Among the newbies starting up with the young AHL season was defenseman Alex Carrier. He made his pro debut with the Milwaukee Admirals this past weekend in San Antonio. (Photo Credit: Daniel Lavender)
The Milwaukee Admirals returned back home after a successful weekend sweep in San Antonio to start the 2016-17 season. Practice today at the MSOE Kern Center, as you might have expected from those games, was offense and power-play centric.
A notable absentee for today’s practice was Justin Kirkland. That is because he was assigned to the Admirals ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones where he is expected to make his pro hockey debut tonight.
Already seeing a mixed bag response on that move I feel the need to chirp in by saying something very blunt: relax. The talent spectrum of hockey right now, in general, is astonishingly good. This means a stockpile of young and exciting talent is being groomed at not just the AHL level but is overflowing into the ECHL as well. Being sent to the ECHL isn’t some sort of a death sentence on a career. Especially this early in a player’s developmental process it can be largely beneficial. Kirkland wasn’t assigned to Cincinnati because of performance or ability. He was assigned because there are so many other talented forwards stationed in Milwaukee and that’s because the same can be said in Nashville. It is far better at this stage in his career for Kirkland to be playing that waiting on the outside looking in for a chance to play in the AHL. That time will come. It always does. Just look at how many PTO signings the Admirals had last season from specifically the Manchester Monarchs, three, just to field a lineup on certain stretched of the season because of injury accumulation. Patience is a great thing. Even more so, just being able to play and learn right here right now at any level will benefit Kirkland and many others in his situation.
Beyond that, everything else today was rather much business as usual. Today’s practice did see the inclusion of Matt White in and out of the fourth line for drills. It’s unclear whether or not he sees playing time for tomorrow night’s game over alternate captain Mike Liambas or not but I sort of have a hard time seeing him get tabbed over anyone else at the moment.
After practice I had the chance to speak with Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with Harry Zolnierczyk who had a scary moment in today’s practice when he was hit by a shot from Vladislav Kamenev to the head. Everything in that department appears to be a-ok, though. Additionally, I spoke with Adam Payerl and Alex Carrier to get their thoughts from the opening games this past weekend. Here is what everyone had to say.
Today was Media Day for the Milwaukee Admirals. It was also the final day that the team will be in town before they travel to San Antonio, Texas for the 2016-17 season opener. The Admirals face-off against the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Before the Media Day activities swung into action we once again got a good look at how the Admirals are setting up shop ahead of this weekend’s games. It might have been a different day but the story was essentially the same in regards to the formation of the line combinations.
It’s a safe bet to say, right now, that Matt White, Justin Kirkland, and Jonathan Diaby will not factor into Saturday’s season opener based on practice all this week. White and Kirkland have essentially been operating as flex options in and out of different drills but they really haven’t had line rushes or other three-man drill sessions like any of the other lines shown above. It could change for the Sunday afternoon game – but we’ll see.
Media Day activities meant several local news outlets turning out to get their season previews in for TV. The day was split between interviews at the MSOE Kern Center rink and at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena by the locker room area. I’m fairly certain you’ll be able to tell which interviews were recorded where.
Today I chatted with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. He had a wee bit of a gaffe when announcing who the team captain was but, thankfully, I also chatted with the newly named Admirals captain Trevor Smith directly after that. Also in the mix were Petter Granberg, Mike Liambas, Juuse Saros, and Anthony Richard. Here is what everyone had to say before packing up the bags for San Antonio.
Happy with who the team has selected as far as the captains are concerned? Do you feel Juuse Saros starts both games this weekend or would it be good to get Jonas Gunnarsson’s North American pro debut out of the way?
Happy Wednesday, everybody. The Milwaukee Admirals 2016-17 regular season is nearly upon us. Today was the second to last practice the team will have in Milwaukee before traveling to San Antonio on Friday for their first two games of the season on Saturday and Sunday.
Yesterday provided a really solid look into how this year’s Admirals team could look on opening night. All reinforcements from the Nashville Predators, including two that passed through waivers, were on hand and the same can be said for early this afternoon. Today saw the exact same line combinations used.
