This time a year ago was either gloomy or so far gone from what happened to the Milwaukee Admirals that it wasn’t even worth giving much of a thought back on. The Admirals finished dead last in the Midwest Division and saw the franchise’s streak of twelve consecutive playoff appearances come to an end. That was the 2014-15 season. This was the 2015-16 season and I feel it might be something we will all keep coming back to for numerous reasons. It was a special season on and off the ice.

If there was any great way to shake off the cobwebs that came with the 2014-15 season it actually came in the form of an image change. The Milwaukee Admirals officially unveiled a rebranding effort in mid-July of 2015 which saw new logos, colors, and uniforms. It wasn’t too far removed from the previous look but something that combined all previous installments to create something that felt perfect.

That was one area that made this season unique right away. If that wasn’t enough this season turned out to be the last for the Milwaukee Admirals playing in the Bradley Center. It was a 28-year long journey. The Pettit family had that building built for the purpose of professional hockey. And they succeeded at doing that. It may not have been NHL hockey but it was Milwaukee hockey whether it be played in the IHL or AHL.

When reflecting back on what was the Milwaukee Admirals last season as tenants of the Bradley Center you really can’t help but smile. The Admirals started the season with the second youngest team in the entire league and exceeded expectations. The year prior? A last place finish in the division. Those that were part of that team had to have taken great satisfaction in knowing their improvements and contributions ended with the reward of the Admirals first divisional title since the 2010-11 season.

There are many several talking points from what the Admirals record was alone. Yes, that divisional title was impressive but attaining a record of 48-23-3-2 (101 points) put this year’s Admirals team in rarefied air among the franchise’s AHL history. Their 101 points was the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Admirals eclipsed 100 points in a season and the sixth such occurrence of that feat happening. Yet, in the five previous 100+ point seasons for the Admirals those were contested when the AHL played an 80-game regular season. The 2015-16 Admirals became the first team in franchise history under the AHL’s 76-game regular season schedule to eclipse 100 points. This actually gives that term of the past season “points percentage” a great use because it quantifies how this year’s Admirals stacked up against the 14 previous squads that came before them. The 2015-16 Admirals 0.664 points percentage slots them in as the third best team in the Admirals AHL history behind the 2005-06 team (0.675 points percentage) and 2008-09 team (0.669 points percentage). That means your head coaches at the top of that list reads: Claude Noël, Lane Lambert, and Dean Evason. You can say the same for wins, as well. The Admirals 48 wins were the most ever from a 76-game regular season and was second to the aforementioned two teams which earned 49-wins from an 80-game regular season.

So much praise should be given to the job that Evason and his coaching staff, consisting of Stan Drulia and Scott Ford, did in 2015-16. I have to imagine there was a weight on the Admirals coaching staff at the start of the season. Knowing how last season ended the first month of the season saw the Admirals go 2-4-1-0 while conceding 3.9 goals per game and scoring 2.1 goals per game. It wasn’t all that pretty. That was October. Then came a franchise record 10-game winning streak. From that point on the Admirals seemed to have grabbed a firm hold of their identity and stuck to it regardless of injuries, roster moves, random additions on PTO basis from the ECHL, and on and on the roster swirled but the team stayed on target to earn results. That only happens because of two key points: great coaching and a great leadership group from within the locker room. That balance was felt very quickly and was responsible for such a strong season.

Another point to make of the coaching staff this season was their short leash on all players in the locker room who made stumbles off the ice. There were a few occasions in which players were late to a practice or team meeting and the result of doing that led to team mandated suspensions that lasted, typically, one-game. This didn’t matter if you were a first round draft pick, the recent record setting for most goals scored in a KHL season, or a veteran. Accountability to professionalism was held to that standard. Acting in that manner at the NHL level isn’t going to yield a lot of respect so, regardless of age or profile, the lessons needed to be learned through swift in-house punishment. Just because you’re on the road to Nashville shouldn’t mean you’re above acting lackadaisical in going about day-to-day pro hockey operations. Call it your short term slap on the wrist but a long term lesson learned.

