The AHL announced some suspensions today from incidents that happened over the weekend.
Paul Byron, who ran Ryan Thang into the boards after Thanger scored a goal, was suspended for three games.
Just punishment, do you think?
In other news, our old pal Hugh Jessiman will have some free time as well, as he’s been suspended for FOUR games for a boarding incident of his own.
I’d like to see the video, but alas, Brendan Shanahan isn’t running the show on the AHL level…. But I’ll do some youtube searches and see what I can find…
Mattias Ekholm has taken a bit of a beating in the web-media after his assignment back to his Swedish team. I’m guilty of some of that, as I’ve piled on in previous posts.
And on tonight’s Admirals Center Ice radio show, Preds Assistant GM Paul Fenton explained to Aaron Sims and Wojo that there indeed was more to the story.
Turns out it wasn’t Ekholm’s decision at all.
The short version: The Swedish team, whose contract he put on hold to come play in North America, has the first right of refusal before Ekholm could be assigned to the AHL.
And Brynas wanted him.
So he goes to Sweden.
End of story.
So it’s not Ekholm who is stunting his own development by playing away from the North American game — it’s the Swedish team that’s responsible.
The podcast of the Admirals Center Ice Radio Show should be on the Admirals website Tuesday afternoon at some point (UPDATE: it’s there right now), and you can hear it explained in Fenton’s own words.
But wow, that perspective really changes everything.
Starting the third period down a goal, Coach Kirk Muller shuffled the lines and shortened up the bench a bit. The Admirals then proceeded to score three goals in the first ten minutes of the frame, and Atte Engren made that lead stand as the Admirals beat the Heat 3-1 Saturday night.
Michael Latta tied the game just 57 seconds into the 3rd period, deflecting a Kyle Wilson shot off the shaft of his stick.
About 8 minutes later, a Victor Bartley shot from the point went through Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving, sliding through his legs. Taylor Aronson assisted on that goal for his first professional point, and it was the first power play goal on the road this season for the Admirals….on their 14th attempt.
31 seconds later, Taylor Beck scored an insurance goal, but Ryan Flynn did the dirty work. Flynn made a very strong move to the net and tried to jam the puck in short side. Irving had the door closed, but Beck followed the play and knocked it past Irving to give the Admirals the 3-1 lead.
The Ads then gave the Heat essentially four straight minutes of power play time (including a Yonking penalty to Foss), but Engren was able to make some big saves, and keep the puck out of the net.
“I think that’s the most poised and confident that I’ve seen him in the net,” Coach Herbers said of Engren after the game during the radio broadcast.
Engren, making his first appearance of the season, finished with 24 saves on 25 shots.
(Incidentally, Chet Pickard, who apparently wears an “A” for the Cyclones, lost to Reading tonight 3-2….he’s 0-2 on the year, but has decent stats. Cincy has only scored three goals for him over those two games)
– Ryan Thang returned to the lineup after leaving last nights game prematurely. I think that A) Thang must be pretty tough, and 2) we’re pretty lucky that the hit wasn’t worse than it was.
– Raitis Ivanans made his season debut for the Heat tonight, presumably to make sure there wouldn’t be any retribution for Byron’s hit on Thang last night. Raitis didn’t drop the gloves with anyone…but man, that name brings back some great memories…. I don’t remember ever seeing him lose a fight in an Admirals jersey.
– Three out of a possible four points on the Abbotsford trip? We’ll take it. 20th straight road game with at least a point. Travel day tomorrow, practice this week, and then the first 3-games-in-3-days stretch of the season this weekend. Friday in Rosemont, and then Saturday and Sunday at the Bradley Center.
The Predators made it official today — Mattias Ekholm has been assigned to a team in Sweden.
Ekholm had a clause in his contract that allowed him to go back to Sweden if he didn’t make the Predators roster, but to exercise the clause is so completely counterproductive to what we assumed was his goal: to play in the NHL.
It must not really be his goal. And if it’s not, then good riddence.
If the goal is to play in the NHL, it’s a lot easier to get back to Nashville from Milwaukee than it is Brynas.
