Just a quick note….the AHL Borad Of Governors annual meeting has ended, and we now have some divisional alignments and some new rules.

Goodbye Charlotte.  Hello Grand Rapids.

The Griffins join us in the Midwest Division, Charlotte joins the Texas teams and OKC in the new South Division, and Abbotsford joins the North Division.  That North Division….lots of travel….holy cow….Abbotsford, Cleveland, Toronto, Hamilton, and Rochester…..

And rule changes…..(ripped from the press release at theahl.com)

Video Review
The Board has approved the use of a video goal-review system for AHL games beginning with the 2012-13 season.

(Let us rejoice and be glad!)

Rules Changes
The AHL has adopted the following rule changes recently approved for use in the National Hockey League:

• Rule 67.2 (“Handling the Puck”) now calls for a minor penalty “any time a player places his hand over the puck while it is on the ice in order to conceal it from or prevent an opponent from playing the puck”.

(Keep your hands to yourself)

• Rule 76.4 (“Face-offs”) states that “both players facing off are prohibited from batting the puck with their hand in an attempt to win the face-off.” Violation of this rule will result in a minor penalty for delay of game.

(Which will hereby known as the Wacey Rabbit Rule)

• The Board has also approved a test of a variation on Rule 81 (“Icing”) at the request of the National Hockey League, that will, in the event of a potential icing violation, complete the play should a defending player be the first to reach the end zone face-off dots and provided the puck has crossed the goal line at that point. This rule will be in effect until Nov. 19, 2012, at which time its continued use will be determined by the Board. This was the only rules test approved.

(This will be interesting….Hopefully the linesmen are up to the challenge of calling it accurately and consistently)

So Roundtable — do you like the new changes? 

Coach Evason was introduced to the Milwaukee media yesterday.  I do find these sorts of events exciting because everyone is all smiles and it’s easy to be optimistic about the future of the team.  But at the same time, the content of these sorts of events can be somewhat predictable.  Happy to be here, thanks to my former team, thanks to the management of the current team, looking forward to winning hockey games, but understand that it’s also about player development.  He touched on all of those points.

That said, we did learn some things from the Q&A, and also from Aaron Sims’ 1-on-1 interview with the coach afterwards.  And Admirals’ GM Paul Fenton was gracious to give me a few minutes of his time and provide some of his insight on Coach Evason also.

Do read Dave’s Boehler’s write-up, where he talks about the Coach inviting the media to ask him two hours worth of questions, and explains how he feels about the concept of traveling on buses instead of airplanes.

One of the things Coach mentioned when talking to Aaron was how this whole chain of events was set in motion.

“I had an opportunity in Washington and I interviewed for the head coaching there. When I spoke with George McPhee, they were going to go in another direction.  George asked me, at my convenience, to talk to David Poile, if I wouldn’t mind.  So I talked to him quite quickly after that, and he in turn told me that Paul would call me, and that started the process.”

I find it interesting that it was the GM of the Caps that played the role of matchmaker in this story.

But Evason has a previous history with both Poile and Paul Fenton.  Poile drafted him, and Fenton was his teammate on three different teams.  Fenton talks about what kind of a player Evason was back in the day.

“Dean, for not being an overly big guy, he played with some great edge and determination and smarts.  The smarts is what kept him in the league for over 800 games.  He could adapt to anything.  He could play a skill game, he could play a hard-nosed game.  No matter what, he showed up every night to play.  And that’s what I expect his team will be like as well.”

Seven years as an assistant with the same team…that’s a long time in hockey years.  And Fenton explains some of the success of his longevity.

“First of all, he’s a great hockey person.  He’s been involved in professional hockey and in coaching for well over 30 yeras.  So experience in itself kept him there.  He’s a great person, an excellent teacher.  He has great values in hockey and as a family man.”

Coach Evason knows that there is plenty for him to learn as he works to become better in his role, in hopes of securing an NHL job some day.  And one of the keys for him will be the relationship-building with his team.

“I think the biggest thing is dealing with the players 1-on-1. Dealing with men.  I had an opportunity as a head coach at the junior level,  but you’re dealing with 16-20 year old guys.  Here, you’re dealing with men.  You’re dealing with guys that are trying to make their next step.  Fortunately, I’ve been in that position, as they are.  I was in that position trying to get the NHL, I know that process, and hopefully we, Stan and I, can teach them how to conduct themselves not only on the ice, but off the ice as well.  How to play the game the right way in order to play at the next level. ”

Coach Muller had a similar quote around this time last season too.  They’ve been there, and they can use their experiences to prepare the next generation.