If there were another lesson learned it would come from the whole of the organization and how it structures a defense in the AHL. Early into the 2015-16 season the Admirals found themselves in a place similar to the year prior with only one right-handed shot (Taylor Aronson) out of their defensive group. You would have thought, if that was an issue, it would have been handled going into this past season but players such as Kristian Näkyvä, Conor Allen, and Trevor Murphy to join a mix of Johan Alm, Jonathan Diaby, Garrett Noonan, and Jimmy Oligny. That doesn’t even account for the addition of Victor Bartley who would clear waivers and reach Milwaukee to add yet another lefty to the mix. Where this put the Admirals wasn’t necessarily in a bad place but it clearly wasn’t something that the coaching staff felt was working as efficiently as it could be. This led to three eventual acquisitions that shook up the defense with Patrick Mullen, Stefan Elliott, and Corey Potter joining the ranks. This finally allowed the Admirals to roll three lefties and three righties on defense. In fact, late in the season it actually meant one of the rarest sightings I can remember seeing from an Admirals team: a defensive pairing of righty-righty. You can’t argue with the impact that this had on the Admirals season. From the debut of Mullen on 1/15/16 in San Antonio the Admirals record was 25-10-1-2. From the debut of Potter in the Admirals roster on 3/3/16 in Lake Erie the team’s record was 15-4-0-2. It begs the question then, if this three righties split on defense was something that Evason wanted to have so much, why weren’t those changes made all the way before the season started? I’m going to take a wild guess that mistake doesn’t happen once again for the start of the 2016-17 season.

For all that the regular season had going for it. For the incredible late season run that the Admirals put together in which the team matched a franchise record with a thirteen game point streak. The 2016 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs ended as they have so often in recent memory for the Admirals. It was a first round playoff exit and one that went without a win. With the AHL’s mind boggling regular season structure, allowing Californian teams to play eight less games than the rest of the league, the same level of “whatever” was given to a restructured playoff format. The Admirals finished the regular season with the second best record in the Western Conference. They didn’t face the team with the seventh best record in the Western Conference. Instead things were bracketed to Central Division and Pacific Division which meant the Admirals going up against the dreaded Grand Rapids Griffins who routinely over-matched the Admirals in the regular season. Guess what? That happened again in the playoffs and it meant an early exit filled with anger, more anger, and an almost unhealthy amount of anger. What if? What could have been? Why? Oh well.

As much as I’m sure everyone wanted this year’s Admirals team to have a playoff payoff on what was a highly successful regular season the fact remains that this is a developmental team. While achievements in the trophy room or rafter banners department might have gone begging that isn’t a fair assessment of success. Look at the Nashville Predators in recent years and you’ll see just why recent up and down Admirals seasons haven’t necessarily meant failure. The Admirals are creating solid NHL level talent. This season featured an incredibly young team who were all provided an incredible amount of high level professional playing experience. It’s something that may not be felt instantly but the years to come might just show a season such as this setting the stage for some special moments in the careers of Juuse Saros, Vladislav Kamenev, or Kevin Fiala. Sometimes you need some struggles and adversity to learn what is needed to overcome and succeed. I feel that the regular season featured several bouts of that for the Admirals, both individually and as a team, but the playoffs just handed a cold plate of disappointment for everyone. It’s the coming season that will define just how everyone responds to the lesson that the 2016 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs provided.

~End Season Awards~

Most Valuable Player: Félix Girard

Rookie of the Year: Juuse Saros

Best Forward: Frédérick Gaudreau

Best Defensemen: Jimmy Oligny

Best Goaltender: Juuse Saros

Most Impressive Player: Juuse Saros

Least Impressive Player: Kristian Näkyvä

Most Improvement: Frédérick Gaudreau

Least Improvement: Jonathan Diaby

Nashville Bound Next Season: Pontus Åberg

Player to Watch Next Season: Max Görtz

Rookie to Watch Next Season: Justin Kirkland

Sophomore to Watch Next Season: Vladislav Kamenev

~Report Card~

It’s always important for me to preface any of these report cards I conduct by stating the following. These grades are purely my own judgement with no serious methodology of what classifies one grade over another grade. In the past I felt it was only fair to grade an “incomplete” to players that didn’t play a minimum of half the games that the Admirals played during the regular season or logged significant time with the Nashville Predators (NHL) or Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). That would mean 38 games worth of playing time. Considering a handful of players would come just shy of that mark I am lowering that bar to 25 games. That makes the grading cut-off right around one-third the total amount of possible games played in an AHL season.

The short and sweet of it: Any player who played 25 games or more with the Milwaukee Admirals during the 2015-16 season will be receiving a letter grade based on my assessment of their performance. Anything less than 25 games will be ruled an incomplete.