I’m extremely curious as to how Justin Kirkland and Matt White will fit in. They were again used as flex options that rotated in and out with different groups and in a few different situations. I would have expected the two odd-men out to actually be Mike Liambas and Justin Florek but, per practice, it looks like this could be what you get this weekend.
After practice I had the opportunity to swing by the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and get a close up look at the new Admirals locker room. It is simply stunning. The look and feel of the place is NHL quality. Players seem just as awestruck as those of us who have been around the team at the BMO Harris Bradley Center for a number of years. It’s remarkable. And it is still in the process of being fitted with more bells and whistles that will make the place that much more world class.
Once I got the shock factor of my new environment relatively in check I managed to round up a good chunk of interviews. Inside today’s Chatterbox we have: Frédérick Gaudreau, Jack Dougherty, Austin Watson, the aforementioned Kirkland, and Admirals head coach Dean Evason. Here is what everyone had to say this afternoon from the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Apologies if the audio for today’s interviews came in on the loud side. Tried editing that as best I could without distorting things but it just seemed like a hot mic with all the goings on around the locker room construction zone today.
Justin Florek participated in the Boston Bruins playoff run at the end of the 2013-14 season. (Photo Credit: Greg M. Cooper // USA TODAY Sports)
I’m not too certain there is a lot you can take away from last night’s exhibition game other than to say: it happened. A storm of penalty calls descended from the heavens and rained down on the MSOE Kern Center in that game and, whether warranted or not, it all made evaluating the team and individuals a difficult process to do.
If anything, you can say that the Admirals penalty kill did get a heck of a run out. There were a variety of different looks and players getting a chance to get out on the penalty kill and several did a great job. Still, constant penalty killing means playing two forwards at a time and it gets the lines out of whack once things become even strength – although that did feel like a rare occurrence from the second period to the end of the game.
A player I feel did stand out on the evening was Cincinnati Cyclones roster invitee Shawn O’Donnell. Yes, he did have a nice fight against Sam Carrick and everything but past that his play was really good. In such a scrambly sort of game O’Donnell always seemed to provide a positive energy on the ice for the Admirals. That goes for him operating along the boards or seeing him break forward from defense to offense. There weren’t many players, for either team, that made you point and go “him” but for me O’Donnell was that for the Admirals on the night.
The biggest takeaway for me from this game that the Admirals are going to need to work on: passing. It’s the pre-season. There were players playing at a high level game speed that never really played together and the way the penalty killing jumbled up lines it made it all the more of a mess. I get that. But there were hardly tape-to-tape passes that connected in this game from start to finish. So, yes the game was very sloppy and a penalty festival, but it could have been eased a fair bit with crisp clean passes. I suspect with the exhibition game tonight in Chicago and an off-day scheduled for Monday that Tuesday’s practice will be rather dominated by passing drills. I’ll be there to drink those drills in and see if there are improvements.
After the game I was able to chat with goaltender Juuse Saros who played the full contest for the Admirals against the IceHogs. I then chatted with Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as the forwards that officially signed contracts ahead of the game Eric Robinson and Justin Florek. Here is what they had to say following the game.
The battle for the back-up role for the Milwaukee Admirals is a close one. Jonas Gunnarsson made a rather nice case for himself in today’s scrimmage. (Photo Credit: Daniel Lavender)
Day 3 of Milwaukee Admirals Training Camp has concluded and today featured scrimmage action ahead of tomorrow night’s exhibition game against the Rockford IceHogs. As expected, the previous day’s formation of split practice trickled into the lines that squared off today.
With the game tomorrow night at the MSOE Kern Center, and a road exhibition game against the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night, you’d expect a hodgepodge of the lines above to work into the weekend’s events.
The way today’s scrimmage broke down was a first period of five-on-five, second period of four-on-four, and a third period of three-on-three. All periods were ten-minutes in length and the final score was 4-3 in favor of Team Black. Both Anthony Richard and Harry Zolnierczyk score twice for their respective squads in the game. The goalies actually managed to flip around a fair bit to keep things ever rotating and challenging.
