One of the true daunting questions that a hockey player has to inevitably face is the “what next” element when their playing career comes to an end. At some point the NHL window closes, the wheels don’t spin as fast as they used to, or the game simply passes one by. Fortunately for former Milwaukee Admirals captain Scott Ford he was able to go out on his own terms and find an immediate answer to that itching question of “what next” by finding work in a familiar place.

The story behind how a kid that grew up in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada that found a home away from home as a man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin comes from the path traveled on the road that comes with being a professional hockey player.

“This has basically become my home,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Scott Ford. “The community is awesome. There is so much stuff going on. The people are fantastic. The Midwest is great and then just this area with all that it has to offer. I’m excited to be here and to continue after my playing days. I’m just fortunate.”

After a four-year college playing career at Brown University Ford would take a journey over the next four-years of his life playing professionally for numerous organizations: Fresno Falcons, Cleveland Barons, Providence Bruins, Trenton Titans, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Dayton Bombers, and Utah Grizzlies. It wasn’t until the 2008-09 season that he would find the Milwaukee Admirals. That would mark the start of a relationship between the player, the team, and the city itself.

Ford’s professional playing career spanned eleven-seasons. In the Admirals fifteen-season existence as members of the American Hockey League (AHL) Ford managed to suit up and play for the Admirals in seven of those seasons. He was the Admirals all-time leader in the AHL era of the franchise for games played (378) up until Mark Van Guilder eclipsed the mark (383) a season ago. He also logged the second most penalty minutes (577) in the AHL era of the franchise trailing only Kelsey Wilson (699). For two full-seasons (2011-12 and 2013-14) he was named team captain of the Admirals.

There were two key moments to Ford’s career in and out of the Admirals. The first of which came in the 2012-13 season when he decided to leave the organization to pursue a chance of being able to play in his first career NHL game.

He opted to sign for the St. Louis Blues organization and was stationed with the Peoria Rivermen where he was named team captain. He played 43 games for the Rivermen but, during that time, the Admirals were missing a little bit of everything that he had provided in season’s past. So, on 2/19/13, the Predators organization opted to trade Jani Lajunen to the Blues in order to require their former captain. Ford’s return came in concert with the excellent form of then first-year goaltender Magnus Hellberg and the Admirals were able to squeak into the playoffs as the eighth and final seed of the Western Conference. The Admirals would be eliminated by the top seeded Texas Stars in four games of a best-of-five series.

Ford would stay-on with the Admirals the following season and take up the duties of being team captain once again. Yet, the second key moment for Ford’s career actually came while spending the bulk of his time not only out of Milwaukee but out of the AHL.

In the 2014-15 season the AHL options for a 34-year old defenseman are limited. This was the boat Ford found himself in. His decision to continue his playing career despite the lack of AHL hockey being on the table saw him join the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. When Ford laced up the skates for the first time as a member of the Stingrays he was a few days shy of seven years since playing in his last ECHL game with the Grizzlies. It would feel like this is where the story should get sad but it couldn’t have been any further from that. Ford’s time as a member of the Stingrays proved to be quite memorable. The Stingrays would set an ECHL record for a winning streak while he was around by earning wins in twenty-three consecutive games. As the Stingrays were nearing their playoff push Ford signed a PTO contract to once again wear an Admirals jersey and provide some short-term help to the organization on and off the ice. He dressed for twelve more games with the Admirals before being sent back to assist the Stingrays in the 2015 Kelly Cup Playoffs where Ford’s team would fall in the final to the Allen Americans.

Once the dust settled on the 2015 Kelly Cup Finals that question of “what next” turned its ugly head once more to Ford. It was time to strongly consider his professional playing career as over and move on to a new profession. Fortunately for him, his time in the game left a major impression to one organization in particular. The one where he found his home away from home.

