It’s not the full AHL season schedule…but it’s a start.

It’ll be a two-game pre-season schedule for the Admirals.  At home on Friday September 27th to play the Rockford IceHogs at the Kern Center on the campus of MSOE.  And then one away game in suburban Chicago against the Wolves — Saturday September 28th at Hoffman Estates Ice Arena.

Hang in there….it’ll be hockey night in Milwaukee soon!

So Roundtable…do you usually try to make the pre-season games?  Do you ever make the trip for the road pre-season game?  What do you like about the training camp matches?

The NBA released their schedule, so we know some of the days the Admirals WON’T have home games now.

The Bucks home opener is Saturday November 2nd.

They’ll have home games every Saturday the rest of 2013 except for one — December 14th.

Sounds like lots of Fridays and Sundays for the Admirals early on, and any early 3-in-3’s will have the Ads on the road in the middle game. The Bucks only have four Friday or Sunday games for the ENTIRE SEASON.

Charlotte, Lake Erie, San Antonio, and Milwaukee share arenas with NBA teams, and now that the NBA is done with their business, the AHL can proceed with theirs.  Expect an Admirals schedule in the next couple of weeks.

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The Admirals always have a great presence at Wisconsin State Fair.  And now they’ve got some hardware to prove it.

Hojo won the Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest.

So when you see her at State Fair this week, or around the BMO Harris Bradley Center this season…be sure to tell her that she’s awesome! Because she is.

Time to re-start the ‘Checking In With _____’ series.  Let’s start with Admirals play-by-play extraordinaire, Aaron Sims.

Admirals Roundtable:  Of course Texas was the number one seed in the playoffs, but if the Admirals had won in overtime in Game 1, do you think they could have advanced in the playoffs?

Aaron Sims:  A game one win could’ve done the trick. Goals were definitely at a premium in the series. Nihlstorp and Magnus Hellberg were both tremendous…only twelve goals were scored in the series. Aside from losing game one, the losses of Brad Winchester and Mike Liambas to injury hurt Milwaukee’s chances. Those were two important players. It’s hard to make up for such strong, aggressive players on the forecheck. Throw in Winchester’s offensive ability and his loss hurt the team. I give the coaches credit for trying Mike Moore at forward in the last game to try to add a little strength on the forecheck. While Mike probably had the most ability and speed to be a force on the forecheck, he didn’t have the experience. Texas was a good team. I’m a little surprised they didn’t go deeper in the playoffs.

AR:  You have mentioned on the Admirals Center Ice radio show how great the locker room was this past year.  What is it that makes a good locker room, and why does it make such a difference?

AS:  Players respected the coaches and the coaches respected the players. That became more evident as the season wore on after veterans like Scott Ford, Winchester and Joe Piskula were added. When the veterans feel comfortable with their roles, that rubs off on the other players. Winchester, in particular, was tremendous at passing on tips to the younger players. The credibility from the leadership group was terrific. Because everyone respected one another, the guys were more comfortable filling certain roles to help the team.

AR:  How have you passed the time during this off-season?  Did you do any travelling? What’s keeping you busy?

AS:  I’ve spoken to quite a few clubs and groups around the Milwaukee area about the Admirals. (A quick plug, if anyone has a Rotary, Kiwanis, church club or group and needs a speaker, I am available.) My wife and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon in May. Also, I am finishing up my tenth season with the Madison Mallards baseball team.

AR:  I understand you’re from Minnesota, and were a big North Stars fan growing up?  Who were your favorite players when you were young?

AS:  I loved the Minnesota North Stars. There is an Ikea where the old Met Center used to stand. I loved Bobby Smith. He was a tremendous playmaker. I played defense when I was young and I wore #2 because I was a big Curt Giles fan. Giles coached Zach Budish when Budish was in high school. I also loved Willi Plett, Basil McRae, Jon Casey, Neal Broten, Stew Gavin, Gordie Roberts and many others. The first game I attended was against Detroit and Lane Lambert was a rookie forward for the Red Wings.

AR:  At what point did you realize that play-by-play was something you wanted to do?  And what was your first play-by-play gig?