There are a few invitees involved in this camp. I have to say it is getting hard for me to imagine Eric Robinson not earning a contract after doing very well at the Nashville Predators Pre-Season Rookie Tournament held in Florida and now picking up another gear here in Milwaukee. These last two days of Training Camp he has actually lined up at center and done extremely well considering he’s a natural winger. The first goal scored in today’s scrimmage was a direct result of a defensive read by Robinson to negate a defensive breakout at the right wing blueline and quickly set up Richard on the back post for a goal. He’s locked in. And its a level of play that forces you to notice because it is happening in all three zones of the ice. In a lot of ways he’s becoming last year’s Adam Payerl – who, for the record, has also looked solid so far.
Richard’s game today will be highlighted by his two goals but what made them happen were a combination of speed and positioning. The first goal I described how Robinson set it up but Richard was quick enough to bolt off the defensive read by Robinson and put himself in a contributing spot for his center to dish it to him. Richard has wheels. And that’s the eye-popping thing of note from Training Camp so far that I have on him. He looked energetic last year when he debuted in the playoffs against the Grand Rapids Griffins and looked so all while banged up with a lower-body injury. He’s healthy now and can really skate with pace and agility. His second goal on the other hand – was less about speed and more about intelligent positional play. He stationed himself towards the right wing side of the net and a puck spilled over for him to smack into the roof of goal. It’s more of that area of the game you’ll hope he shows off with the speed when it comes to this season.
The back-up goaltending battle is still close. I’d have to say though that today’s scrimmage gave a good look at Jonas Gunnarsson and why he could potentially be tabbed over Mark Visentin. Both seemed to be tested with shots far more than Juuse Saros and, of the two, Gunnarsson’s ability to battle for pucks was an encouraging sight. He didn’t seem rattled all that much with lateral action that the offenses would throw at him and, around his crease, he had a pretty commanding presence. He didn’t allow many rebounds and when he did the placement of the rebounds weren’t being shoved off in an area that would cause him trouble. It was a positive effort for Gunnarsson in a game environment. Still, this back-up race is probably going to go down to the wire.
After the scrimmage wrapped up I had the chance to speak with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with defenseman Trevor Murphy as well as the aforementioned goaltender Gunnarsson. Here is what they had to say this afternoon at the MSOE Kern Center.
Final thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s exhibition game against the Rockford IceHogs?
Day 2 of Milwaukee Admirals Training Camp is in the books. With the added pieces that the Nashville Predators assigned yesterday it provided another new look for how the team shaped up. The practice was split into two groups once again this morning and line combinations looked like the following:
All three goaltenders, Juuse Saros included, participated in both sessions. Saros looked his usual Saros self – which is very good – and the battle for the back-up role in Milwaukee still seems pretty deadlocked between Jonas Gunnarsson and Mark Visentin. It’s hard to say either one has a leg up on the other and it is easy to see pros and cons for each. Can Gunnarsson adapt to the North American game as effortlessly as Saros last season? Can Visentin avoid the injury bug and play up to his first round draft pick abilities? Plenty to like from what both provide but the one who finishes up the coming week or so of Training Camp with the best consistency in mechanics and reliability should be tabbed, I’d imagine.
As far as similarities to yesterday’s lines go the look on defense is perhaps the biggest. It looks like the French connection of Jimmy Oligny and Alexandre Carrier might stick while Trevor Murphy and Jack Dougherty provide a highly skilled offensive tandem as a d-pairing. What did change from Day 1 to Day 2 was Carrier’s number. Him being #15 lasted a single day and he will now be #55.
Kidding aside, the bigger change over the two days was seeing Teddy Doherty back in the more natural defensive spot that he plays. He was set-up as a forward on the first day of Training Camp but was splitting defensive rotations with whom I’d expect to be his teammates this season in Cincinnati, Jaynen Rissling and Eric Knodel.
Some last notes to end on from Day 2: Pontus Åberg made his on-ice debut after sitting out of practice yesterday and looked his usual skillful self. Justin Kirkland and Eric Robinson both lined up at center for practice today and looked sharp. Adam Payerl‘s shooting accuracy was pretty eye-opening as he really didn’t seem to miss out on his shots to the net with an active goalie present. He was one of the energetic bright spots for the Admirals against the Grand Rapids Griffins during last year’s playoffs when making his pro debut but Anthony Richard, now at 100% fitness, looks incredible (skating speed, shot, puck movement). Despite looking impressive this Summer at Rookie Development Camp I don’t feel I’ve seen the same spark out of Gabryel Boudreau these first two days of practice.
