Coach Muller.  We should get used to saying that.

Kirk Muller wasn’t even on the radar when Paul Fenton & company began their search for the next coach of the Admirals.  But then Muller reached out to the Predators, expressed interest, and that sparked some conversations.

And today, it all became official.  Official press conference, phone conference call, other interviews, radio shows.  I tuned in on the conference call this afternoon, but was unable to record it….so I’ll be doing a fair share of paraphrasing from the notes that I was able to take (thanks to Dave Boehler from the Journal Sentinel for a few of the quotes).  But here are some highlights and thoughts.

– Muller isn’t here because he goes way back with David Poile or Paul Fenton.  He isn’t here because he has a long history with the franchise.  He’s never been to Milwaukee.  He’s here because he wants to be a head coach and it’s a good professional move for him to be a head coach at this level and with this organization.  This was repeated many times during the day today.  The guy wanted to be a head coach somewhere.  He wanted to have his own team.  He wanted to grow as a coach and get the support from upper management to help him do so — and that’s something he couldn’t do as an assistant in Montreal.  He talked with a lot of teams at the NHL and AHL over the last month, and the more he talked to Fenton, the more this seemed like a good fit.  And I agree — a good fit for him and for the organization.

He used the phrase “stepping stone” when talking about this move.  But he also gave assurances that he isn’t looking at any kind of timetable or anything — he’s just excited to get to work right now.

– “I really believe players today are taught so much different than when I was a player.  I think those five years in Montreal prepared me for a new generation of players, and what they want and what they expect.”

There is some great young talent on that Montreal team, so he has already made his mark there with the new generation of players.  But on some levels, players are the same today.  Coach brought up the fact that as a player, he’s done everything and had everything happen to him.  He’s been a first line center, 2nd line, checking line, a winger, played the power play, played the penalty kill, won a championship.  And then he added “been a healthy scratch” to that list – which is a place I didn’t expect him to go, but I was impressed that he did.  He knows how Mark Santorelli has felt these last few years because he’s been there.  And from all of this experience, hopefully this will make him an even better communicator than he has been rumored to already be.

–   “It’s great having your smartest players and your fastest guys killing penalties. I think a big strength is you want guys out there who understand it is a role. You have pride in it and it’s not easy. In a systematic way, you’ve got to have all four guys be in sync and be aggressive. You dictate where the power play is going to move the puck rather than vice versa.”

It’s easier said than done.  But if he can somewhat replicate in Milwaukee what he did to the penalty kill unit in Montreal, we should see some better percentages, and maybe some more short-handed goals.  Montreal’s PK% in the playoffs last year?  100%.  21 times shorthanded, 21 penalties killed off.

– One of the things he plans to focus on is how the team plays without the puck.  “If you can do that, you can play in any situation.”  Linus Klasen would have been such a huge headache for him in this area… But this will raise the hockey IQ’s of players in Milwaukee who are able to learn, and boost their development for sure.

– It sounds like he’ll be some kind of hybrid between a tough-love coach and a players coach.  While he highlighted words like “accountability”, “discipline”, and “hard-working”, he also stressed how important it was to build a culture and identity, and that he’s in tune to what players want to know and need to hear.

One of the things he learned from Jacques Martin these last couple of years was how important it was to be organized and prepared.  That sounds like a no-brainer, but again, easier said than done.

– Paul Fenton said that he interviewed over 50 people for this job in Milwaukee.  And he said that Muller will have the freedom to coach the style that he wants….as long as it isn’t too kooky.  Fenton said the upper management will not dictate, but that the talent level might do more of the dictating.

– Muller never played in the AHL.  Remember, he was drafted second overall, behind Mario Lemieux.  On the Center Ice radio show, Wojo got a good laugh out of Coach asking him if he was prepared to embrace the travel-by-bus lifestyle of the AHL.  He’s ready.

– I haven’t heard anything official about Ian Herbers, but he’s still under contract for another year.  And it might be a good idea for Muller to keep Herbie around since he knows the stomping grounds around here pretty well.

So Roundtable…..we’ve got our coach now.  What do you think?  Perfect guy for the job?  Does the “stepping stone” line bother you?  Do you think a hybrid-styled coach can succeed?  Would you rather him lean one way or the other?  Are you ready for free agency season on Friday, or are we moving too fast for you?