Of note. I reached out to get some added perspective for those players that did log significant time elsewhere this season from those with eyes and ears on the product. Those people would be none other than Cutler Klein of Penalty Box Radio and Dakota Johnson of Sin Bin Cyclones.

For the sake of reader convenience I will be listing the players based on their uniform numbers that were worn this past season with the Admirals.

Continue reading “2015-16 Milwaukee Admirals Report Card” →

Throughout these Inaugural Roundtable Awards I feel the general response has been good in respect to the ones who’ve won the respective awards. There have been some close calls but I’ve spoken to them and why one instead of the other.

If there is any award in sports that can drive me up a wall, from the pure name and selection process, it is that of Most Valuable Player. Often times the player deemed most valuable to his or her team is more-so the one that is simply the league’s most outstanding player. When there are teammates within the top five of each other in an MVP vote process doesn’t that show why neither of those players is the most valuable to their team considering they have as good of an option on the roster?

I could go on and on with that tangent for a considerable length but I hope that sets the tone. Just because you ended the season with the most goals, most assists, most points, best plus/minus, most wins in net, best save percentage, or shutouts doesn’t necessarily reflect a complete body of work – not really. So when I say that Félix Girard is the Roundtable’s selection for Most Valuable Player of the 2015-16 Season I hope those that didn’t see him play stick around to read the following. Because those who really watched the Milwaukee Admirals play this season know just how crucial of a figure Girard was to the team every single game.

Unless you are a Californian team in the American Hockey League you are tasked with playing a 76-game regular season schedule. This season there was only one player who played every single regular season game for the Admirals, Girard. The next closest would be his winger on the top penalty killing unit, Frédérick Gaudreau, who was healthy scratched on opening night before suiting up the rest of the season.

Girard may not have had the offensively flashy season that his fellow French Fry had but it was a solid progression from his first pro season. In 2014-15, Girard scored 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 61 games – missing the rest of that season from mid-March due to injury. In 2015-16, Girard scored 21 points (5 goals, 16 assists) in 76 games. This season’s stat-line includes points on both sides of special teams where he had 3 shorthanded points (2 shorthanded goals, 1 shorthanded assist) as well as an assist on the power-play. I know, I know. Just a single assist from the power-play? Well, keep in mind that Girard’s game isn’t an offensive one. It’s a defensive one. Girard’s ability in the face-off circle is astonishingly good. He had to have taken the majority of defensive zone face-offs for the Admirals this season and it started to become a running gag on the press section that “if Girard is on the ice, the team can go for those home run style stretch passes without the fear of icing the puck because they’ll win the draw and try it again until it works.” With that level of confidence in your center to win face-offs why wouldn’t you use that on the power-play? It wasn’t until the very end of the regular season when the Admirals started rolling #16 on the ice as part of the power-play. He did what he normally does, too. He won the face-offs and let those around him really shine.

The best aspect of Girard’s game comes in an area of high level importance that can be taken for granted, the penalty kill. I’ve been watching Milwaukee Admirals hockey from up close and behind the curtain since the 2012-13 season. I have never watched another player on the ice perform better on the penalty kill than Girard. The only Admirals players that I can think of are Austin Watson and Mark Van Guilder both of whom Girard has matched their two great assets and exceeded them by adding one of his own. Watson was a puck magnet of a player when it came to blocking shots. Girard doesn’t shy away from laying the body down, either. Van Guilder was tremendously skilled at winning face-offs and was a great penalty killer because of it. Girard is a better face-off man than Van Guilder. What is it that Girard offers that those two don’t? Incredible skating ability to hound puck carriers and make those plays along or back to the blueline risky if botched. Girard is fast of feet and fast of mind. The teams he goes up against know that. And that gets in your head when you know your time and space isn’t what it could be. The Admirals ended the 2015-16 season with a 84.9 penalty kill to slot them in at eighth best in the AHL and third best in the AHL’s Western Conference. Girard was a massive part of that accomplishment.