After practice today I was able to round up a few interviews. Today I chatted with goaltenders Saros and Visentin. I then consulted the leader of the French Fries, Oligny, to talk about this current French Revolution for Nashville, the new baby, the Blue Jays, and this little game called hockey.
Is having a reliable back-up to Juuse Saros a concern of your’s for the 2016-17 Milwaukee Admirals season? Will any of these fringe AHL/ECHL players stick around past the weekend’s pre-season games?
The first day of Milwaukee Admirals Training Camp is in the books. There was a lot to refamiliarize. And lots of new faces to take in. Practice today was split into two groups which both featured three forward lines and two defensive pairings. Goaltenders Jonas Gunnarsson and Mark Visentin worked both groups in net.
I suppose the most glaring thing to take in for the first day of practice is all the new names and faces – even the new numbers. It’s not just that the new players have arrived but players from a season ago have taken to new uniform numbers for the 2016-17 season. You can view the current roster right here to see all the changes. And a big assist on getting those numerals goes out to Aaron Sims.
As far as line combinations went there wasn’t anything major to take in for the first day of practice. The lone notes I’d taken from today really lend itself to the blueline where it appears the Jaynen Rissling “as a forward” experiment is over after one-season. He was skating backwards alongside roster invitee Eric Knodel and those two could potentially pair up in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones. That experiment, tested out on Rissling last season, seems to have shifted to Teddy Doherty on the other hand. Last year’s captain for Boston College is a defenseman but was taking forward practice with a line including Max Görtz and Eric Robinson.
Also on defense I was very interested to find out where the Admirals are looking to plug in first-year pros Jack Dougherty and Alexandre Carrier. Today Dougherty was paired with Trevor Murphy as part of the second group practice and Carrier was joined by Jimmy Oligny in the first group practice. It wouldn’t shock me in the least to see these pairings or lines change throughout the week. This is all about the feel out process and letting everyone get used to one-another before finding something that sticks. That said, the permutations at the Admirals disposal for their rookies this season feel pretty much endless to find the right fit.
After practice I was able to chat with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also spoke with Eric Robinson, Max Görtz, Pontus Åberg, and Jonathan Diaby. Here is what they all had to say at the conclusion of Day 1 of Admirals Training Camp from the MSOE Kern Center.
Thoughts or reactions from the first day of Training Camp? Who impresses you the most out of the invitees and do you feel any have a legitimate chance of sticking around in Milwaukee?
(Photo Credit: Scott Nichol // @RealScottNichol on Twitter)
Today was the conclusion of the 2016 Nashville Predators Rookie Development Camp. The group split into two squads to compete in a scrimmage. In the end it was Team White winning 6-5 over Team Gold in a shootout.
~Rosters and Numerals~
I had been asked about uniform numbers from camp this week so allow me to provide them while breaking down who was on what team for today’s scrimmage.
I’m fairly surprised, as a game, that this went to Team White given how dominant Team Gold were on puck possession in this game. Perhaps much credit can be given to Saros who had a phenomenal spell in net which included some robberies of Fiala from in-close. Amusingly enough the game would be decided between these two in a shootout where Saros’ old pal the post was there for him.
Fiala had a solid game but also a very scary fall into the boards following a hard collision with Pitlick. After the game I was able to see the damages from Fiala who chipped an upper-central tooth clean in a diagonal fashion. That will need repairs but Fiala can rest his head knowing his week was extremely productive. He looked like a men among boys on the ice with his control of speed and skill becoming better and better.
Girard, no relation to Mr. Félix Girard, may have been today’s standout player in the scrimmage. The Predators second round draft choice from the most recent draft did it all and did it all right away. His speed and skating ability allowed for an assist and a goal quickly into the start of the scrimmage and that skating ability is going to set him apart from a lot of defensemen in the system in the years to come. He only turned 18-years old in the middle of May. He’s possibly considered undersized at 5-9. But, frankly, those issues of age and size didn’t show up this week. He looked solid the entire camp and capped it off with a stellar performance in the scrimmage.