In the most recent off-season Nashville Predators General Manager David Poile reached out to the long-time member of the Admirals with a job offer. The job was to join Dean Evason and Stan Drulia as part of the Admirals coaching staff. Ford may not have had prior coaching experience which would put him on an even playing field to Evason for Drulia but he offered constant experience and natural leadership qualities throughout his time as a player in the Admirals locker room to take young up and coming talent under his wing. Despite continually maintaining high fitness, and having the drive to still achieve that ever allusive first career NHL game, it was time to transition from the ice to behind the bench.

“It just felt right,” said Ford. “I felt like I was able to do things on my own terms as far as playing that final year. Having just an unbelievable run with South Carolina and, obviously, coming back [to Milwaukee] at the end of the season. I had an opportunity with Nashville and I felt like it was the right time to step away.”

The move was a perfect fit. Ford always seemed to migrate back to Milwaukee regardless of the Admirals season because it became home. Despite only being around the team briefly at the end of the 2014-15 season he still was highly familiar with the coaching staff, his surroundings, and numerous players throughout the system. He could be the gap between the locker room and the coaching staff.

“[Scott Ford] been great,” smiled Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “I’m telling ya, he’s been a real real great addition for [Stan Drulia] and I. He doesn’t work any harder than us, clearly, but he is such a nice presence within the room. He’s obviously just removed, he’s played with some of these guys, but he’s found that balance of separating. He’s in the room, and he’s communicating with the guys, but its not – he’s going down there and telling us their stories. He’s found a nice balance between buffering with the players and the coaches. And he’s taken on some real good responsibilities as far as our pre-scout, our preparation, does a lot of that. Helps Stan and I with special teams and he’s a good person. You talk about the room and the players and having good hockey players. Well, it’s great to have a good coach but if he’s not a good person it’s not going to work. He is a good person. And he is a really good coach as well.”

For as long as Ford was in the game becoming a coach provided new challenges as well as getting out of trends he became so familiar with. He logged 694 games of experience in his professional playing career. So, when a whistle were to blow at an Admirals practice earlier in the season, it was hard for him to not take a knee with the rest of the players as his former coaches spoke up. It was just one of many areas in which he needed to account for aspects of the coaching role that most players may generally overlook. As a player the mindset can be to head to the rink, go on autopilot, and let the game be the game. As a coach there is a business mentality to conducting the parts and pieces that make the team go. There are day-to-day communications from the Admirals to the Predators so that everyone is on the same pulse. Preparations far exceed simple readiness for a game but extend to even as small as how practices should be mapped out and schedule in accordance with how hectic the league schedule can already be in its own right. It is a constant administrative effort to see that each individual player can perform to the best of their abilities while all coming together to form the best Admirals team that it can be. In his first season behind a bench as an assistant coach Ford just so happened to be part of one of the best Admirals teams in their history as a member of the AHL.

“We’ve had a successful year,” commented Ford. “Our group is a group. It’s not just one guy or two guys that have led the charge. If you look at our stats and our scoring it’s very balanced. It’s just been a total group effort right from the top to the bottom.”

This season marked the return of the Admirals to the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs after a one-year absence. It might sound like a blip on the radar but the Admirals had made the playoffs for an twelve consecutive seasons up until last season. Out of those twelve straight playoff seasons Ford contributed to half of those playoff teams. In his first outing behind the Admirals bench he is back to playoff hockey. All he has done since his last appearance is trade some sticks for suits.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

One of the major occurrences that took place during the Milwaukee Admirals 2015-16 season was seeing a mid-season overhaul of the way the defensive group was structured. In January the organization shifted away from the likes of Victor Bartley and Conor Allen in favor of balancing the defense’s left-handed dominant shooting group with some right-handed shots. The Nashville Predators acquired Stefan Elliott and Patrick Mullen in mid-January and even added Corey Potter at the NHL’s Trade Deadline for an extra bit of veteran ability to the Admirals mix.

If there were anyone that most fans with the Admirals would be familiar with of those brought it in would be Elliott. The 25-year old defenseman was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft and played nine games against the Admirals while a member of the Lake Erie Monsters from 2012-13 season to the 2014-15 season. He scored two-goals against the Admirals in that last playing season within the Avalanche organization before moving on and signing with the Arizona Coyotes organization last off-season. He played in 19 games this season for the Coyotes and scored 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) in that time before he was acquired by the Predators and sent to the Admirals.