We’ll have more on the new Coach a little later this evening…but there’s some other news in the organization to pass along.

– Aaron Sims is reporting that defenseman Brett Palin will be playing in the Czech Republic next season.  I know public opinion varied on him this past season, but I for one am disappointed that he won’t be back with us.  Best of luck overseas, Brett!

– Mark Santorelli is a restricted free agent, and Josh Cooper from the Tennessean tweeted that Santo was not extended a qualifying offer by the Predators.  Best of luck to Mark wherever he may land.  And we’ll make sure to pass along the nickname history wherever he goes…

Dan Gendur also didn’t get the qualifying offer.  Dan who?  Exactly.

– Matt Halischuk, Chris Mueller, Linus Klasen, and Andreas Thuresson all received qualifying offers.  A bit surprised by the latter two there… I’d be interested to know what David Poile’s expectations are…

– Also surprising is the development that Steve Sullivan is not going to be offered a contract from the Predators.

– The Phoenix Coyotes won’t be affiliated with the San Antonio Rampage next year, as they have signed a multi-year year deal with the Portland Pirates (as in Portland, Maine….not Oregon….which can’t be great for emergency player movement…).  The Rampage are rumored to be going with Florida, but they haven’t made an announcement yet.  Rumor also has it that Anaheim may be shopping for a new affiliate too, so that may complicate things a bit.

The Admirals have their new head coach.

Former player Kirk Muller will lead the Admirals bench this season, replacing the promoted Lane Lambert.

The status of assistant coach Ian Herbers is still in question, although he still has another year on his contract.

Muller was the 2nd overall pick of the 1984 draft, and his playing career took him from New Jersey, to Montreal, to Long Island, to Toronto, to Miami, and then to Dallas.  He retired at the end of the 02-03 season, but was then hired to be an assistant coach with Montreal for the 06-07 season, and he has been there since.

This will be his first pro head coaching gig, so there’s still some question about what kind of a ship he will run.  He has the experience of playing under 20 different head coaches, going back to his junior teams….and some names that he could have learned a thing or two from along the way….  Demers, Martin, Burns, Murray, Hitchcock, and others.

From the accounts of people that have worked with him previously, he sounds like a great guy for the job.  From a media standpoint, I can’t wait to work with him.  And from a fan standpoint, I can’t wait to see what he can do with the youngsters in the organization.

We’ll add some quotes from the conference call later this afternoon…..

When the dust settled after the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, and the Moose moved to Newfoundland, the Chicago Wolves were without a parent club.

Today, it was officially announced that the Vancouver Canucks will be the NHL affiliate for the Wolves this season.

Our friend the Wolfkeeper was nice enough to answer a few questions about how the future of the Wolves is looking to the locals south of the border.

AR:  Personally, do you like the new affiliation?  Is there a team that’s looking that you would have rather partnered with?

WK:  I would have preferred the Blackhawks simply from an emotional standpoint. They were my first love of any professional sport. I never quit being a Hawks fan even in the lousy years, and think the two teams could really benefit from each other.

Having given it a lot of thought the past week, I am looking forward to a Vancouver affiliation. They in fact were a team I followed pretty regularly the past few years, simply because I enjoyed Jim Hughson’s calling of games and the Canucks were usually the late game on Center Ice. I was pretty impressed with the Moose the past few seasons, and hope that can be replicated here.

AR: How do you think the day-to-day operation of the Wolves will be different with the new club?  The Thrashers seemed very hands-off.

WK:  I’m not sure they were that “hands-off” as some believe. Rarely did a home game go by where I didn’t see someone from Atlanta’s staff at the arena: scouts, GM or assistant GM, etc. Personally, I hope the Wolves and Canucks can agree on a coach, or allow the Canucks to bring in their own head and assistant coaches.

AR:  Do you think Rosemont will still be a haven for 4A players like Haydar and Krog, or do you think that the youth movement will be front and center?

WK:  I think so, although not as many in the past. For now I’m going to assume they’ll follow the blueprint they had with the Moose, which included some independent signings. I’m of the opinion that a balance can be struck between veterans and prospects alike in the nightly lineup.

