and Petter Granberg are here after clearing waivers from the Nashville Predators.
This is how the lines looked at today’s practice. It’s important for me to state however that just because the lines are listed as they are doesn’t necessarily mean Line 1, Line 2, and so on. Especially in the AHL I think you find the difference in what line is which doesn’t matter all that much. This year’s prospective Admirals forwards group sort of speaks to that. Essentially you have three lines there that can easily pass as the Admirals top line so it is more Line 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, and a grind line.
Of note, both Matt White and Justin Kirkland were flex options today that cycled in and out of different drills with different lines. When they did feature as a line Anthony Richard rotated in as the right winger with Kirkland at center. Additionally, Jonathan Diaby seemed to only rotate in and out with Jack Dougherty to play alongside Trevor Murphy. While the lefty playing left and righty playing right set-up is straight forward for Murphy-Dougherty the Diaby rotation meant shifting Murphy over on the right side of the ice.
The practices today went about as I expected them to go after two 4-1 defeats in sloppy exhibition games this past weekend. It was primarily passing drill heavy with an emphasis on firm tape-to-tape passes getting connected and connected at pace. It’s no mystery that this year’s Admirals team is going to be featuring a good combination of speed and skill. Making sure that the high level of speed the Admirals possess doesn’t get stunted by your own ineffective passing is kind of a no brainer. The crisper the better and added time for everyone getting on a better page with each other will go a long way.
No interviews were conducted on my part today. The team has a golf outing today so I just assume let them race over to the links where they’d rather be anyways. Tomorrow will be a better day for interviewing and Media Day is on Thursday. Plenty of interview content will be on the way. And I’m aiming for a few added stories before we get rolling with Game 1 of the Admirals season this weekend.
Thoughts on how the Admirals lines look from today’s practice? Which two forwards do you feel are the odd men out? Could Jonathan Diaby manage to stick around as the Admirals seventh defensive option or would he be better suited to staying active and playing in the ECHL until needed?
The current state of the Milwaukee Admirals roster heading into the 2016-17 season features a roster the strengths of which hasn’t been seen in a long time. There are numerous players sitting on the edge of being an NHL call-up. Some are veterans. Some are prospects right on the radar. And some are prospects that can shoot into that radar this season.
It’s shouldn’t be that surprising that players such as Petter Granberg and Austin Watson would be high on that list of potential quickfire call-ups. Both went through the waiver wire process and were assigned to the Admirals to start their season in the AHL. With the exception of a conditioning assignment that Granberg had last season both were in the NHL season for the whole of the 2015-16 season. Yet, of the two, one seems more capable of achieving an NHL return during the course of this season while the other one is named Watson.
I still find it curious how Watson’s 2015-16 season played out. Last season was the first part of a two-year contract that saw the first stint work as a two-way deal before turning into a standard NHL one-way contract. It seems the reverse of that contract is playing out right now: NHL the first half, AHL the second half. The only explanation I can cook up on last season is that head coach Peter Laviolette must have liked enough of what Watson could provide to either (a) play him (b) keep him as a rotational forward option. At some point he must have been close enough to being sent down, as evidenced by a fully prepped Admirals road jersey seen at the team’s Garage Sale this off-season, but it never came to be. He spent the whole of the season with the Nashville Predators and logged 57 games in the process.
Now that Watson has fallen down to the AHL there is a simple and concise question to ask: now what?
Watson already has 229 games of AHL experience to his name. He is one of only three Admirals in the team’s AHL history to score 20 goals or more in each of his first three seasons: 20 goals (2012-13), 22 goals (2013-14), and 26 goals (2014-15). He was also one of the most durable players the Admirals featured during those three seasons. The only reason he missed any AHL time during those three seasons were due to a 6-game spell in the NHL with the Predators during the 2012-13 season. Beyond that? He has a 100% record of showing up to work. Which, given his shot blocking prowess on the Admirals penalty kill at the time, is mightily impressive that he never was dinged up enough to facilitate an unhealthy scratch.
He’s a solid AHL level player. The numbers scream it. His versatility at the AHL level shows it: center, wing, penalty kill, power-play, etc. And yet here we are. Now what?