AS:  I’ve wanted to be a play-by-play announcer since I was eight years old. I used to bring my tape recorder to games in high school and record play-by-play for my friends on the team. At Winona State I did football, basketball and baseball. I moved to LaCrosse, WI to do play-by-play for the Onalaska high school hockey team.

AR:  What are your thoughts on the moves that Nashville has made so far this summer?

AS:  I like what Nashville has done. They got a couple heart-and-soul guys in Nystrom and Hendricks. They’ll be able to fill third and fourth line roles better than a rookie. I say that because so often teams recall guys and put them in a role they are unaccustomed to. How many times do you see a top AHL scorer go up and be put on a fourth line? This happens with nearly every team. If you need a tough guy, call up a tough guy. Nystrom and Hendricks will fit in well. Cullen still has some game left. He’s a very smart player. I love the Stalberg signing. He seems to be a player who is ready to break out into a more prominent role. Certainly, we hope he is. We all saw how sharp Carter Hutton can be when he played for Rockford. If nothing else, he can hold a spot until Hellberg is ready to move up.

AR:  We see a lot of other teams spending some big money on AHL free agents.  Mike Santorelli is going to get $250k if he plays the full season in Utica.  Alexandre Bolduc and Mark Mancari will earn $550k between them in Rosemont.   The Wolves just signed Corey Locke.  The Predators haven’t signed anybody close to that kind of money.  Do you think this new bit in the CBA that has led to this increased spending has the potential to shift the competitive balance in the AHL?  Or do you think that Admirals will be just fine with all of the home grown talent they’ve drafted and developed?

AS:  There will always be a few teams that will pay a lot for, let’s call them 4-A players…guys who are tremendous in the AHL but, for some reason, haven’t stuck in the NHL. The AHL is still, primarily, a development league. The majority of NHL teams will not sign players for big money to play in the AHL unless they think they can help them at some point. Plus, who can say whether a guy getting paid a lot of money is better than a second year guy? I’d put a player like Austin Watson up against nearly anyone in this league. The big money guys can add depth and talent, but they may be in the way of a prospect.

AR:  When you start to think about possible line combinations for this season, do you get excited about the personnel that we’re likely to have in Milwaukee?  

AS:  The signing of Bryan Rodney leads me to believe that the Admirals will have at least one elite offensive defenseman this season. If Rodney sticks in Nashville, I would think Ellis or Ekholm will be in Milwaukee. I’m very excited to see what Joonas Jarvinen does this season. Piskula, Ford and Valentine will ensure a really solid defensive corps. The additions of Stalberg, Nystrom, Hendricks and Cullen likely mean Watson starts the year in Milwaukee. It could, I stress could, mean the same for Taylor Beck and Filip Forsberg. There are a lot of forwards in Nashville. A full season from Zach Budish and Joonas Rask will be fun to watch. Mark Van Guilder, Kevin Henderson, Mike Liambas…we’ll always get maximum effort and smarts with them. I’m anxious to see Sissons and Salomaki. Hellberg has the potential to be the best goalie in the AHL this season.

AR:  We saw the coaches sign contract extensions last week.  What is it that makes Dean and Stan such great coaches?

AS:  Dean and Stan have a great deal of respect for the players. They’ve both been in the players skates. They understand when a player needs a day off and wen he needs to be pushed. They preach a smart, detailed game. They do their homework on the opposition. They are extremely straight-forward and honest with players. They hold players accountable. Teaching sessions never belabor a point. They keep their emotions in check in public. It bothers me when people get upset that coaches aren’t yelling and screaming on the bench. You don’t do that on the bench…that’s like spanking your child at the grocery store. If you rant and rave in public, that attitude/mood sets in with your team during the game. You don’t want that to happen.

AR:  And finally….your twitter account says you are the lead singer of the band Chili Sabotage.  Think we’ll see you guys play after a game in the east atrium sometime?

AS:  The singer needs to be better, but I hope it happens one day.

Brad Winchester got the NHL deal he was looking for, and he got it from the Stanley Cup champs.  Will he play with the Blackhawks or with the IceHogs?  Probably the latter. Maybe both.  But after spending last season with Milwaukee on two PTO contracts, you certainly can’t fault him for jumping to a team that was willing to give him the NHL deal.  If he has a great training camp, or if the injury bug starts spreading along the midway, I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch to see him on the 4th line with the big club.