There is no denying that Elliott provides a great two-way ability to the ice yet it is his offensive ability from the blueline that really sets him apart. In his AHL career he has been a 0.49 point per game player. As a member of that Admirals that figure went up to 0.54 as he notched 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) in just 35 games. Late in the season he was able to head up to the Predators and assist their efforts while Ryan Ellis dealt with a minor injury and logged a pair of games for his second NHL team of the 2015-16 season.

A big thanks goes out to Stefan Elliott for taking the time out to have this interview. As far as Fifteen interviews go there just aren’t many players left to get for the 2015-16 season. Who haven’t you heard from that you want to hear from next? Does he speak Russian? Because, if he does, chances are I just can’t quite pull that one off yet. Not unless I improve my own personal Russian which sounds a lot like me speaking like I normally do which some call English.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

It is the most wonderful time of the year. The playoff season in the world of hockey is upon us and the Nashville Predators, Milwaukee Admirals, and Cincinnati Cyclones are all featuring. It’s a great reflection of the organization and of how it has rebounded a season removed from the Predators AHL and ECHL affiliates missing out on playoff hockey.

When this 2015-16 season began my preview listed a few key points of discussion: (1) The impact last season might have on Dean Evason‘s job security if the Admirals poor finish to the 2014-15 season trickled into the start of the new campaign. (2) The new faces entering the team, either prospects or new additions from the off-season, and how the add to the Admirals. (3) The battle between Kevin Fiala‘s ears. (4) How will the Admirals defense work with familiar names no longer around? (5) How will Marek Mazanec‘s contract year go? (6) How will Miikka Salomäki look in his return from a shoulder injury that ended his season from mid-February to the finish line?

Now, some of what I said in that preview ended up never really making too huge of a dent in Milwaukee. Anthony Bitetto started, stayed, and played in Nashville this entire season with the exception of a conditioning assignment to the Admirals very early in the season. Salomäki started his season in Milwaukee but that didn’t last very long. He’s now up where he belongs. The rest though? They are all worthy of reflecting back on because most of those early season questions have been answered.

~Behind the Bench~

Evason was the recipient of a lot of heat from Admirals fans as last season came to an end. That heat has vanished after a resoundingly positive season from himself and his coaching staff. The Admirals went from a last place finish in the Midwest Division in the 2014-15 season to winning the Central Division in 2015-16. It was the Admirals first divisional crown since the 2010-11 season when Lane Lambert was behind the bench. The Admirals record of 48-23-3-2 (101 points) was the first time since that 2010-11 season in which the Admirals eclipsed 100 points and was the sixth time from fifteen AHL seasons that the Admirals were able to accomplish the feat. The Admirals 0.664 points percentage ranks them third best among the Admirals previous fifteen AHL seasons: 2005-06 (0.675) and 2008-09 (0.669).

All of those numbers and accomplishments are made all the more special when remembering what the Admirals are: an AHL hockey team. The roster is an ever changing chameleon. There were twelve players who played on the Admirals season opener who also played the season finale. Right now there are eight players with the Predators that featured at some point on the Admirals. There were four players currently on the Cyclones roster that logged ice-time for the Admirals. And eight players who dressed for the Admirals at some point that are no longer in the system – be it a PTO contract or the allure of playing in Russia again. For all of what happened last season the biggest issues the Admirals, as a team, seemed to have was being and playing like a team. When certain players were hurt, called up, cleared waivers and sent down, the Admirals were never able to find stability. This season it hasn’t mattered one bit who was in the locker room on gameday. This season’s Admirals showed up game after game, stuck to the identity and game planning established from Evason and his coaching staff, and found consistent results from start to finish. It was a joy to watch seeing so many different permutations of the Admirals deliver on a regular basis. That comes from a multitude of angles, be it the players tasked with entering the team or the veteran leadership group taking people under their wing, but the be all end all falls on the coaching staff to see it all come good. It did. And that shouldn’t be overlooked when considering the flack Evason took a season ago.