If the coach says that the single most important thing he needs to work on is adjusting to the North American game, how exactly does he think he’s going to do that in Sweden?
Is it a money thing? According to capgeek.com, his NHL salary was $900k, but his AHL salary would have been $67,500. I have no idea what compensation would be in Sweden, whether Nashville is on the hook for some of that, or if Brynas would pay whatever they want.
When asked Friday if he would consider going to Milwaukee, Ekholm was noncommittal.
“That is a tough question,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about it that much because I am still up here right now. It is two great opportunities to either play in Milwaukee or go back. It is two good leagues.”
You haven’t really thought about it that much? Really? Well that’s just simply not true.
“I will have a meeting with the coaches and see what they think. It isn’t just my decision. I know if I go back to Sweden, I will play 25 minutes a night, but Milwaukee is still a good place to be,” Ekholm said.
Ekholm said all the things he was supposed to say to the media, depsite dripping with absurd insincerity. But let’s all be honest with each other. He never had any intention of playing in the AHL. That’s why there was that clause in his contract, and that’s why he’s taking full advantage of it right now.
Ekholm signed a 3-year contract with the Predators. If he comes back for training camp next year, you think it’s going to be a fresh start for him? No. If he hasn’t burned some bridges, he’s certainly done some damage to their foundations, and I don’t know if this relationship will be able to be fixed.
This is more annoying than the Jamie Lundmark defection last year.
The Admirals were able to extend their road point streak to 19 games, but they ended with an unsatisfying 2-1 shootout loss to Abbotsford.
Ryan Thang tied the game at 1 in the second period with a quick wrist shot during a 2-1 rush, but he was run into the boards soon as he released, and went into the boards head first. He left the ice on his own power after staying down for a couple minutes, but he did not return. Paul Byron received five for boarding, and a game misconduct.
On the post-game broadcast, Coach Herbers did not have anything specific to say about Thang’s injury when asked by Aaron Sims.
In the shootout, Coach Muller sent out the only person that didn’t score in the previous shootout to lead things off — Victor Bartley.
Bartley, Wilson, Bourque, and Ellis failed to convert. Puustinen did.
First off, I’m not jinxing anything. We’ve been talking about this streak for months now. And if they lose tonight, we’ll move on. Abbotsford is a good team.
But let’s talk about the road streak.
The last time the Admirals lost a regular season road game in regulation was January 13th, 2011, in Manitoba. It’s been 18 straight road games with at least a point in the standings.
The date is pretty jaw-dropping, but for some perspective, note that the Admirals had played 60% of the road schedule with that game. From mid-January through the end of the regular season, the Admirals had just 16 of their 39 remaining games on the road. Even with that grain of salt, it’s nothing short of amazing, and an AHL record.
Breaking down those 18 games…
– 12 wins
– 4 OT losses
– 2 shootout losses
– 30 of a possible 36 points.
– Outscoring opponents 60-39 (although, 2 of those 39 are the goals awarded for the shootout wins)
– 6-2-1 against playoff teams last season….(and 8-2-1 if you’re the Hockey News and you want to count the wins against Peoria and Chicago this year)
– 6-2 in Illinois
– 3-1-2 in Texas/Oklahoma City
– 2-1 in Canada
– 1-0 in Michigan
– Longest streak of wins: 5 games, from January 29th – February 23rd. There weren’t consecutive road wins the rest of the season, but they won their final road game in April, and have won the first two this season. So the current streak is 3 games.
In the first shootout of the season, Coach Muller sent these guys out in this order:
Latta (Scored)
Bartley (No Goal)
Thang (Scored)
Wilson (Scored)
Puustinen (Scored)
While that was a recipe for success on Saturday, what five skaters would YOU send it in a shootout, and in what order? Do you think Latta will be the new Santorelli, and the first guy out every time? Is there a scenario where you would send a defenseman out? (Todd, I’d like to link to your original story about defensemen taking shootout attempts, if the URL still exists).
Did you see what happened in the Oklahoma City/Texas game yesterday?
10-1. Those aren’t odds. That’s the final score. Score was 9-nil after two periods. Call it sweet revenge, after the Stars dropped the Barons 7-0 on opening night.
