Leading the team in pre-season goals wasn’t enough to keep Chris Mueller with the big club…..for now.

Mueller, Gabriel Bourque, and Tyler Sloan were officially assigned to the Admirals after the Predators defeated Carolina 2-1 in overtime on a Craig Smith goal.

Roman Josi will again begin the season on the IR, but will begin with Milwaukee when healthy.

Let’s drop the puck.

See you at Kern Center.

(Photo credit:  Scott Paulus…..circa a few years ago)

We had the chance (and by we, I mean Aaron Sims, Dave Boehler, CP, and myself) to talk to Coach Muller after his first Admiral practice on Tuesday about a variety of topics.

Coach was the man in charge behind the bench in the rookie games earlier this month.  Him?  Nervous?  No way.

Kirk had set up some of the practices down in Nashville, but this is what he was thinking about when designing the first few Milwaukee practices.

So how DID the first practice go?  Here’s what he liked the most from the first session.

That’s good to hear, but while this was the first day of Milwaukee’s camp….many of these guys have been in training camp mode for a couple weeks now.  But still, it’s good to hear that they are ready to work.

Now, Nashville will certainly be sending us some more players.  So what we see this weekend will likely look a lot different than what we see opening night.  But Coach is making the best of his time with the guys that are here right now.

Here’s what Coach says he is looking to get out of the two pre-season games this weekend.

So player evaluation is of course a big part of things, but it sounds like what they practice next week will be determined by how well or how poorly the new guys seem to grasp the systems in these game situations.

An finally…Coach Muller threw out the first pitch at the Brewers game on Monday night.  Here’s what he thought of his effort.

So Roundtable, aside from just watching live hockey again, what are you looking forward to the most in the games this weekend?  Seeing the new guys?  Seeing how some of the young guys like Beck and Latta have improved since we last saw them?  And what do you think of Coach’s demeanor with the media?  Sounds a bit different than Lane, eh?

Not to be filed under “S” for “Surprising News”, Ryan Thang has been assigned to the Admirals.  Not sure why the delay, especially since Preds practice yesterday was cancelled.  Maybe the Frontier Airlines flight to Milwaukee was full?  Who knows.  Anyway.  He’s on his way, and should be at practice tomorrow.

In other news…

Former Admiral Dylan Hunter, has ended his playing career and is set to begin his COACHING career.  He’ll be an assistant coach for the London Knights of the OHL this year…as a 26 year old.

How did he get an interview?  What did they see in him to trust them with players that really aren’t that much younger than him?

See…he kind of knows someone.

His family kind of owns the place.

Father Dale Hunter is the owner, president and head coach of the team.  Uncle Mark is the owner, vice president, and general manager.

And Dylan isn’t exactly a stranger to the team.  He played with the Knights from 01-06, and helped them win the 2005 Memorial Cup.

So good luck in your new endeavors, Dylan.  Hopefully you learned a thing or two from Lane, and will be just as successful.

After their big come-from-behind win against the Winnipeg Jets, the Preds announced their first round of cuts.  Most of these guys are travelling today so that they’ll be ready to go when the Admirals open their training camp tomorrow (Monday).

I don’t think any of these are surprising.

FORWARDS:  Taylor Beck, Joel Champagne, Ryan Flynn, Jani Lajunen, Michael Latta, Juuso Puustinen, Josh Shalla, Robert Slaney, Mark Van Guilder

DEFENSEMEN:  Taylor Aronson, Victor Bartley, Scott Ford, Jeff Foss, Charles-Olivier Roussel, Scott Valentine

GOALTENDERS:  Atte Engren, Chet Pickard

PLACED ON NON-ROSTER INJURED LIST:  Brodie Dupont, Ben Ryan

Notables still in camp:  Gabriel Bourque, Blake Geoffrion, Chris  Mueller,  Craig Smith, Zach Stortini, Ryan Thang, Kyle Wilson, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Jack Hillen, Roman Josi, Tyler Sloan, Jeremy Smith.

Discussion:   Will Chris Mueller start the season with the big club, as he’s currently the team leader in pre-season goals?  Do Craig Smith and Ryan Ellis become the latest examples of how the road to Nashville goes through Milwaukee?  Would you rather have Sloan or Hillen on the Admiral blue line?  Which of the new guys that have been sent down are you most excited to see?

While many of the players that will don a Milwaukee Admirals sweater this year are still in Nashville, there are some guys that are waiting patiently for the big caravan back north.  These are the Milwaukee training camp invitees.

These are the guys that are auditioning with the coaching staff, in hopes that when the Admirals need some help, the coach will give them a call.

Last year, there were 10 guys that were on the training camp roster before Nashville returned a bunch of players.  The initial list included Mike Bartlett and Dylan Hunter, who played some significant minutes for the team last year.  Connor Shields was also on that list, and skated in 14 games for the good guys later in the season.

So far, this year’s list is a lot smaller.  And while we wait for other players to have their airplane tickets purchased, let’s take a look at the guys who are already here.

Chris Cahill (F) – Here’s what we said about Cahill when he signed his ATO contract at the end of last season:

Chris Cahill is a forward who has spent the last four seasons playing for Yale University, and he continues the Predators’ interest in drafting hockey players with high IQ’s.  As a senior, Cahill scored 15 goals and 19 assists in 35 games.

None of that has changed.

And in the interest of unreasonably raising everyone’s expectations….here are some of the comments that you posted about Cahill after his Admiral debut last year.

– Cahill was a force at both ends of the ice and played VERY impressive for a first game as a pro.

– Watching Watson and Cahill tonight was like a breath of fresh air. Maybe that had something to do with the way the team played tonight. Cahill was like a maniac out there.

– Lambert saying Cahill has good speed is the biggest understatement I’ve heard in a long time. The guy was blazingly fast out there and finished his checks hard! I’m looking forward to seeing him fulltime next season!

– I think I am in love…Cahill was everything I wanted in a hockey player–wrapped up in an Admirals’ jersey. Wow..that kid was making hits, speedy and just all around had me thanking the hockey gods that placed him here.

No pressure, right?

David Leaderer (D) – He had the distinction of playing with Paul Fenton’s son at UMass-Amherst.  Suited up for three games for the Admirals at the end of last season (to much less fanfare than Cahill apparently).  He is a 5’11 D-man that was a -22 defensively with the Trenton Devils of the ECHL last year.

Garrett Suter (D) – Younger brother of Ryan Suter.  Interesting story here about how he never quite became a Badger.  A quote from a coach in the story is:  “When he’s disciplined and plays within himself and not force things, Garrett is the best (Division III) player in the country and he still has room to grow.”  That’s great.  But it also suggests that a good chunk of the time, he isn’t disciplined, doesn’t play within himself, and tries to force things.  This may be an interesting project for Kirk Muller, and does have the potential for some high reward.  Suter played 16 regular season games and 4 playoff games for Cincy at the end of last season, tallying 2 goals, 7 assists, and 38 penalty minutes.

Evan Trupp (F) – a 5’10 forward who spent the last four years playing for the University of North Dakota.  Here’s a youtube clip of some fancy stickwork from Mr. Trupp.  He set career highs in goals, assists, powerplay goals and +/- his senior year, and after October, didn’t go consecutive games without a point.  Trupp was the winner of UND’s Cliff “Fido” Purpur Award his junior and senior seasons for “hard work, determination and being a creator of excitement on the ice.”

So keep an eye out for these guys if you make it to a practice next week, or if you’ll be at one of the pre-season games next weekend.

(That’s right….it’ll be hockey night in Milwaukee a week from tomorrow.  Huzzah!)