While Coach Evason hasn’t specifically laid out plans for what responsibilities will primarily be his and which ones will primarily be Stan Drulia’s, it sounds like he wants to focus on having a team community.

“The biggest thing that I talked to Stan about, and to our trainers and to everybody, is that we’re a team.   It’s not me, coaching the team and Stan looking after special teams.  We’ll do it together.  One guy may present video, one guy may head up a special team, but it’ll be a team effort.  Not only between the two of us, but everybody else.  The trainers as well.   The closeness of your off-ice group at this level (is important) so that your players can be that close on the ice.”

So now the two men behind the bench for the Admirals have come from a forward/offensive background.  I asked Paul Fenton if hiring a third coach to work with the defense would be out of the question.

“You know, that’s a professional coach.  I don’t have a problem with what position you played whether it’s goaltender, forward, or defenseman.  We’ve had several years where we’ve had two forwards, and several years where we’ve had two defensemen.  It just depends on the quality of the teacher, and I believe that we have two extremely quality teachers there that are going to be able to teach our guys the proper way to play the game.”

So now what?  Entry draft….Rookie development camp…Summerfest….free agency.  Looking forward to it.

Meet the new boss.

His name is Dean Evason.

Quick summary of his playing and coaching career up to this point:  He made his NHL playing debut as a member of the Washington Capitals in the 83-84 season.  After stays with Hartford, San Jose, and Dallas, he played his last NHL games as a Calgary Flame in the 95-96 season, before spending a few years playing in Europe.  He was even a teammate of Ads GM Paul Fenton for some time.

For those of you that like guys who aren’t afraid to throw down…. here’s an oldie but a goodie.

The year after his playing career ended, he started coaching in the WHL.  After stops in Kamloops, Vancouver, and Calgary (he coached Brodie Dupont there), he got his first NHL coaching gig with the team that originally drafted him — The Washington Capitals.  In the 05-06 season, he was an assistant under Head Coach Glen Hanlon.

He’s been there in that role ever since.

His first year was the same as a guy named Alexander Ovechkin.

Seven years with the same team as an assistant?  That was the 2nd longest assistant coach tenure with one team in the league….behind Peter Horachek in Nashville.

He was an assistant under three different head coaches in Washington.  To be retained by new leadership I think says something about how valuable he was to the team.  Bruce Boudreau could have cleaned house when he arrived, or during the following off-season.  Dale Hunter could have cleaned house when he arrived.  But Evason made himself essential.

Initially under consideration for the vacated coaching position in Washington, recent comments made by GM George McPhee made it sound like he wasn’t going to be a finalist. The case for Evason for that job?  Familiarity.  He’s paid his dues with the organization.  The case against him?  None of the last four Capital head coaches had previous NHL coaching experience.  The last one was Ron Wilson in 01-02.  Perhaps they’re looking to make that a pre-requisite.

Evason comes to Milwaukee with the experience of having coached some very different styles of hockey with the Caps over the last seven years, and it’ll be interesting to see whether the systems he will implement in Milwaukee will resemble any of the systems used in DC.  Plus he brings previous experience of coaching youngsters, and coaching some…we’ll say….interesting personalities.

Personally, I’m excited to see what he’ll be able to do with his own pro squad.  (Yes, I’m a Caps fan…and yes I’m trying my best not to let that cloud my judgement!).  Press conference tomorrow morning to introduce the new boss….what’s the over/under on number of times the phrase “The Road To Nashville Goes Through Milwaukee” will be spoken?

In the meantime, here are some old Evason clippings for your reading/viewing pleasure:

When Dean Evason Faced Sergei Fedorov – Washington Post

Face-Off With Captials’ Assistant Coach Dean Evason – Mount Vernon Patch

Mic’d Up With Dean Evason:  Alumni Game – Caps Website

As you may have read, we’re expecting an announcement on the new Admirals Head Coach sometime in the next week or so. Everyone is doing a nice job in keeping the name of the individual from being leaked.  And after that mess in Alberta with the GM flat out lying to the media…..I’m certainly okay with ‘no comment’ as the answer for now.

But a few other teams made some hires this week.  So you can take them off of your short list for the Milwaukee coach.

We’ll be seeing former Milwaukee coach Dave Allison about 12 times next season, as he will be taking the helm for the Peoria Rivermen.  This after the Blues declined to exercise the option on Jared Bednar’s contract.  Check out the Rivermen Blog for some commentary there…. But judging from the quotes from the players, this was a pretty surprising move.