I feel the reason why we are where we are with the Predators first round draft pick from the 2010 NHL Draft has more to do with the prospect pool around Watson than Watson himself. He is a very strong and polished player. Watson isn’t the sort of player you would pick out and say he made boneheaded play after boneheaded play. The problem is, compared to all that are bottled up behind him, Watson is never going to be able to provide the high level speed and skill to go with his polished game. Frédérick Gaudreau is a perfect example of just the sort of player that is comparable to Watson and should be considered a better option as a call-up than Watson. Gaudreau has Watson’s versatility and range of use all while being a much faster skater with the skill to be more of a threat on offense. Then comes the freight train of names that could pretty much say the same: Calle Järnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson, Miikka Salomäki, Colton Sissons, Kevin Fiala, Pontus Åberg, and Vladislav Kamenev.
The only true player in the mix where you can have an argument over “Watson vs.” would be Cody Bass. Even that becomes a pretty cut and dry case. Bass is a chiseled veteran with great face-off skills and provides a far -far- more physical element to his game than Watson does. As big of a forward as Watson is, with the exception of one awesome hit to Ryan Getzlaf, he never really used his body as a battering ram to compensate for a lack of pace that others around him feature to shadow over him. Bass does lay the body down to bowl people over. Salomäki has the reputation as a bull in a china shop for his checking abilities. Watson? He’s just an alright smooth player that goes about his business. Which is fine. But it’s not a long term skill set to be an NHL level talent.
What Watson’s 2016-17 season is going to really need isn’t just what everyone knows he’s capable of at the AHL level but a display of what he hasn’t been capable of in the NHL level. He needs to start being a force to be reckoned with. He needs to start grinding people up to go along with his knack for scoring and penalty killing that he is already good at. Watson needs that extra dimension to his game or else I hazard to guess what sort of contracts would be on offer for him in the 2017-18 season. He already fell through the cracks of a waiver wire process. No other team in the NHL wanted him. That shouldn’t be met with anger or despair. It should be met with a wake-up call.
The talent level in hockey right now is shooting to the moon. Next off-season Watson will be 25-years old with a smattering of NHL performances. Watson could either become just who Bass was for the organization last season or Max Reinhart. One of those names are in the NHL. The other is in Germany. Watson’s response this season will go a long way to see whether or not he reclaims an NHL opportunity. And that goes for with the Predators organization and beyond.
Milwaukee, WI– Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has assigned forwards Pontus Aberg, Frederick Gaudreau, Felix Girard and Mike Liambas, and defenseman Petter Granberg to the Admirals.
In addition, the Admirals have assigned forward Eric Robinson, defenseman Jaynen Rissling, and goalie Mark Visentin to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. The Ads have also released forwards Kenny Ryan, Gabryel Boudreau, Shawn O’Donnell, Tylor Spink, Tyson Spink, and Dominic Zombo and defenseman Eric Knodel from their try-out contracts.
Milwaukee heads to San Antonio next weekend to open the regular season on Saturday, October 15 at 7 pm against the Rampage. The Ads commence their home schedule on Saturday, October 29 at 6 pm when they host the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The biggest news here is that Jonas Gunnarsson appears to have won the back-up job in net for the Admirals out of Training Camp. Juuse Saros is the clear cut first choice goaltender for the 2016-17 season but the back-up battle was extremely tight between Gunnarsson and Visentin. For all we know this position could flip about a few times as the season progresses.
At the moment the Admirals roster stands at 24 players (14 forwards, 8 defensemen, 2 goalies). I suspect the last bit of roster trimming will be completed by the team before Thursday’s Media Day.
Petter Granberg’s 2015-16 season started with a conditioning assignment with the Milwaukee Admirals. He will now begin the 2016-17 season as part of the AHL roster. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Nashville, Tenn. (October 9, 2016) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has assigned forwards Pontus Aberg, Frederick Gaudreau, Felix Girard and Mike Liambas, and defenseman Petter Granberg to Milwaukee (AHL).
Nashville’s training camp roster is now at 22 players – 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. An updated roster is available here.
Nashville opens the regular season with a doubleheader against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15. Friday’s contest will be played at Bridgestone Arena and shown live on NBCSN.