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Do you know Tyler Doig?  He’s a former professional hockey player who is a strength and conditioning coach now.  And he’s on twitter.  And he knows people.

Congrats to RevCon athlete Bryan Rodney on his deal with Nashville! #Preds

— Tyler Doig (@Coachtdoig) July 25, 2013

I haven’t seen anything official about this yet, but if it’s true, that sounds like a good signing.

He’s a 29 year old defensemen, standing 6’0, with 34 games of NHL experience with the Hurricanes and Oilers….mostly with the Canes.  He has won something…he was part of the Memorial Cup winning London Knights in 2004-05.  He spent last year with the Manchester Monarchs, but didn’t sign until December.  He’s also a two-time AHL all-star.

Aaron Sims offered this tweet this afternoon…

Re: Bryan Rodney…@mkeadmirals coaches always knew to account for him when played against his team. Much respect for his offensive ability.

— Aaron Sims (@aaronadmirals) July 25, 2013

An defenseman with offensive ability?  Sign us up.

Will he be an Admiral?  I think that’ll be up to Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm.  If they’re not ready for prime time, and could use the opportunity to play every day, Rodney might be able to stay with the Preds as the 7th defenseman.  It’s possible.  If they are ready for prime time, we can probably expect Rodney to be QB-ing our power play.

Well….all this if Tyler Doig’s scoop is right.

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Coaches Evason and Drulia signed contract extensions today that would keep them here through the 2014-15 season.

AHL coaching contracts aren’t the most binding contracts in the world….if an opportunity presents itself (cough…Kirk Muller), they’ll leave town.  But I think this offer from Nashville management says a lot about how they feel regarding the way Evason and Drulia ran the ship last year.

Aaron has said on the radio show numerous times how great the locker room was this year.  It’s not a fluke or an accident.  And with all of the players that saw their games take giant steps forward last year, the coaches are obviously helping great things ON the ice too.

And they’re both great with the media….so that makes me happy too…

Happy summer, everybody.

We’re at that point of the summer where the next big landmark day is when the AHL schedule is released.  Sure, there may still be some free agent activity (Scott Ford just re-signed, and The Goalie Guild reported that Scott Darling has signed a two-way AHL-ECHL deal to be the #5 goalie in the organ-eye-zation this year), but the schedule is probably going to be the next big news day in our world.

The slate has come out in the middle of August the last two years, so there’s still plenty of the waiting game to play.  But I’d like to share with you some of the behind the scenes information about the schedule making process.

Cue Admirals team president, Jon Greenberg.

“The process starts in February, but doesn’t end until August,” Jon says.  That’s funny to me…the league celebrates its All-Star game, and then dives right into planning next season’s schedule.

“We are in an NBA building,” Greenberg says, “as are Charlotte, Lake Erie, and San Antonio, so we all have to wait for the NBA to give our co-tenants their dates so we can fill out our date submissions to the league.”  The Bucks released their schedule July 27th last year, so we should know pretty soon what dates we WON’T be at the BMO Harris Bradley Center this season.

“Once we can do that, we see an early draft, a first draft, a second draft, and a final draft.  There are many conversations between teams to make changes during this time and we all try to help each other out the best that we can.”

That’s nice to hear that there is such great cooperation between the clubs for this, especially with all the travel considerations the teams have to deal with as members of the esteemed Western Conference.

What does a perfect schedule look like in the eyes of the front office?  According to Greenberg, it looks like the 2011-12 campaign.

“It has good spacing of home games, meaning no four-home-games-in-a-week stints,” And that’s a scheduling quirk we may not think about that often.  Certainly we all notice when the team is out of town for awhile, but when there are four home games in a week?  I know we’ve got some dedicated season ticket holders…but how easy is it for you to make all four that week?  Life happens.  And for the casual fan, it may be a tough sell to get them in the building for multiple games in the same week.  So from a business perspective, I can see why avoiding that would be desirable.

Greeny continues about the perfect schedule, “It also has reasonable road trips that get us back home in relatively short order.  No three week periods without home games.  Without the ability to play four games in five nights, we’ll still have plenty of three-in-threes as we’re a weekend heavy league, but keeping the travel in those to a minimum makes them manageable.”