If there were any last statement to be made on Girard as Roundtable’s Most Valuable Player for the 2015-16 Season it would come in the form of setting the right example and tone for the team. Not only is everything written above how he went about his business that “setting the tone” is quantifiable in the form of just how often the Admirals coaching staff saw fit to begin hockey games with Girard’s line for the opening puck drop. Girard played in all 76 games for the Admirals this season. He started 18 games for the Admirals this season with the bulk of those responsibilities coming in playoff mode. From 3/12/16 to the end of the regular season, a span of 16 games, the Admirals started Girard for 12 games and would start him for all 3 games of their 2016 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. Girard wasn’t Mr. Flash. He wasn’t your human highlight reel. He was the best player on the ice that you didn’t even think about as you went home from Admirals games this season. When the Vladislav Kamenev‘s or Kevin Fiala‘s of the game are getting so much attention they themselves are quick to praise someone such as an Adam Payerl on their line for being the grunt worker that makes life easier for them to be them. Girard is just that type of player and offers so much to the big picture of a hockey game that he might get lost out in all the flashy teenage prospects that enter the pipeline. He’s the table setter of the Admirals.

It’s funny to think about that last sentence, the table setter, when thinking back on this season. The day that the Admirals announced their official move across the street to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena all three members of the French Fries were on-hand and I jokingly told Jimmy Oligny that he was the heart and soul of that group. I said that in the sense that Oligny is often the one who keeps things the lightest of the three and seems to be the one that gets everyone laughing. While that might be the case off the ice the story on the ice is that the heart and soul of the Admirals is Girard. When reviewing just how much Girard was utilized to set the right tone for playoff level hockey late in the season in makes you wonder what the 2014-15 season might have been had Girard not suffered a season ending shoulder injury on 3/14/15 in Texas. For all the thoughts of “what if” from that season which saw the Admirals miss out on playoff hockey for the first time in twelve consecutive seasons – what if Girard didn’t get hurt? What if the Admirals made the playoffs last season and players had playoff experience for this season?

Plenty of amusing question marks when thinking back on what Girard’s injury at the end of his first pro playing season actually meant to the Admirals. What isn’t a question mark is his status for next season. He’ll be back. And the Admirals will have their main motor from day-one to set the right tone for the 2016-17 season. The only question that becomes one in need of answering is whether or not being a supremely talented defensive minded competitor has him lost on the Nashville Predators radar compared to all the young blood that surrounds him. Is Girard NHL quality? My answer, when you consider playing time for the Predators these days is limited to bottom six level work, is 100% yes.

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If you were reading the selection for Roundtable’s 2015-16 Rookie of the Year Award and thinking, “I wonder if Juuse Saros will win Goalie of the Year too,” you were right! Roundtable’s Goalie of the Year for the 2015-16 Season is in fact going to be Saros. I know, this one is a little less anticlimactic and story driven considering you already received so much on Saros in that previous award.

Rather than leave this award blank, referring again and again to read that Rookie of the Year write-up, allow me to take another approach to Saros’ excellent 2015-16 season and the road ahead for him as well as comment on the season that was for Marek Mazanec.

Dragging you all to the way back when, and the long-long ago (the end of the 2014-15 season where the Milwaukee Admirals failed to make the playoffs for the first time since their debut season in the AHL), I had a really good conversation with Magnus Hellberg in regards to the transition of playing in goal in Europe to North America.

“People go so much harder to the net here. They actually shoot more for rebounds. You have to think where you put the rebounds. You have to fight through a lot more traffic than you have to do at home. Obviously the ice is much bigger home so they have more time and they maybe skate around and hold the puck more but here it’s more like a straight game where people put the puck to the net and just go hard. It took awhile to managed some of the aspects of that.” ~Magnus Hellberg

Now, everyone is unique and handles this transition their own way. No two players are truly alike in that respect. In recent memory of Admirals who made the switch from Europe to North America there have been some not so terrific results: Atte Engren, Jani Lajunen, Patrick Cehlin, Joonas Rask, Mikko Vainonen, Johan Alm, and Kristian Näkyvä. That’s not to say that the Nashville Predators were wrong to bring these talents in. It’s not to say that they continued to perform erratically in Europe. Some players are just far better suited to the European game and that extends to North American players as well, Stevie Moses.

The goaltending and defensive positions are where this transition stands out when players are struggling to adapt. It’s far easier to expose those two positions when a player is rattled by pace, lateral movement, and more rugged “in your face” play associated with the North American game. When it’s good, it’s normal. When it’s bad, whoa man is it bad to watch.