I feel a great deal of lessons were learned last season. Even if you happen to be reading this out of Nashville, Cincinnati, or abroad you’ve no doubt probably become familiar with the term suspended for a violation of team rules. This Admirals coaching staff has clamped down on poor behavioral traits. Late to a practice? Late to a team meeting? It doesn’t matter who you are, what round you were drafted in, or the prestige you had in a different country. If you weren’t accountable to behaving like a professional hockey player you were going to be held accountable for your lack of professionalism. It was strict parenting but parenting that needed to be done. There weren’t an alarming number of these situations this season but those that became public knowledge were first offenders who didn’t have those situations happen again. The right work ethic at the AHL level is certainly needed to achieve success at the NHL level. That’s precisely what I viewed the coaching staff doing when these situations occurred. Consider it tough love.

~The New Recruits~

This season’s new additions have been nothing short of impressive. There are many first year professionals or first year pros to the North American game that looked as though they made a seamless transition to life in the AHL with the Admirals. Let’s give a quick jog through a few of them, shall we?

Juuse Saros entered this season with what felt like all the hype in the world. He had been talked up before even signing his entry level contract. Once he did sign it became clear that one of the two goalies that the Admirals had in 2014-15 wasn’t going to return. The goalie left out in the cold would be Magnus Hellberg with Saros joining Mazanec for the 2015-16 season. Saros isn’t the prototypical Predators mountain sized goalie but you’d never know the difference looking at his end-season numbers alone. Saros is so smart at reading plays, so quick laterally, and so competitive at snagging pucks in around the crease that his height is simply irrelevant. In his debut season playing professionally in North America where the rink is smaller, the game is faster, and the art of crashing the net more could throw off most newbies from Europe – Saros went 29-8-4-0 in net from 38 starts. He won 76.3% of his starts as a 20-year old first year pro. He also a 2.24 goals against average and 0.920 save percentage which were both bests among rookies in the AHL. What’s been most exciting has been the idea of this is a goalie in the early stages of learning this North American pro game and look at what he’s accomplished while learning.

When the news hit that Vladislav Kamenev was indeed making the leap from Russia to get his North American playing career going. Initial rumblings sounded as though he would be ushered in slowly and placed on the wing. That never happened. He was one of the Admirals top centers from day one and looked shockingly polished for a kid that turned 19-years old just two months before the Admirals regular season opener. He had played a full-season of senior level hockey in Russia with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL prior to this season but his numbers in Milwaukee blew those out of the water. In the KHL last season he scored 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in 41 games. In the AHL for the Admirals this season he has produced 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) in 57 games. He’s been placed in all situations and performed well in all situations. No matter what the language barrier has been for him it hasn’t once manifested itself into his play on the ice and he should only get more comfortable with the language and North American game over time.

Tying the aforementioned violators of team rules this season with the current topic and you would find Max Görtz as the dead ringer under both keyword searches. After all, there was a reason why the man who ended up as the Admirals second highest scorer this season was kicked down to the ECHL for a cup of cold coffee. The thing that one quickly appreciates with Görtz is his honesty. He knew he did wrong. Admitted him turning up late for practice was embarrassing and quickly turned a corner. Görtz provided the Admirals with a unique skill set that they’ve not had in awhile. He offers good size, skates well, and had what Evason describes as a world class shot. Görtz set career highs for himself as a pro hockey player while competing in North America for the first time this season with 47 points (18 goals, 29 assists) from 72 games. Perhaps the best part to his season was the sheer consistency of his scoring. Görtz scored in 36 out of 72 games this season which effectively meant he scored every other game. For a debutant to North America – that’s pretty reliable.