Thank you Rockford.  Thank you Rosemont.  Still a long bus ride to Grand Rapids and Des Moines, but it’s manageable.

The Admirals have announced that their home opener is set for Saturday October 19th.  Same date it was last year too.  But the season opens on October 4th.  Does that sound like another early season road trip?

I recall Lane Lambert talking about how he kind of liked the early season road trips so that the players could bond as a team on the road, away from whatever distractions they may have had at home.

According to Greeny, this is NOT a special request that the team makes every year.

“The early road schedule is never requested per se, but is often a product of building availability.  We’ve had major events in our building over the last few seasons which have kept us out for extended periods of time.  We’d like to have a couple more home games early every year but haven’t been able to.  Fortunately it has worked out in the long run.”

Greenberg also shares some news that…well….shouldn’t be news to most sports leagues.  But it is for the AHL.

“We are indeed playing everybody in the West for the first time in many years.  That means we’ll see Utica and Rochester, which should be fun, in addition to Iowa.  It also means when we get to the home stretch in April and the playoffs, that we will have at least had a chance to see everyone.”

It certainly would have been weird if we had played Rochester in the first round of the playoffs last year….having not seen them since….the 06-07 season.  Craig Anderson was in net for the Amerks.  Karl Goehring and Pekka Rinne for the Ads.  So it’ll be nice to catch up with them after all these years.

So while you’re eating all kinds of food-on-a-stick at Wisconsin State Fair, the AHL, Admirals, and the other teams will be putting the finishing touches on the schedule.  While you’re there, raise a creampuff in appreciation of all the behind the scenes work going on.

Paul Fenton hinted to it earlier this week.  It was officially announced today.  Scott Ford is back with the Admirals.

It’s an AHL deal instead of an NHL deal, unlike the one he signed last year with St. Louis.

Here’s Aaron Sims talking to Fordo today.

So Roundtable, are you happy that he’s back?  Does the -18 from last year scare you (although the vast majority of that came from Peoria…as you know, they weren’t very good), or do you think the veteran leadership trumps all of that?

Nashville assistant GM Paul Fenton joined Aaron and Wojo for the Admirals Center Ice Radio show Monday night on Sportsradio 1250 WSSP.  And as usual, he shared some great information to give us a little more of an idea on what to expect this year.

– Scott Ford is “pretty darn close” to signing.

– Fenton is not expecting Brad Winchester to be back.

– Thinks Daniel Bang may end up staying in Europe.  Bang is a restricted free agent who received a qualifying offer.

– Colton Sissons and Miikka Salomaki should be in Milwaukee this year.  More on them in a moment…

– Scott Valentine is working out as both a forward and a defenseman during the off-season, but Fenton thinks he’ll end up playing on D.

– Fenton is still looking to sign three or four more guys to complete the Milwaukee roster. (I would hope that one or two of them will be of the puck-moving-variety-of-defensemen.)

– Talked a bit about the big time AHL salaries that some guys are getting.  Previously, under the old CBA, if a guy on a two-way or one-way contract made more than $105k in the AHL, he was subject to re-entry waivers.  That magic number was removed in the new CBA, so some clubs are willing to spend some more, and some guys are cashing in.

Sissons played last season with the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL, and was over a point per game (28g, 39a, 61 games).  On The Forecheck blog posted some scouting reports from a couple of sources at the time he was drafted in 2012.  Follow the link for the whole bit…but here’s a taste:

A responsible two-way forward with a high level of compete, Sissons makes an impact at both ends of the rink for the Rockets. The 6’1″, 189-lb center, who also plays right wing, has good skating ability and mobility, and plays a very strong defensive game. With good size and strength, Sissons excels at winning those grinding battles on the boards and in the corners, and can protect the puck well.

Sounds like our kind of guy.

Salomaki is projecting to be another two-way player, who is good in the battles for the puck, and isn’t afraid to work in front of the crease.  Here is a highlight package from the youtube.

So the news is that Jon Blum signed with the Minnesota Wild.  A one-year two-way contract.

Some Admiral fans are dancing in the streets.  Some are indifferent.  Some are tired of us writing posts about all the former Admirals finding new places to play.  Some are licking their chops at the possibility of playing against Blum up to 12 times if he plays most of the season with the Iowa Wild.