And it begs the question:  Why is Dave Allison the answer?  He hasn’t been coaching since the 07-08 season, when he led the Iowa Stars to a masterful 35-37-8 record, and out of the playoffs.  Not just out of the playoffs…dead last in the division.  But he did have something going for him — a previous working relationship with the GM of the Blues.

Interesting.

The Texas Stars named Willie Desjardins as their new head coach.  He has spent the majority of his coaching career in the WHL, where he was in charge of the Medicine Hat Tigers for eight seasons, before spending the last two as an associate coach for the Dallas Stars.  Hmmmm….an assistant at the NHL level going down to the AHL level to run a pro team there….where have we seen that career path before…. (check out the 100 Degree Hockey blog’s commentary here….they dig the hire)

And Sylvain Lefebvre was named the new head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs.  After serving as an assistant for the Lake Erie Monsters and Colorado Avalanche over the last five seasons, this will be his first head coaching gig.  Hmmmm….long playing career….assistant at the NHL level going down to the AHL level to run a pro team there….where have we seen that career path before….

Will the Admirals coach come from the same background?  We’ll see.

Oh, and the Wolves need a new coach after Craig MacTavish spurned the Vancouver organ-eye-zation to go work for the Oilers.  Bummer, right?

(Photo credit: Scott Paulus)

The Admirals have confirmed that restricted free agent forward Ryan Thang will be playing in Germany next season.

Thang debuted with the Admirals after his Notre Dame season ended in 2010.  He earned high praise from Coach Lane Lambert early on, and played significant minutes down the stretch and in the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Thanger had a great shot, and scored some big time goals over his two-plus seasons in Milwaukee.  My favorite Thang moment was probably in the 2011 Calder Cup playoffs.  In game 5 of the first round series against the Texas Stars, Thang scored at 16:29 of overtime to give the Admirals a 3-2 series lead, with the series then heading back to Milwaukee.  He had an open shooting lane on a 3-on-2 rush, and he shot a laser from the right circle that just flat-out beat the goalie.  That was also that game that Gabriel Bourque scored with 4.4 second left in the third to force the overtime….  That game was easily one of my top 3 moments since I started covering the team, if not #1 itself.  An amazing night in Austin.

So we’ll wish Ryan Thang well on his adventures overseas.  And I guess we’ll have to officially retire the FM 102/1 Shake Your Thang cam during the TV timeouts…

Dave Boehler of the JSOnline is reporting that the Admirals could have their new coach by the end of this week.  Which would be great.

Dave talked to Paul Fenton, who could only speak in generalities at the time.

So while we don’t really have any candidates to talk about….I’d like to open up discussion as to what are some characteristics that you would like to see in your new Head Coach?

– Someone with fire in their belly, or someone that’s composed under pressure?

– A former player?

– Someone that’s brutally honest or someone that tries to positively motivate?

What comes to mind?

Let’s catch up, shall we?

Congrats to the Norfolk Admirals for winning the Calder Cup!  They swept the Toronto Marlies 4-0 in the series, and the exclamation point in Game 4 was by a 6-1 score.

Tough way for the Marlies to lose Game 3, though.

It stinks, but it is your home rink…..I wonder if that’s the first time that little nook/cranny gave Scrivens a bad bounce.

Former (Milwaukee) Admirals in the series:  Kelsey Wilson did not play in the finals, and only played in one game in the entire playoffs, that a 3-2 win over Abbotsford.  Cory Conacher had a goal and five assists in the finals, and Brandon Segal had a pair of goals, including a game winner.

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Do you follow capgeek.com?  If not, you should.  According to them, the Predators signed Kevin Henderson to a two-way one-year contract.  But he’s the only one of the Van Flynderson line that is currently under contract.

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I don’t think there will be any shortage of European players on the team next season, but one of them won’t be defenseman Teemu Laakso.  One of only two players that played on the 08-09 campaign and were still on the team last year (Scott Ford is the other), Laakso could never stick in the NHL when given the opportunity.  After watching other guys pass him on the depth chart, Laakso signed a two-year deal with Severstal of the KHL.  Over the years, I felt that when healthy, he was one of our most dependable defensemen.  He was prone to a few more unforced errors this season, but still was a very useful piece that the team will need to fill this summer.

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The Predators had until June 1st to sign their 2000 draft picks, or else they would go back into the draft pool this summer.  The Preds did elect to sign Swedish forward Patrick Cehlin to an entry level contract.  He’s a 5’11 170 pound right winger, who is expected to play his first season in North America this upcoming season.