To have a general idea of what both of those mean all you need to do is think about Mazanec’s journey these past three-seasons. He is fully capable of being lights out but, in his earlier seasons, he was also fully capable of some serious deer in headlights goaltending. Here’s the thing though, because as I said it is an entirely individualized experience, that was his learning and developmental process. This past season was Mazanec’s best wire-to-wire season. The numbers may not 100% back that up, the last game of the regular season when the team in front of him took the night off didn’t help, but there wasn’t one game where Mazanec switched off or struggled. He was locked in this season at a time when the real between the ears battle was going on with a high level prospect in Saros bumping his ol’ battery-mate Hellberg and a potential back-up role in Nashville in 2016-17 a possibility with a solid campaign of work. He did that. He did that in his third full-season of North American hockey.

If there was any true standout element to Saros’ debut season to North America it was that he displayed that from his first start of the season to the end. He is 20-years old and plays with the hockey mind of someone who has been at this for quite some time. What will Saros be like once he starts to really get comfortable with the North American game? His rookie season stat-line was: 38 appearances (all starts) with a 29-8-0-0 record, 2.24 goals against average, 0.920 save percentage, 4 shutouts, and he stopped all 13 shootout attempts he faced to earn the Admirals 4 wins with the game squarely on him in net. That is his baseline and foundation for the years to come. It is tremendous to think about the possibilities for Saros moving forward.

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Let’s get past some of yesterday’s doom and gloom and get back to a more light topic, shall we? If there is a trickier group to navigate for end-season awards it would be judging who in fact was the Best Forward. The options and reasons are plentiful. So much so I’ll be going through those that were really in my running for this award and why.

The Milwaukee Admirals depth was brilliant in the 2015-16 season and the true showcase for that came up front at forward. The season started with so many centers on the team that Cody Bass, who would end up contributing to the Nashville Predators playoff run, was pushed to the wing. There was also some fella named Miikka Salomäki that started his season in Milwaukee. The organization’s forward depth was that packed.

When really weighing up all the options there was really one forward that set himself apart as the most well-rounded of the group this season. Someone who jumped over the boards as a first choice option on both sides of special teams and contributed in all aspects of the game. What makes it all the more special, something that again speaks to the depth of the organization, was that this forward wasn’t even drafted by the Predators. He was an undrafted free agent signing by the Admirals in 2014-15, spent his first pro playing season splitting time between the AHL and ECHL, came to Milwaukee for the 2015-16 season, was a healthy scratch on opening night, played every single game from then on out, earned an AHL All-Star Selection, and then an NHL contract from the Predators. Roundtable’s Forward of the Year for the 2015-16 Season could only go to Frédérick Gaudreau.

This story took on a life of its own so quickly this past season. By the end of November Gaudreau had already surpassed his offensive numbers in the AHL from his first pro playing season. In 2015-15, Gaudreau scored 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in 43 games as a member of the Admirals. It took him 16 games in 2015-16 to pass that and that wasn’t even when he was at his best.

The month of December was Gaudreau’s true breakout moment. At that time Admirals team captain Colton Sissons was recalled by the Predators. Gaudreau stepped directly into Sissons roles on the ice and succeeded in all of them. If you feel Gaudreau matching his AHL numbers from his first pro season in two months time was impressive look at December and December alone. Gaudreau surpassed his first AHL season’s offensive numbers within December 2015: 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) in 14 games. It was that month that made him a must-sign target for the Predators who penned him to a two-year entry level contract. Two days after that moment he was selected to represent the Admirals at the AHL All-Star festivities in Syracuse alongside his head coach Dean Evason. There, he would be part of the first ever AHL All-Star Challenge and score 3 assists in the Final where the Central Division All-Stars won the inaugural event.

All the scoring numbers are very evident to those who didn’t event get to watch him play in Milwaukee. He ended the season scoring 42 points (15 goals, 27 assists in 75 games which includes scoring 23 points (7 goals, 16 assists) on the Admirals power-play. For those that didn’t get to watch him play in Milwaukee what you don’t see is his tireless amounts of effort exhausted shift after shift from a defensive standpoint. His work on the Admirals top forward line penalty kill, with Félix Girard, might be as fun of a penalty killing unit as I’ve ever seen. The two work so well, are intelligent in the way they take away time and space, and have the abilities to make transitioning from penalty killing to shorthanded attack. Gaudreau also might just be one of those rare examples of a forward that works better as a center than as a winger. It isn’t that he skates poorly in open ice, because he doesn’t, but he is incredibly smart at reading the game and plays the middle of the ice extremely well on both sides of the puck. The more that he can see the game in front of him the better he is at navigating through the given situation, offensive zone, defensive zone, power-play, or penalty kill. It’s not the flashy game that you might get from some of the more high profile Predators prospects but it also isn’t a far cry from exactly the type of player Gaudreau was tasked with filling in for in December, Sissons. Nothing drastic, nothing over the top, just smart and consistent play and effort.