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That sets the Predators for opening night but it only makes filling out the Admirals roster before their regular season begins this coming Saturday. By adding Granberg to the mix the defense could likely see the return of head coach Dean Evason‘s favorite mixture which sees three left-handed defensemen paired with three right-handed defensemen. So, that’s no bother.
Where the real challenges are come at the forward position now where the roster is completely loaded. Decisions for final cuts are going to be tough. And the biggest beneficiary will be the Admirals ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones. I have to believe some high quality players will be arriving there to start the season by sheer volume of players in Milwaukee.
If you were to fill out an opening night roster for the Milwaukee Admirals right now – who ends up off your roster? How will Austin Watson and Petter Granberg add to this year’s Admirals?
The Nashville Predators placed Austin Watson on waivers yesterday. With the waiver process complete he has been assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals. That wasn’t the only move made, either. The Predators also reassigned Vladislav Kamenev to the Admirals while recalling three from their AHL affiliate: Pontus Åberg, Félix Girard, and Mike Liambas.
Press Release via Milwaukee Admirals:
Milwaukee, WI– Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled forwards Pontus Aberg, Felix Girard and Mike Liambas from Milwaukee (AHL). In addition, the team assigned Vladislav Kamenev and Austin Watson to Milwaukee.
Watson spent parts of four seasons with the Admirals, most recently in 2014-15 when he led the team with 26 goals and was second with 44 points. He is fourth in Admirals AHL history with 68 goals and is one of only three players since the team joined the AHL in 2001 to have 20 or more goals in each of his first three seasons with the team. In 2015-16 the Ann Arbor, MI native tallied 10 points (3g-7a) in 57 games with the Predators.
Kamenev posted 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points in 57 games with the Admirals last season, his first in North America. The Orsk, Russia native was selected to play in the AHL All-Star Classic and also captained Team Russia to their second consecutive silver medal at the World Junior Championships.
The Admirals will finish off the pre-season Saturday night when they travel to Chicago to take on the Wolves.
Milwaukee heads to San Antonio next weekend to open the regular season on Saturday, October 15 at 7 pm against the Rampage. The Ads commence their home schedule on Saturday, October 29 at 6 pm when they host the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The Watson move down seems to reflect both where Watson is right now in his career but even more so how the rest of the prospect group has performed this Pre-Season. Watson played 229 games as a member of the Admirals and produced 127 points (68 goals, 59 assists) in that time. His last AHL season (2014-15) saw him produce a career high and team best 26 goals. He spent all of last season with the Predators where he logged 57 games and scoring 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists).
Justin Florek participated in the Boston Bruins playoff run at the end of the 2013-14 season. (Photo Credit: Greg M. Cooper // USA TODAY Sports)
I’m not too certain there is a lot you can take away from last night’s exhibition game other than to say: it happened. A storm of penalty calls descended from the heavens and rained down on the MSOE Kern Center in that game and, whether warranted or not, it all made evaluating the team and individuals a difficult process to do.
If anything, you can say that the Admirals penalty kill did get a heck of a run out. There were a variety of different looks and players getting a chance to get out on the penalty kill and several did a great job. Still, constant penalty killing means playing two forwards at a time and it gets the lines out of whack once things become even strength – although that did feel like a rare occurrence from the second period to the end of the game.
A player I feel did stand out on the evening was Cincinnati Cyclones roster invitee Shawn O’Donnell. Yes, he did have a nice fight against Sam Carrick and everything but past that his play was really good. In such a scrambly sort of game O’Donnell always seemed to provide a positive energy on the ice for the Admirals. That goes for him operating along the boards or seeing him break forward from defense to offense. There weren’t many players, for either team, that made you point and go “him” but for me O’Donnell was that for the Admirals on the night.
The biggest takeaway for me from this game that the Admirals are going to need to work on: passing. It’s the pre-season. There were players playing at a high level game speed that never really played together and the way the penalty killing jumbled up lines it made it all the more of a mess. I get that. But there were hardly tape-to-tape passes that connected in this game from start to finish. So, yes the game was very sloppy and a penalty festival, but it could have been eased a fair bit with crisp clean passes. I suspect with the exhibition game tonight in Chicago and an off-day scheduled for Monday that Tuesday’s practice will be rather dominated by passing drills. I’ll be there to drink those drills in and see if there are improvements.