Gunnarsson is likely going to end up as the back-up to Saros in Milwaukee this coming season. I had been impressed all this week by what I saw but might have seen a glimpse into where he can struggle adapting to the North American style game. Early in the first portion of today’s scrimmage Gunnarsson was beated with one-timed shots to his glove-side rather easily. It seems as if the Swede’s lateral movements while measuring things in front of him at game speed could be compromised. There was a little too much puck watching and not a lot of anticipation to successfully sweep across laterally. It’s always tricky going from the big European playing surfaces and the more skill based style that the rinks provide to a sped up version with the smaller rink causing for more shots to get through as well as rebound chances. He’ll likely go through the motions a touch here and there but it isn’t to say it is a massive red flag. He’ll just need more time than this week to adjust.
Murphy was selected as the final player to wear the golden helmet for today’s scrimmage. Once again, I like what I’m seeing out of him a lot. We became familiar with Murphy’s stellar hammer of a shot a season ago but it was the quickness in his skating that I feel stood out more to me this week than anything. It’s as if he found a new motor. That combined with the shot should mean great things. Sadly, Murphy’s scrimmage highlight was having a wide open chance to score against Saros only to whistle a slap shot off the glove arm of Saros and out of play.
~Notes & Thoughts from Camp~
Firstly, there were more officially announced signings today that should have AHL impacts. The Nashville Predators signed forwards Harry Zolnierczyk and Trevor Smith to contracts today. Zolnierczyk signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $575,000 (NHL) or $150,000 (AHL). Smith signed a two-year, two-way deal worth $575,000 (AHL) and $175,000 (AHL) for the 2016-17 season and then $650,000 (NHL) and $150,000 (AHL) for the 2017-18 season.
At this week’s Rookie Development Camp you can’t help but look around and feel excited for the upcoming Milwaukee Admirals season as well as the future of the Nashville Predators organization. The team is scouting and drafting some great young talent who should be making splashes as professionals in the not too distant future. The first real “hello” to that fact should be how stacked the 2016-17 Admirals are going to be. Let me take an educated guesstimate of what the Admirals could look like on opening night.
That is stacked. Absolutely stacked. And who is to say the Predators still don’t add more so a Cody Bass or possibly a Colton Sissons joins the mix? The Predators said they’d be looking to shop for bargains. For all I know that could include even more recruits that impact the look of the Admirals line combinations I created. For anyone of these guys to be getting bumped out of the lineup as a healthy scratch or fall to the ECHL is almost shocking – but it could happen with the right signings made by Nashville. You would like to think things stay pretty much as it is but depth and internal competition is a great thing to have.
When looking back again at this past week’s Rookie Development Camp you start eyeballing certain players as potential Admirals and think of how they would translate to an AHL environment. I feel all that I saw this week that pretty much any of the names that attended and participated in this camp could make a splash in Milwaukee this season. Those that were drafted looked sharp. Those that have attended camps such as this in Nashville before looked sharper. And the invitees provided enough of a spark as to show just why Nashville brought them in.
It will be curious how the off-season goes from here. Certainly there is plenty of time for more signings to be made. We are only at Day 2 of NHL Free Agency, mind you. That’s not even to say the Admirals themselves won’t be getting depth pieces of their own. Adam Payerl was a depth addition out of the Cincinnati Cyclones last season as a pre-season camp invitee, for example. There is still a lot that could be done. Bottom line is, if nothing actually does, just look at what the Admirals should be left with to start the 2016-17 AHL Season. If last season’s team felt special early on than I’m expecting a lot of great memories to be made at the UW-Panther Arena come this Fall.
~Chatterbox~
After today’s scrimmage I was able to speak with a good handful of players: Kirkland, Fiala, Saros, Moy, Dougherty, and Richard. Here is what they had to say of the scrimmage, the week in camp, and off-season plans.