Life at the AHL level is made all the more fun to cover when stories like Gaudreau’s emerge. There are so many players that go undrafted. The game of hockey is a massive international competition in which so many variables come in at the NHL Draft. Just because you go undrafted doesn’t mean the journey ends. Just because you end up playing hockey in the ECHL on an AHL or ECHL contract doesn’t mean the path to the NHL ends. When the Admirals 2015-16 season officially came to an end with their first round playoff defeat to the Grand Rapids Griffins the Predators recalled a handful of players from the Admirals. Gaudreau was one of those players. He wasn’t drafted by the Predators. He scored 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 14 games as a member of the Cincinnati Cyclones in his first pro season under an AHL contract. He signed a new AHL contract in the summer of 2015 before earning his NHL contract through effort and performance in January 2016. He didn’t get into any of the Predators playoff action. But, much like the prospects or ATO signings at the end of an Admirals season, he was given a glimpse behind the curtain of what life at the NHL level is like. The Predators wanted that for Gaudreau. That’s a massive display of appreciation for someone that truly earned their place.

~Admirable Mentions~

Last night on Twitter I threw out a little poll to see who out of my top candidates you thought was deserving of this award. Those candidates were Gaudreau, Pontus Åberg, Max Görtz, and Kevin Fiala because Twitter limited me to four poll answers. At the time I’m publishing this there were 84 votes with Åberg holding the majority claim of 40%, Gaudreau in second place with 35%, and Görtz and Fiala rounded out the last of it.

Without question many more than just those names could have been listed. Girard comes to mind. Adam Payerl and Matt White‘s contributions to the Admirals this season were terrific. Max Reinhart had a career year as part of the Admirals. And Vladislav Kamenev really impressed at center in his debut season to North American hockey.

Yet, it is those top four that I stuck with and there is a good reason why that Twitter poll went the way that it did. As much as can be made of Åberg hot finish to the 2015-16 season he really had a solid start and middle before that. This season Åberg looked so much more comfortable and in control on the ice. I can think of no better complement to the play of a forward than when a coaching staff looks to double shift you regardless of what line you get that second shift on. You’re playing so well – get on the ice ASAP. That was what the Admirals coaching staff was getting forced into doing by the end of the season with Åberg and that all came together after improvement after improvement during the course of the season. If Gaudreau can log two great games for the Admirals at the end of the 2014-15 season that sparked him I can’t wait to see what the end to the 2015-16 season does for Åberg. In the final 21 games of the regular season Åberg scored 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) and was held without a point in only 5 games. He was held without a point during the Admirals 3 game playoff series defeat to the Griffins but had the instant confidence booster by being given his NHL and Stanley Cup Playoffs debuts for the Predators. He was tabbed to play over the likes of Mike Ribeiro. That’s your feather in the cap moment. Now comes the exciting time for Åberg of getting back and staying there.

If not for some Juuse Saros kid your choice for Roundtable’s Rookie of the Year would have gone to Görtz. Since his draft selection by the Predators in 2012 I’ve kept an eye out in his play in Sweden and was excited by what he could be for the Predators organization. He has the size, the shot, and the strength needed to be a quality power-forward on the wing. I couldn’t have imagined him performing as well as he did in year-one of North American hockey. His best scoring performance of his career prior to this season came in Färjestad’s under-20 squad where he produced 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 28 games in the 2011-12 season. His best effort prior to this season at a senior team, or in a professional league, came in 2014-15 with Frölunda where he scored 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in 53 games. That level of play not only carried into Milwaukee at the AHL level he bettered his career high: 47 points (18 goals, 29 assists) in 72 games. If Görtz follows the sophomore season upswing like his fellow Swede Åberg did things should get plenty fun in Milwaukee and possibly Nashville in 2016-17.