He won’t be the only Swede coming over….the Preds signed forward Daniel Bang to a two-way one-year contract.  Bang has a more size than Cehlin, coming it at 6’3 and 201 pounds. David Poile talked about him in a recent interview at the Preds website, saying “We’ve signed a veteran European player in Daniel Bang to maybe make up for some of what we traded away during the season; who we think, given an opportunity in Training Camp certainly will be close and could play games for us next season.”

Before you get all excited about a line with Bang and Thang…first off, it’s pronounced BAWNG.  And second, Thanger doesn’t have a contract right now.  He’s a restricted free agent.  Will the Preds send him an offer sheet?  Will he play overseas instead?  We’ll see.

Another Euro-signing…..Finnish defenseman Joonas Jarvinen.  David Poile described him as “…a little older, a bit of a late bloomer, but someone who played at the World Championships and played effectively; we think we might have something with Jarvinen.”

You know how we often hear about the learning curve European players have when they play in North America for the first time?  I think we’ll be hearing that a lot this year.

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No new news on the Head Coach front.  Timing wise, the Kirk Muller announcement came at the end of June, just before rookie development camp.  So I’m not going to get antsy until it’s past Summerfest and we don’t have a coach!

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And finally…. mark your calendars for the Admirals garage sale on June 20th and 21st.  Get more information here.

And don’t forget to visit the Admirals at Summerfest this year at the Uline Sports Zone.  Here is the schedule:

Wed 6/27 4pm
Thu 6/28 4pm
Fri 6/29 4pm
Sun 7/1 7pm
Tue 7/3 4pm
Thur 7/5 4pm
Fri 7/6 4pm
Sun 7/8 6pm

Dave Boehler has a good article at ye olde newspaper with quotes from the coach himself, GM Paul Fenton, and some player reaction too.

I spoke briefly with Fenton yesterday as well.

As great as it would be to know right away who the next coach will be, Fenton is going to be very thorough again this summer as he’s talking with candidates for this job.  And why should he do anything different?  Nobody can argue with the quality of the candidates that he has hired over the years, as most of them had great success in Milwaukee and are now coaching in the NHL somewhere.

“I don’t have a timetable for that.  I’ll go through the same process as I did when I hired Kirk, and when I hired Lane, and when we hired Claude, and I hired Peter, and I hired Todd Richards….they’re all very fortunate to all come through a great system, great city, great American League city, and a franchise that continues to have success.  I’ll go through the same process so that we’ll be able to pick a good coach to fit for Milwaukee.”

If you are a fan who likes the ‘big picture’, I’m sure whoever we get will be great.  If you like knowing the news before it breaks, good luck handicapping candidates.  The information leaks of the Ian Herbers hiring in Canada?  Don’t expect them for this job.  I was driving to a wedding in Stoughton when Jason Karnosky texted me the news that Kirk was coming last summer.

But I can tell you who one of the candidates will be, and who one of the candidates won’t be.

Assistant coach Stan Drulia will most definitely be in the mix.

“I will interview Stan,” Fenton says.  “He’s been a head coach, he’s now got his foot in the door and I’ve gotten to know him a little bit, and I’d give him consideration for the job right now.  I thought he did a very good job (last season), especially coming into a different situation — it isn’t often that you lose your minor league coach to an NHL team as quickly as we did.  For him to be able to come in and step away from his duties as a head coach (in the ECHL) and familiarize himself with our organization, I thought he did an admirable job.”

A few readers have suggested that Director of Player Development Marty Gelinas would be a great fit for the position, having a previous relationship with all of the players in the system, and even a few games of assistant coaching experience this past season in the first few games after Kirk left.

I asked Fenton if he knows if Marty has any interest in changing career paths.

“He doesn’t.  No, I’ve already spoken with Marty.  He has no interest in it.”

So while I’m sure this isn’t something that Paul planned on being on his summer to-do list, I’m sure that when all is said and done, we’ll have another top-notch coach in town.  But now we play the waiting game.

Aaron Sims posted a very thoughtful blog post about the departure of coach Ian Herbers.

Of all of the coverage of this development splattered across the Internet, Aaron’s contribution is the one that you need to read.  Pure and simple.

Got the confirmation from the Admirals this morning, and I imagine there will be more fanfare later on from the University of Alberta…but Coach Ian Herbers is heading back to his Alma Mater to coach.

More to come later today…