AR:  Do you think people will get past the whole ‘Helping Vancouver’ stigma?

WK:  I know many Wolves season ticket holders, and they fall into three camps: those that could care less who we’re affiliated with, those that are already set to buy their first Vancouver sweaters having burned their Atlanta goods, and those that are Hawks fans as well. Amazingly enough, I know a few Hawk fans that are fine with it (and they’re Hawks STHs as well.)  I really don’t think it will affect the Wolves at the gate. The big crowds are on weekends and are full of people looking for a night out at a hockey game, and I’m pretty sure 99% of them couldn’t tell you who the Wolves are affiliated with or if a player has an AHL or NHL contract.

If TSN is reporting it, it’s got to be true, right?

So mixed in with all the affiliation announcements on Monday, keep an eye out for some kind of official press release from the Preds and Admirals.  Maybe around noon or so…..because that’s when they’ve scheduled “an announcement.”

After earlier reports were linking him to be the new coach of the Chicago Wolves, there have been new rumors that Kirk Muller will sign on with the Predators to be the new coach of the Milwaukee Admirals.

Nick Kypreos (who apparently is an ‘insider’ now) tweeted earlier on Saturday that…

“Kirk Muller ends his run with Canadiens. Word off draft floor is he’ll sign with Predators as new farm team coach in Milwaukee”

And then the Puck Daddy blog followed up with this tweet:

“Preds GM David Poile: Kirk Muller to AHL Milwaukee “not official” yet, says “we’re going to talk again.”

(SUNDAY UPDATE:  Bob McKenzie sends off this tweet: 

Expect NSH to announce tomorrow that Kirk Muller is the head coach of its AHL team in Milwaukee.

That’s lots of AHL announcements tomorrow)

Muller has been an assistant with the Habs for the last 5 seasons, after 1,349 regular season games as a player, and 127 playoff games.

This isn’t the first gig that he has been a candidate for this year, so we have the benefit of reviewing all of the coaching candidate profiles that have already been written over the last couple of months….to try and get an idea of what kind of coach Muller might be.

Defending Big D is the On The Forecheck equivalent of the Dallas Stars, and they wrote an endorsement in June, prior to Gully getting the job there.

Hockey Wilderness had this piece that included Q&A with a Habs blogger, which I think is my favorite of the profiles that I have found.  Here are a couple of cherry-picked quotes.

He’s coached  Montreal’s PK unit for several years now, both under Carbonneau and Martin.  He  was the only coach in the entire organization who was not fired after the  2008-09 disaster, and that’s including all the AHL coaches.

He’s played a bit of the ‘good cop’ role in Montreal under Martin.  Martin kept  him on staff from Carbo’s group because he wanted an ex-player on staff to be an  effective communicator to the team.  While Martin does the yelling about detail,  Muller is the positive reinforcement guy.  He’s often talking to players during  the games after they’ve made mistakes.

And here’s a bit from a New Jersey Devils blog……. and one cherry picked quote from there too.

“…he started becoming an NHL assistant after the lockout.  That’s key because he knows how the new NHL works.  He knows how to use the firepower up front to his best advantage.  The coaches we’ve had in the past few season hadn’t really adapted well to the new NHL right away.  Brent Sutter was the only exception but he went on to herd some cattle or something and ditched the Devils.  The Devils passed on guys like Guy Boucher, who I felt would’ve been a perfect addition, for more established coaches.  This gives them the chance to finally take that shot on an up and coming coach many people feel will excel at the next level. And Kirk has had young teams in Montreal and done very well with the them.  He knows how to connect with the youth, something that will be key in picking a new coach.”

So we’ll wait patiently for an official confirmation or denial…. but Roundtable, if this is true, do you give it the move…

“Thumbs up?”
“Thumbs down?”
“Ask me in April?”

Man, if ESPN pretended the NHL draft was even a 5th as important as the NBA draft….I think we’d all be pretty happy.

We’ll get to meet some of the Admirals and Predators of the future over the next two days.

Unless the Preds make a trade of some kind, they’ll like just be sitting on the floor of the XCel Energy Center with popcorn in tow, as they currently don’t have a first round pick due to the Mike Fisher trade.  But GM David Poile has admitted that there have been offers from other teams to provide a 1st round pick, in exchange for one of the youngsters in the system.  We’ll see if he takes them up on it….maybe find a new home for Charles-Olivier Roussell….