So does Blum have a realistic chance to break camp in St. Paul?

Michael Russo, who does a great job covering the Wild for the Star Tribune, lists the defense depth charts as such:

Ryan Suter – Jonas Brodin
Marco Scandella – Keith Ballard
Clayton Stoner – Jared Spurgeon

Extra:  Nate Prosser

So on the surface, it looks like Iowa or bust.

But he does have a couple things in his favor.

Blum would need to clear waivers if he was sent to Iowa, and from an interview that he gave to a Minnesota Wild podcast, there were lots of teams interested in him.

“Yeah, there was definitely other teams,” Blum says.    “St. Louis, Philly, Rangers, Florida… There was probably close to eight or nine teams, but the fit for me with the Wild was best.”

So they run the risk of losing him on the waiver wire if they try to send him down.

Also — he’s a right handed shot, which isn’t so common on the Wild blue line right now.  Of Russo’s top six, only Spurgeon is a right handed shot.  So that’s another way he could worm his way into the opening night roster.

Later in the podcast he talks about his time with Nashville.  And I’m kind of surprised by some of the things he said.

“I’m just thrilled to get a fresh start.  Things didn’t go as well the last year and a half with the Preds.  I wasn’t able to play my game there, play on the power play, play more than 14 minutes…whatever I played last year….  So I’m looking to come into camp at the beginning of the year and earn my ice time….and be able to play an offensive game, a puck moving game, and not just focus on being a shutdown guy.  When I was in Nashville, I was playing top 4 minutes, playing against teams’ best players every night.  It doesn’t suit my game…”

He said something else after that last line, but I had a tough time making it out.  You can listen to the full interview here….this comment starts around the 4:55 mark.  But shutting down the opposing offense doesn’t suit your game?  Excuse me?  I’m sorry.  Let’s not skate Shea Weber and Roman Josi on the power play so that we can better suit your game, Jon.  Let’s only send you out there when opposing third and fourth lines are on the ice so we can better suit your game, Jon.  And were those really top 4 minutes in Nashville last year?

He’s entitled to have those opinions, and I imagine it’s a thought process that plenty of players have….but I’m surprised that he elected to share them.

That’s going to be my new excuse.  Eh, I’m not going to mow the lawn today.  It doesn’t suit my game.  Eh, I’m not going to change the kitty litter.  It doesn’t suit my game.

I’m not going to defend Jon Blum on this blog anymore.  It doesn’t suit my game.

The financial terms of Chris Mueller’s contract with Dallas posted to Capgeek.com today.

Last year in the Nashville organ-eye-zation, Mueller made $105,000 in Milwaukee.

This year, if he spends the year in the AHL in Austin, he’s going to make $300,000.

$300k.  In the AHL.  That’s a nice raise, and an easy decision.

Andrew Gordon was good for 32 points in 54 games for the Wolves last year.  Winnipeg signed him to a contract that’ll pay him $350,000 in the AHL.

Nolan Yonkman.  A league worst -34 last year.  Anaheim is willing to pay him $200,000 to play in Norfolk this year.

So of all the players under contract that are likely to play in Milwaukee this year (as of 7/10/13), who do you think is set to make the most money?

Joe Piskula.  $135,000.

The market is weird, man.

We already knew Chris Mueller wasn’t going to be playing with the Admirals this season.

Today we found out where he will be playing.

Mueller today signed a contract with the Dallas Stars.

According to our friends at the 100 Degree Hockey blog, it’s a two-way, one-year deal.

And as the Defending Big D blog observes, they aren’t short on centers in Dallas.

Last week, (GM) Nill added centers Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, and Shawn Horcoff to the club. Because of those prior moves that have created a logjam of sorts at the center position (and the fact that Mueller split time between Nashville and Milwaukee), this appears to be a depth move to help restock the farm system and nothing more.

So I’d say there’s a decent chance we’ll get to see Mueller in an opposing uniform this year.  And it’ll be weird.

So Roundtable…over the years, which former Admiral has been the most awkward to see in an enemy uniform?  And when Mueller makes his first BC appearance as a member of the Texas Stars, will you cheer or boo?