Often times when looking at the way certain organizations build their future up it is done by snapping up players that flew under everyone else’s radar. Trevor Murphy has to go down as one of these players who I feel like many teams right now out to be kicking themselves over for not giving the undrafted defenseman playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) the past four-seasons a phone call and contract. The Predators did so much and look at the results. Murphy was a veritable Swiss Army knife for the Admirals. He rarely had a consistent defensive pairing and has been kicked up to play as a winger on many occasions. Why? Well, his skill set is such that if you take the job title away it makes a good deal of sense because of his speed, grit, and whopper of a slap shot. More accurately as to why simply came down to numbers most of the time. The Admirals have lots of defensemen. When you score 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) on your debut at wing for the Admirals I have to imagine that also tickles the interest of trying it some more. No matter, Murphy’s first professional playing season ended with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) from 59 games. That was the most goals scored by an Admirals defenseman in a single season since Bitetto accomplished an 11 goal season in 2013-14.

For the run through of these players so far I think the vibe has been all kinds of positive. Let’s change that up a bit with a chat about Kristian Näkyvä who has had a mixed bag of a season. When the 25-year old Finnish defenseman arrived to the Admirals from Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) it felt like he was being signed on as an offensive minded defenseman. His 2014-15 season in Sweden ended with him producing 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 55 games. What became apparent right away with Näkyvä though was he, more than most, was being overwhelmed by his debut to the North American pro game. And that’s understandable. It’s far easier to skate up ice as a forward than it should be skating backwards as a defenseman. There were many occasions at the start of this season where Näkyvä was being turned inside out or being at the wrong place at the wrong time in his own zone. This was compounding to the fact that, for what he looked like he was signed on to do, he wasn’t providing offense nor being given much of a chance to run the Admirals power-play. Fortunately he has steadied his game as the season has gone on but his offensive upside just hasn’t manifested itself is all.

~Fiala vs. Fiala~

I’ve written in great length about Fiala’s maturity this season. It all comes in a simple package of his building up this summer, being cut in pre-season camp by the Predators when he felt like he was going to make the opening night roster, starting slow and boarderline uninterested in Milwaukee, suspended by the AHL for flipping off the Lake Erie Monsters bench, and then well and truly getting the wheels to find traction on the tarmac.

In the lag period to Fiala’s 2015-16 season he went 10 games until his suspension from the league came down. He had 5 points (0 goals, 5 assists) in that time and it took him 12 games until finally netting that first goal of the season. He was his own worst enemy at the time. He was either doing too much on the puck or looking like the ghost of Fiala on the ice. The scariest part to me in the beginning stages of the season was that, for how much better of shape he got himself into, he lacked any sort of explosiveness. There wasn’t even that “take over” factor of being the guy playing like his job was on the line every shift that could help make a moment like this one possible. He needed a reboot. Call it fate or not but his suspension seemed to be that reboot. Heading into December Fiala had 6 points (1 goal, 5 assists) from 15 games. In the month of December he provided 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 14 games – in December alone.

There is a reason why Fiala ended the season as the Admirals leading scorer with 50 points (18 goals, 32 assists) in 66 games. He’s that good. The reason for all the immaturity moments have just as easy of an explanation. He’s still only 19-years old. There’s more than a simple on-ice development at work here in Milwaukee with Fiala and his road to Nashville will benefit because of that. He’s aware of the bigger picture. He wants to be an NHL level talent now. But he also knows that he has areas to his game that need brushing up still. That’s a sign of maturity. And that’s a sign to Nashville that they’re going to be having another energetic winger capable of playing NHL hockey a season from now.

~The Retooled Veteran Defense~

This was a big storyline to me when the 2015-16 season was starting up. There wasn’t going to be a Scott Ford anymore on the ice. He was moving to the bench. The Admirals were going to be without their captain and best out-and-out defenseman from a season ago, Joe Piskula, because the Predators opted to let him sign with the Anaheim Ducks organization in the off-season. Instead, the Predators brought in Conor Allen and hoped some of the younger lads like Jonathan Diaby or Garrett Noonan or even a returning to health Johan Alm could step up. None of that happened. And it wasn’t until January until the reset button was pushed.