After the game I was able to chat with goaltender Juuse Saros who played the full contest for the Admirals against the IceHogs. I then chatted with Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as the forwards that officially signed contracts ahead of the game Eric Robinson and Justin Florek. Here is what they had to say following the game.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-1 against the Rockford IceHogs in an exhibition game Friday night at the MSOE Kern Center. Justin Florek scored the lone goal for the Admirals but it came long after the damage was already done by the visiting IceHogs.
“We talked after that our execution wasn’t good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Our desire was real good. Our entries were fine. We just didn’t execute. And their goaltenders played real well. So, combine that all together, we didn’t get the result but our effort certainly was there.”
This game didn’t take long to look ugly. The IceHogs were able to take a 2-0 lead in the opening 1:30 of the first period. The first tally came on the rush with Pierre-Cedric Labrie sliding a puck past Juuse Saros. Bryn Chyzyk scored just shy of a minute after the opening goal to provide the IceHogs with a two-goal cushion they’d maintain cleanly through the rest of the opening period.
“That felt really weird,” commented Juuse Saros on the fast start for the IceHogs. “But it’s good to learn from those in these games so it won’t happen again in the games that count.”
6:23 into the second period and the IceHogs added a power-play goal to push their lead to 3-0. After Jonathan Diaby headed to the box for interference Sam Carrick hammered a slap shot against the grain of Saros from the right wing that went up and over the Finn’s blocker.
Through an onslaught of penalty calls a fight broke out between Shawn O’Donnell and Carrick. The tilt seemed to give a lift to the crowd and transfer into the players because it wasn’t long after that Justin Florek scored a shorthanded goal for the Admirals to make it a 3-1 contest just before the midway point of the third period.
“Our penalty kill was fine,” said Evason. “It’s unfortunate to have that many penalties because you can’t truly evaluate your group when your lines are all messed up. It’s unfortunate there were that many. Hopefully tomorrow night there won’t be so many.”
The Admirals took Saros off to bring the extra attacker on late. Sadly, with the Admirals on the penalty kill at the time, that extra attacker advantage didn’t exactly mean much. The IceHogs would pop in their fourth tally through an empty netter by Martin Lundberg which would finish the game off at 4-1.
Ramblings: Prior to the game, the Milwaukee Admirals announced that they had signed forwards Eric Robinson and Justin Florek to AHL contracts for the 2016-17 season. The Admirals play on the road tomorrow night against the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 PM CDT at the Triphahn Center Ice Arena. It will be the team’s last taste of game action before the 2016-17 AHL regular season begins on Saturday when they play the San Antonio Rampage on the road in Texas. Practice this coming week is schedule for Tuesday through Thursday before they travel to San Antonio on Friday.
Thoughts on tonight’s performance? Were a lot of the penalty calls warranted? Were you able to take away much from tonight’s game for the team and individual performances? Did any impress or unimpress?
The Milwaukee Admirals have announced that they have signed forwards Eric Robinson and Justin Florek have signed AHL contracts for the 2016-17 season.
Press Release via Milwaukee Admirals:
Milwaukee, WI–The Admirals have signed forwards Eric Robinson and Justin Florek to American Hockey League contracts.
Robinson had three goals and an assist in five games with the Admirals to go along with nine points (5g-4a) in just eight contests with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL before his season was cut short by a knee injury. The Foxboro, MA native played four years of college hockey at Dartmouth and made his pro debut with the Ads in 2015.
Florek joins the Admirals after tallying seven goals and nine assists while playing in all 76 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Marquette, MI native posted career highs in goals (19), points (38), and plus/minus (+17) with the Providence Bruins in 2013-14. He has four games of NHL experience, scoring a goal and adding an assist with Boston in 2014.
Milwaukee heads to San Antonio next weekend to open the regular season on Saturday, October 15 at 7 pm against the Rampage. The Ads commence their home schedule on Saturday, October 29 at 6 pm when they host the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena
This is a solid depth move for the Admirals which strengthens the forward position and should also give added pieces to the Cincinnati Cyclones at the ECHL level. The Admirals pre-season training camp concludes this coming Thursday and moves to cement the opening day AHL roster should be done and dusted by then.
Admirals Roundtable 