Round 1 is on Versus tonight.

Josh Cooper from the Tennessean has a nice draft preview….It’s a nice piece, except for one segment which I think should have been left on the chopping room floor.  Because Hockey’s Future doesn’t know anything!!!!!!!!

“They could use some skill,” said Ken McKenna, managing editor of HockeysFuture.com.

“The best guys will probably go high in the draft, but they could get somebody who slips to the second round.”

Where else can we get that kind of analysis?  Sounds like John Madden has a new gig.  The sad thing, is that’s probably the best quote Josh got from HF.  All together now…..sigh.

Section 303 highlights some names to keep an eye on.

———————–

Mazel tov’s to former Admirals coach Claude Noel, who will remain in Winnipeg to coach the NHL team this season.  The Puck Daddy blog weighs in, and is not surprised.

Pretty predictable, this one: Haviland was GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s guy in Chicago, Noel worked under True North Sports and Entertainment, which owned and operated the Moose before buying and relocating the Thrashers.

So the general manager liked one guy, and the guys who sign his checks were familiar with the other guy. And look who got the gig!

Best of luck to Claude!

———-

The 2011-12 NHL schedule came out yesterday, and with Winnipeg playing in the Southeast division this season, conventional wisdom suggests that they would probably be getting the most frequent flyer miles of the whole league.

They have their fair share, but it’s not the most.

Dirk from On The Forecheck put out his annual Super Schedule shortly after the NHL schedule was released.  Always a very interesting read, so I highly encourage you to check it out.

From the Preds press release…

This week’s launch is the conclusion of a lengthy process which included fan focus group input, input from season ticket holders, meetings with the Reebok NHL design team, designed to showcase a more contemporary and aggressive look by streamlining the original logo with tweaks like shading on the teeth and adding a distinctive gold color band through the logo.

In addition to the team logo, the Preds also unveiled a new secondary logo designed to represent the Tennessee state flag and Nashville’s music city heritage. The guitar pick shape recognizes the Music City heritage and influence, while the three stars signify the East, Middle and Western parts of the state in similar shape and design as the state flag.

The wordmark and secondary NP mark were both updated to remain consistent with the new color scheme, look, feel and font treatments showcased in the logos.

Neato torpedo, eh?  What do you think?

Our friends at the Section 303 blog made the trek to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show, where several folks in the Predators organization are nominated for awards.  Among them, David Poile is nominated for GM of the year.

Here’s something about David Poile — He is amazingly generous with his time.  Not only that, but he usually gives very thoughtful answers to whatever questions we send his way.  As a member of the media, that’s priceless.  I have had the good fortune to talk to him on several occasions, and have nothing but great things to say about the man.

Anyway…..back to the point….he gave an interview to the folks from Section 303, and he may have let a proverbial cat out of a proverbial bag a little bit early.

Read the full interview for sure…..but here’s the part that caught everyone’s eyes:

303: Please squash the rumor that, if you re-sign him, Marcel Goc is the so-called “replacement” for Matthew Lombardi.
DP: We’ve talked to Goc about a contract and we just re-signed Cal O’Reilly. I mean I think, in my own mind, if Lombardi came back, I could certainly see him more easily playing the wing than at center. I think this falls under “let’s get some quality over the quantity” and then we’ll figure it out. We’re short a top six forward so if we get Lombardi back maybe he starts on the fourth line and works his way up.

I haven’t seen any numbers for the contract, and the signing isn’t on capgeek.com yet….but mazel tov to the Preds, and mazel tov to Cal!

And mazel tov to Section 303.  Great interview.  That’s the kind stuff that John Glennon could only dream about.

Refreshing your memory, Aaron Sims had a great blog post about the coaching vacancies in the division.  Here is a cherry-picked quote from that post.

Some names that you’ll hear for any (or all) of these jobs: Ian Herbers, Paul Jerrard, Troy Ward, Brad Berry, Todd Richards, Brad Lauer, Cory Clouston and others.

Herbie, we know.  Brad Lauer we remember.  Todd Richards is recently employed.  So let’s take a look at some of those other coaches and learn about their stories.  Today, we’ll get to know Troy Ward.