Our old pal Triston Grant scored a pair of goals last night for the Barons.
As pointed out by AdsAndPredsFan in a previous post, and confirmed with a big headline on the Cyclones website, forwards Ben Ryan and Robert Slaney have been assigned to the ECHL.
Ryan was injured during training camp, so this will be his chance to get back into playing shape and maybe join the Admirals a little later in the season. Slaney is the only piece remaining in the organization from the trade that sent Lombardi and Franson to Toronto.
The Admirals continued their hot start –their best since the 04-05 season — as they moved their record to 3-0 after a 3-2 shootout win over the Chicago Wolves Saturday night in Rosemont.
Michael Latta, Ryan Thang, Kyle Wilson, and Juuso Puustinen all scored in the shootout, while Jeremy Smith made two saves on the four shots he faced.
Here’s Coach Muller on his shootout lineup.
The Admirals got the first goal for the second straight night. Jani Lajunen deserves some credit for a good forecheck in the Wolf D-zone that stalled the Chicago breakout. Once the Wolves were able to gain control of the puck again, their clearing pass was intercepted by Victor Bartley just inside the blue line. He had a quick pass to Kyle Wilson in the high slot, and he skated down Broadway, and beat Chicago goalie Eddie Lack.
About 5 minutes later, the Wolves answered back with a fluky goal. A dump into the offensive zone bounced off the end boards back in front of the goal line. Smitty was caught behind the net, and a sliding Ryan Ellis couldn’t stop Matt Clackson’s shot in close.
Two minutes later, Chris Mueller put the Ads back on top, and Chicago D-man Yann Sauve should get the primary assist. In his own defenseive zone, Sauve made the perfect pass to Mueller on the tape, and his shot from the far side beat Lack high. Again, the Admirals cashed in on what Coach Muller describes as kind of a high IQ forecheck.
In the second period, there was a lot penalty action for both teams, with some questionable calls going both ways. But neither team’s power play unit could convert.
The Wolves did tie the score on a play that featured a lot of Admirals just waving their sticks at puck carriers. Victor Oreskovich fired a shot from the point that went off of Ryan Ellis, and changed direction enough to beat Smitty high. The deflection came from above the faceoff circles, and one could argue that it’s a shot Smitty needs to stop.
The Wolves had a goal waived off late in the period, as Francis Charron ruled that the puck went in off of a high stick before it dribbled past the goalline.
Chicago carried most of the play in the 3rd period, but the Admirals got somewhat of a second wind with a power play chance in the 2nd half of the period. The teams ended the game tied in shots.
And yes — the Admirals string of road games with at least a point is now at 18 games. Pretty slick.
– Sloan left the game after being hit — a “clean hit” Coach said after the game. They’ll have a better idea of the damage tomorrow.
– This was Taylor Aronson’s pro debut, and with Sloan out, he was playing some pretty meaningful minutes late in the game. And Coach gives him high marks on his first game.
– Lajunen continues to be a monster on the forecheck. One thing that we’ve seen with the Admirals in the first three games is that there are times when they make things very difficult for the opponents to get the puck out of their defensive zone. And it’ll be even better when we get Gabriel Bourque back in the lineup.
– Power play was not as sharp tonight. Passes not clicking as easily as they seemed to yesterday. And Eddie Lack was pretty solid for the game, when he wasn’t hung out to dry.
– Taylor Beck has played on a different line in all three games. He has been underwhelming thus far. Doesn’t look like a guy that scored 95 points last season. For some perspective, Mark Santorelli scored 101 his last season in juniors. Beck is here to develop into a power forward, and we’re not seeing a lot of power yet. But coach says that this line hopping isn’t due to his play.
– The Wolves and Rivermen remain winless in the division.
Questions for discussion — If Sloan misses some time, who do you bump up to play with Ellis? How has Beck met your expectations thus far? Do you think Aronson and Valentine held their own as the 3rd defensive pair? Do you wish we didn’t have to wait until the end of next week for the next game? When you travel, do you like Rosemont or Rockford better?
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