In the words of Big Ben, “Kevin Fiala… yeah.” There is no denying two things from Fiala’s 2015-16 season. There was some immaturity and there was some incredible play on the ice. What I feel is important to note is that at 19-years of age that maturity thing is correctable as time goes on while on-ice abilities can also get even better with age. Fiala not only flipped off the entire Lake Erie Monsters bench, coming to an AHL Western Conference Finals near you, he also was the Admirals leading scorer for the 2015-16 season with 50 points (18 goals, 32 assists) from 66 games. As much fuss that can be made of his sluggish and feisty start to the season – it’s relatable. Fiala is a big time competitor. He talked himself up big for an opening day roster spot in Nashville to start this past season. That didn’t happen. He comes to Milwaukee and proceeds to go 11 games before scoring his first goal. There is a level of frustration that boiled over and manifested itself on to the ice at the start of the season. What you hoped to see is what you got to see by the end of the season. He was relaxed. He was loose. And he really seemed to have learned a tremendous deal from that stressful and frustrating start to the season. The developmental process to the game of hockey sometimes lends itself more to adjustments off the ice as much as on it. That is something Fiala really came to grips with as he comes of age. His get under your skin feisty and competitive attutude on the ice is an asset. He just needs to learn how to channel it the right way. That’s what the 2015-16 season was for him in a nutshell.

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Unlike yesterday’s choice for Rookie of the Year I am probably going to be dividing opinion today. The nod for being the best defenseman of the Milwaukee Admirals in 2015-16 is a tight race between two or possibly even more candidates. While the cases can be made for those, feel free to make your’s in the comment section below, I’m going to make mine because Jimmy Oligny is my selection for Defenseman of the Year.

When you look back on two of the real feel good stories this season they get their start as undrafted free agents the season prior. Frédérick Gaudreau‘s story from undrafted free agent to earning an entry level contract with the Nashville Predators this season was tremendous. It would be a mistake if the Predators didn’t follow that up by doing the same with Oligny in the very near future. Both members of the now famed French Fries enjoyed brilliant 2015-16 campaigns. While Gaudreau’s was put in a bigger spotlight with his AHL Predators contract, All-Star selection, and end-season recall as a member of the Black Aces that traveled to Nashville for their playoff run it was just as solid of a season for his buddy Oligny. Being a shutdown defenseman isn’t as flashy as taking home Goal of the Season, or any of those other Gaudreau items for that matter, but the dirty worth that Oligny brings to the table is what can allow for much of the flash that the forwards are meant to do.

Oligny’s progression from 2014-15 to 2015-16 was steady. Yes, his offensive numbers saw an increase going from 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 53 games to 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) in 74 games, but it was his defensive game that saw the biggest step forward. Oligny really became the man to take the role of Joe Piskula or Anthony Bitetto from recent years as the left-side defenseman tasked with those key defensive zone and penalty kill situations. By season’s end it was a formality that your starting defensive pairing was going to by Oligny with Corey Potter to set the tone.

Speaking of setting the tone, the Admirals grit on the back-end of the defense was pretty much all established by Oligny this season. The 23-year old posted 6 fighting majors this season. The next closest to him on defense, Conor Allen, had half of that before being shipped out of Milwaukee. The rest only had a single or no fighting majors to their names with the burden to bring the muscle falling on Oligny’s shoulders.

Now comes the name of the other defenseman who I feel is insanely worthy of this award but just comes up short in the grand scheme of a complete body of work when compared to Oligny, Taylor Aronson. My choice on this award comes down to the defensive aspects of the defenseman game. Is that to say Aronson was poor on defense? No, he was often tasked early in the season as a security blanket for the much shakier and less reliable likes of Jonathan Diaby and Kristian Näkyvä plus did excellent work on the Admirals penalty kill. Is that to say I’m scoffing at Aronson’s offensive output of 40 points (4 goals, 36 assists) in 64 games? No, in fact that output was the most by an Admirals defenseman since some kid named Roman Josi posted 40 points (6 goals, 34 assists) in 69 games during the 2010-11 season.

Aronson is every bit as deserving for this little pat on the back as Oligny in my book. I just always come down to the name in the job title being defense. Oligny was a rock for the Admirals on defense and excellent at that better than any other Admirals defenseman this season. Aronson is in that conversation and gets the big time bonus points for the added areas to his game but, defensively, he wasn’t as polished as Oligny. Great news for the Milwaukee Admirals? Their Man of the Year this past season Oligny is due to be with the team for the next two-seasons.

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For the first time since I joined Admirals Roundtable I feel it is time to do some actual individual end-season awards. Admiral of the Month was a feature that started up for the 2014-15 season. The Roundtable Awards get their start at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season as a build to the eventual final Report Card feature.