1.  If you like your coaches to have a ton of NHL playing experience, you won’t find that with Ward.  Not much of a playing career….But he’s been coaching longer than Gabriel Bourque has been alive.  He has coached at the college, AHL, NHL, and ECHL level.  He is also the driving force behind the hockey camp known as Hockey & Sons, where you and your blue chip prospect can both go to skills camp together.  (It’s actually looks pretty awesome…check out the camp video if you click over to that site.)

2.  Troy has ties to Wisconsin.  He was an assistant coach for the Badgers under Mike Eaves for three seasons.  He coached players like Robbie Earl, Joe Pavelski, Jake Dowell, Adam Burish, and Rene Bourque.  But his tenure at Madison ended in a peculiar fashion, as he was fired by Eaves in the summer of 2005.  The two went way back long before the Badgers, and it sounds like there were some hurt feelings when it all went down.

Some quotes from Eaves on the decision:

“In my mind, I’m relieving (Ward) of his duties and asking him to go and find where his passion is.  It’s a reflection of where (Ward) is in his life because he’s in between.  He’s in between trying to figure out if he wants to be a businessman, if he wants to be a head coach. Where is the best place he can reach his maximum? 

“Every year, in the summertime, alumni hear about Troy looking for different jobs and say, Gee, what’s going on?’ And then the players hear about it and there’s always questions.  Every summer we were looking at different options. This is now time for him to figure out what he wants to do.

“Hopefully in two or three years — whatever time period you want to take — he’ll be able to say, Thanks, I needed that at that time. I didn’t want it, but I needed it,’ “

It’s a weird stance….Eaves walks the line between ‘you need to do this for yourself’ and ‘I’m tired of dealing with your popularity every summer’.  Ward stands by the fact that he never would have done (and never did) anything to hurt the program while he was employed there, and he felt he was blindsided.  Nevertheless, he landed on his feet.

Since his exodus, Ward has assisted with Milwaukee Admirals radio broadcasts (another local connection) was a head coach in the ECHL, an assistant coach and assistant GM with the Houston Aeros, and an assistant coach with the Abbotsford Heat last season.

And remember when Tony Hrkac came out of retirement to play the stretch drive with the Aeros?  Troy Ward made that call.

3.  Versatility.  He really has worked in every aspect of the industry.  Whether it’s the business side, roster management side, media relations side, or on-ice-product side, Ward has worn many different hats over his career.

4.  Everyone loves him.  Ok, that may be overstating things a bit, but I was able to find some ringing endorsements from people who had previously worked with him.

Aaron Sims speaks highly of Ward, having worked with him in the radio booth.

“Personally, I love the guy.  He’s been waiting for a head job forever. He’s very easy to talk to and so honest about everything. He really is like Lane (Lambert) in so many ways.

“Troy was awesome on broadcasts.  He was able to communicate what and why things happened in a small amount of time.  He explained everything great and was precise and concise.”

Ward spent three years with the Aeros organization, so I reached out to a couple of the folks from The Third Intermission blog, for their memories of Ward.

First, Andrew Ferraro, who also writes for the Chron…

“Troy helped many players to career years, many of them complimenting the coaching staff with improving their attention to detail and responsibility in the role they should have.  Corey Locke, Mitch Love, Max Noreau, Joel Ward, Cal Clutterbuck and Erik Reitz are all guys that would be very complimentary of Ward.”

That’s 525 games of NHL experience among that group.  And then there’s Locke, who led the AHL in points this year, before being a Calder Cup champion.

Here’s our friend Ms. Conduct…

“Love love LOVE that man. Extremely nice. Great teacher. Wonderful with the media. Even keeled. I felt like he was the good cop/positive guy a lot of times in relation to (Coach Kevin) Constantine’s bad cop/taskmaster.  But he seems quite bright, a good people person, so I don’t see that nice guy thing getting in the way of getting what he wants out of the guys. I would wager he’s more of what people would call a ‘player’s coach’ and that seems to be the kind of guy players respond to more these days.”

The guy has been working in the AHL for the last four years, so there isn’t really an adjustment that needs to be made there.  He brings so much experience with him to the table, and I think he would make an AHL team very happy, should they elect to make him their head coach this year.