In January the Admirals made a major change to the way they played defense. Evason wanted to make for an even three-lefties and three-righties approach so the team managed to acquire Stefan Elliott and Patrick Mullen. At the NHL Trade Deadline this went even further when the Predators added yet another right-handed shooting veteran defenseman in Corey Potter. Not too shabby considering Taylor Aronson was effectively the lone true right-handed shot on the Admirals blueline for about a season and a half until these changes were made. The impact of Elliott, Mullen, and Potter have been nothing short of incredible. From Mullen’s debut game for the Admirals on 1/15/16 the team went a shocking 25-10-1-2 from their last 38 games of the season for a 0.697 points percentage in the time the defense was restructured.

It is questionable from an organizational perspective as to why these sorts of changes weren’t implemented from the very beginning. If having a three-left and three-right defensive group was so important why not plunge into or attack the developmental platform right away to purge out some of the surplus of lefties and ship in righties on defense? What was the real draw for adding Allen if only to dump him for Mullen in January? It’s questionable. But, I suppose, a lesson learned from all parties involved. Besides. The same people involved with composing the team at the start of the season were smart enough to make the changes in January, right?

~Out of the Headlights~

This season was as important of a season that Mazanec will have played in his professional playing career. His contract is up after the 2015-16 season ends and it is followed in synchronous fashion with the ending of Predators back-up goaltender Carter Hutton‘s contract as well. With Saros entering the organization this season, and it look more and more likely that Janne Juvonen isn’t far behind him, it’s safe to say that every time you watched Mazanec play a game in net this season it was taken like a job interview for the Predators 2016-17 back-up role to Pekka Rinne.

What Mazanec managed to do this season was perform his best wire-to-wire season since making the trek to North America from his native Czech Republic. In 39 apperances, 38 of which were starts, Mazanec held a record of 19-15-5-2 with a 2.45 goals against average and 0.912 save percentage as well as earning 4 shutouts. If not for that stinker of a defensive outing for the Admirals in the regular season finale, where he was made to suffer a 7-1 loss, Mazanec would have either surpassed or matched career bests in all of those major goaltending categories. It’s quite frankly a shame that he was hung out to dry in that game because it reflects poorly to his numbers and hints that he laid an egg when it just isn’t true. This was perhaps the first season in North America where Mazanec didn’t once have a deer in headlights level performance. He was solid from the start of the season all the way to the end of the season and did it all while under the pressures of a hungry young Finnish goaltending prospect sharing net time and a cloudy future of what could happen to him in the next off-season. Never once did Mazanec and Saros seem flustered by one another. It was an internal competition, yes, but a friendly one. The two really pushed each other hard and did it all while being supportive of who got tabbed as the starting goaltender. There isn’t really much else you could have asked for out of the Czech.

If this was a job interview then for Mazanec: did he get the job? For my money I could see this hilariously coming down to money. Hutton had a fantastic season backing up Rinne in Nashville by logging 17 appearances with a 7-5-4 record, 2.33 goals against average, 0.918 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts. When Hutton first signed on with the Predators organization you have to remember he did it with barely having any NHL experience to his name. The goalies competing for the back-up job at that time all lacked serious NHL experience with Hutton, Mazanec, and Hellberg all vying for the role. Now that three-seasons have effectively passed the back-up role likely comes down to Hutton and Mazanec with the much younger Saros expected to take on a far more significant role as the Admirals number one goaltender in 2016-17. Should Mazanec beat out Hutton it would simply be down to the money factor. He won’t cost near as much as Hutton would. For a Predators organization that still need to lock up Filip Forsberg, Calle Järnkrok, and possibly even Petter Granberg you have to think the lesser the money given to the back-up to Rinne, who will still carry the weight of games on his shoulders, is beyond attractive. The only question is whether or not Hutton would be willing to play for even less than he already does. Because I feel Mazanec, to be an NHL back-up, would take less if it meant a one-way contract was on the table.