Welcome to the month of July and the start of NHL Free Agency. It has already been a wild time this afternoon with the inspiration for most movies Roland Emmerich directs, Alexander Radulov, signing with the Montréal Canadiens. You know that narcissistic lunatic that borders on being a lightning rod for attention? Didn’t the Canadiens just trade away someone they felt was a bit too much like that for a guy who has a history of not liking Radulov that much? You simply cannot make this stuff up.
~Free Agency~
By the time I’m writing this the Nashville Predators have reportedly made two signings: Yannick Weber and Matt Irwin. Weber will likely fill the Predators void of having a right handed shooting defenseman named Weber who wears the #6. Irwin will likely provide the Milwaukee Admirals with some solid veteran stability operating on a two-way contracted role.
Irwin probably just picked up the offer perhaps the Predators might have been thinking about with Corey Potter. Either way, the veteran defenseman has been brought in as the veteran on defense. Irwin is 28-years old and will turn 29 at the end of November. He has played 155 games in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins. Last season he was mainly reduced to an AHL role with the Providence Bruins but provided 30 points (5 goals, 25 assists) in 64 games with a plus/minus rating of +1. To put that in perspective that puts him behind Taylor Aronson and Trevor Murphy on last year’s Admirals roster for points produced by a defenseman.
~Chatterbox~
Today was the final practice for the Nashville Predators Rookie Development Camp at Centennial Sportsplex before tomorrow’s scrimmage at Ford Ice Center. Rounding off the final wave of soon to be, or pending, Milwaukee Admirals I chatted with Alexandre Carrier, Anthony Richard, Jonas Gunnarsson, and Mark Visentin.
Today was the second day of on-ice activities at the Nashville Predators Rookie Development Camp. Where yesterday’s drills seemed to cover some of the warm-up style drills you can see when the Milwaukee Admirals practice at the MSOE Kern Center today’s work at Centennial Sportsplex was far more about stretching out the legs. If there is anything that can be said in a concise fashion about the future of the organization it is that it will be one that can move fast. These kids have some serious speed.
Anthony Richard was a very fun watch in practice today. He arrived late last season in Milwaukee and made his professional playing debut with the Admirals in the playoffs. He played in the entirety of that opening round playoff series against the Grand Rapids Griffins and was one of the few bright spots. He seemed to get better and better. If you might remember though – he wasn’t playing at 100%. He was nursing a lower body injury when he arrived. Didn’t get into the final regular season games. And just squeaked into that playoff series. In practices back then I was impressed. Today? Even more so. He looks to be fully fit and his skating ability is outstanding. The more comfortable he becomes finding that balance between speed and skill the more successful I think the 2016-17 Admirals are going to be.
I was slightly bummed out yesterday that I didn’t see Trevor Murphy on the ice. Seems like he took a knock early on and dialed back. He was on the ice today and you can see what a difference a year of pro experience does when compared to other defensemen in camp. His passing wasn’t just crisp but it was very accurate. If the goal of the Predators defense is to be mobile and play with speed you can look at a guy like Murphy as one of the first proper prospects in the pipeline that exemplifies the qualities the NHL team are looking for the finest. Defensively, he’ll need to clamp down harder -but- he was a first year pro last season. I feel the 2016-17 season in Milwaukee is going to really be a good gauge on how Murphy projects. Is he NHL caliber or not? His shot certainly is. But a shot alone isn’t enough.
~Chatterbox~
After practice I was able to round up two players and a very familiar looking bloke. I chatted with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason to get his thoughts on camp and a few players we’ll be seeing in Milwaukee later this year. I also spoke with Murphy about an embarrassing spill into the boards that he took during breakout drills. Murphy was then kind enough to help assist in doing a mock-interview with Vladislav Kamenev. I deleted the audio out of respect for Kamenev’s nervousness to test his English. He is progressing really well though I think. More than capable to have your standard locker room chatter. Analytical discussions though? Still tough and understandably so. I was happy to give him a go at it and even happier that he took a shot. For those wanting Kamenev audio? Fret yet not. He interview bombs Murphy. Lastly, Thomas Novak who is listed as being from River Falls, Wisconsin but has his heart firmly set in Minnesota. Listen in and you’ll know what I mean quickly.
Admirals Roundtable 