The awards to come will be: Rookie of the Year, Defenseman of the Year, Forward of the Year, Goalie of the Year, and the Most Valuable Player. Those will all be unveiled over these next few days with the goal being for the 2015-16 Milwaukee Admirals Report Card to drop next Monday.

~Rookie of the Year~

There were some fantastic contributions this season from players making their debuts to the American Hockey League. This year’s newbies included: Juuse Saros, Max Görtz, Vladislav Kamenev, Trevor Murphy, Matt White, Eric Robinson, Jack Dougherty, Aaron Irving, and A.J. White. The Milwaukee Admirals also saw professional playing debuts in the playoffs for Anthony Richard and Yakov Trenin who might well see themselves up for this award in the near future.

All of those names did a solid job factoring in for the Admirals this past season. The team’s record speaks to how well all contributed to the overall cause. That’s really impressive when you consider the oldest player of those names was the previously ECHL battle tested White at 26-years old. The second oldest being Robinson at 25-years of age having completed his collegiate career at Dartmouth the season prior. And the bulk of that group being 20-years old or younger: Saros, Murphy, Irving, Dougherty, Kamenev, Richard, and Trenin. There weren’t many speed bumps to any of these debutants this season and all looked and played the part of pros incredibly well. That’s a great sign for the things to come knowing that’s the foundation for all of these guys to build from.

For all those rookies this season, and their various contributions and highlights, I feel the winner of the Roundtable’s 2015-16 Rookie of the Year Award is something of unanimous decision. Juuse Saros didn’t just put a stamp down in his first season of professional hockey in North America he made the transition from the European game look effortless.

The whirlwind of hype surrounding Saros prior to the start of the season could already be felt the season before that. He has been built up that big for that long at such a young age. His arrival marked the quickfire exit of former second round draft pick Magnus Hellberg in the off-season with the goal to be AHL hockey paired with Marek Mazanec in Milwaukee. At the time of Hellberg’s trade to the New York Rangers who could have imagined that Saros (38 starts) and Mazanec (38 starts and 1 relief appearance) would split time in net so evenly? When you factor in the minutes played during the playoffs Saros logged 2,365 minutes to Mazanec’s 2,405 minutes. That is a first year North American pro goaltender up against one in year-three. Not too shabby.

In addition, Saros numbers ended up being shockingly similar to that of Hellberg who played far more games for the Hartford Wolf Pack. Hellberg’s 2015-16 season: 30-20-3-0 record from 53 appearances, 2.40 goals against average, 0.918 save percentage, and 3 shutouts. Saros’ 2015-16 season: 29-8-0-0 record from 38 appearances, 2.24 goals against average, 0.920 save percentage, and 4 shutouts. For added comparison’s sake Mazanec’s 2015-16 season: 19-15-5-2 record from 39 appearances, 2.45 goals against average, 0.912 save percentage, and 4 shutouts. Numbers alone Saros, who was 20-year old the majority of this season, is there with the Admirals goaltending tandem of the previous two-seasons with room to be even better. That’s flat out scary.

At the moment Saros is in Russia as part of Team Finland competing in the 2016 IIHF World Championships. He has played in a pair of games and, wouldn’t you believe it, has logged back-to-back shutouts while stopping all 27 shots he has faced against Hungary and Slovakia. Finland’s next opponent will be a stiffer test in the form of Canada who they will be facing today. It’s not a lock that Saros gets back in net for the final preliminary round and subsequent run to the 2016 IIHF World Championships Final but even if those two games were it you’re getting that same ol’ Saros. He competes his butt off in net and doesn’t let his height or size factor into his game. The reason for that is his between the ears sharpness. He reads the game so well and that IQ is what has allowed for such a seamless transition to the North American game.

When he arrives as a sophomore for the 2016-17 season he’ll still be only 21-years old. The Nashville Predators have their future starter. His path to get to and stay in Nashville is probably going to be similar to that of the Finn he projects to replace, Pekka Rinne. For those needing to be reminded Rinne played 145 games with the Admirals at the AHL level before firmly cementing himself as the go-to option in net for the Predators in the NHL. That came over the course of three-seasons. Should Saros take that same path, fulfilling his entry level contract in the process, Rinne would be 35-years old at the end of the 2017-18 season. Would that be around the time when the torch gets passed from one Finn to the next? Time will tell but time is what the Predators, Admirals, and Saros have. He’s young and he can only get more comfortable over time.

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