~By The Numbers~

When you start looking more at the numbers that the 2015-16 Admirals put up you start to truly have an appreciation for what they actually accomplished. For starters, their 48 wins this season only trailed the likes of the 2005-06 and 2008-09 squads which earned 49 wins. What makes that all the more special is that the two squads with 49 wins did that in an AHL era of an 80-game season as opposed to the current 76-game season the Admirals exist in today. The 2015-16 Admirals points percentage is just behind both of those teams but that sets them apart as the third best Admirals AHL team from fifteen seasons of operation.

When viewing the 76-game era this year’s Admirals team managed to: earn the most wins (48), most points (101), score the most goals (224), allow the second least amount of goals (193) with only the 2011-12 team allowing fewer (190), and they took the second fewest penalty minutes (1045) only coming up shy to the 2012-13 team (1013). Not only did this year’s Admirals team become the first in the 76-game season formula in the team’s AHL history to break the 0.600 points percentage barrier they ended with 0.664. The next closest to that margin in five-seasons was 2013-14 which narrowly missed the barrier with a 0.599 points percentage.

And then there is a statistic specifically aimed at you. Yes, you – the fans. The 2015-16 season wasn’t just a smashing success for the Milwaukee Admirals on the ice but around the ice. Attendance hit 234,404 fans on the season for an average of 6,169 fans per home game. That is the highest attendance figure since the 2011-12 season (6,226) and only the fourth time in fifteen AHL seasons that the Admirals averaged over 6,000+ in attendance for a season. If there were any way to end this retrospective of the regular season it is like that. The team was brilliant. And so were all of you.

What were some of your favorite moments from the regular season? What were some of the big surprises that cropped up during this season? Is the success of the season a sign of even better things to come as the Nashville Predators drafting and scouting has provided the Milwaukee Admirals with such a solid and young team for this season?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

The regular season has ended. The playoffs are set. Times are about to get very exciting for the Milwaukee Admirals. What better way to lead into the Admirals first home playoff game in nearly two-years than by having a big week of feature stories here on Roundtable? It should be a packed week and I’m hoping to drop features down each day of the week until we reach Friday when the Admirals open up the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

~Fifteen~

The time in which the Admirals signed Matt White to a PTO contract was as grueling of a period in the Admirals season as their might have been. The roster was being stretched to the limit. The Nashville Predators were banged up. The Admirals affiliate in the ECHL was banged up. It meant seeking outside help and, amusingly, bringing in familiar faces like Vinny Saponari and Zach Budish. When that started to not go as well as perhaps the Admirals would have liked they then turned to the Los Angeles Kings ECHL affiliate the Manchester Monarchs. White came first and he was followed by Zac Larraza and Matt Leitner. All played their part. White just felt like he always was part of the Admirals from the moment he joined.

White had a terrific collegiate career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha where his efforts on and off the ice are worthy of noting. In his 2010-11 season he was named to the All-Academic Team for the NCAA’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). In total, he scored 99 points (47 goals, 52 assists) in 114 career games with Nebraska-Omaha. He went undrafted but the California native signed on as part of the Kings ECHL affiliate at the time, the Ontario Reign. He had a great debut season and followed that up with an attempt to play in Europe with Olimpija Ljubljana in Austria before returning to Ontario in the ECHL.

White was in the Kings’ ECHL camp for a total of 158 games scoring 139 points (60 goals, 79 assists) before the Admirals provided him his chance to make his AHL debut on 12/5/15 on the road against the Chicago Wolves. The very next night he scored a pair of goals and an assist, including the Teddy Bear Toss goal, in only his second career AHL game.

Ever since that grand intro to Milwaukee fans things have only continued to go well for White. His play is incredibly smooth and, in 54 games, he managed to produce 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists). That’s quite the bonus production for an Admirals team that couldn’t have had him on their radar come pre-season camp. Yet, his consistent play and solid work ethic earned him a contract that extended past this season and through to the 2016-17 season.

Thanks very much to Matt White on taking the time for this interview. Next up this week there will be three more features that will come in no particular order: Fifteen with Stefan Elliott, Scott Ford: Trading Sticks for Suits, and a 2015-16 Regular Season Retrospective.

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