(That’s an REM joke)

So the Predators have signed Steve Begin to a two-way contract.  On The Forecheck has a nice write-up about the signing here, which I’d recommend that you read.

Begin played 77 games last year with the Boston Bruins (and 13 more in the playoffs), but was not re-signed during the off-season by the Bruins, or anybody else.  He can play center or on the wing.

He also has some AHL hardware with his name on it, named the MVP of the 2000-01 AHL Calder Cup playoffs (that’s the Jack A Butterfield Trophy).  That post-season with the St. John Flames, he scored 10 goals and 7 assists in 19 playoff games.  And former Admiral Marty Murray was also on that team…

Just for perspective…2000-01….that was the last year the Admirals were in the IHL.

Admirals sources have told me that provided Begin passes a physical, there’s a decent chance he’ll see some action this Saturday night at the Bradley Center.  And word is also that Jamie Lundmark may be in town by then as well.

If Lundmark plays, I’d like to see him centering Thuresson and Klasen.  And if Begin is ready to go, I’d like to see him playing on a line with Gabriel Bourque.  We’ll see how it shakes out on Saturday.

Some bad news for the Preds, as defenseman Ryan Suter left tonight’s game against Calgary with what looked like a knee injury of some kind.  He didn’t return to the game.

Check out the video at On The Forecheck.

The Predators play next on Thursday night, hosting the Penguins.  And the question now — do they call up a defenseman?

Alexander Sulzer has been scratched in all of the Preds games so far this season, so one line of thinking is that he’ll slide into the starting lineup, and the Preds may or may not elect to call someone up to be the 7th defender. They have gone both routes when presented with this scenerio in previous seasons.

But if they aren’t sold on Sulzer playing, or if they’d like the security of a 7th defender, who do they call up?

Aaron Johnson — The last defenseman sent down during training camp, who reportedly had a better camp than Sulzer.  I think we’ve made it pretty clear how he has played since he has been in Milwaukee so far, but he’s got 225 games of NHL experience, which may trump the last four games here.

Teemu Laakso — Seven games of NHL experience, and kicked a 50 yard field goal the other day.  So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

Brett Palin — Training camp critiques gave him decent marks.  Would be his NHL debut if he skated Thursday.

Jon Blum — After watching Nashville bring in new defenseman after new defenseman….could this be his time to get his first cup of coffee?

Josh Cooper from the Tennessean is tweeting that it’s a minor injury for Suter, with the following quote from Barry Trotz: “No, not too serious, he may miss a little bit of time here, but nothing major.”  So it sounds like it would be just a cup of coffee if someone would get called up.

If there IS a promotion, who do you think it’ll be?

Speaking of Jon Greenberg, during the Home Opener I sat down with the Milwaukee Admirals President for a few a minutes to get his initial thoughts about this year’s club.

Question 1: What are your first impressions of this year’s youthful Admirals?

Greenberg: “As much as we like to see guys come back here year after year, we are all excited to see the prospects that Nashville has in their system that come through here and to see what they are capable of doing.  I like guys such as Blake Geoffrion and Linus Klasen, so hopefully it will be a good year.”

Question 2: Early in the season Milwaukee’s blueline should be one of the team’s strengths.  How do you see the Admirals defense shaping up?

Greenberg: “Defense has always been a strong point in Nashville’s farm system and I don’t think this year is going to be any different.  Once Roman Josi comes back from his injury I think we are going to be even deeper.”

Question 3: What are your early expectations for Milwaukee?

Greenberg: “When you have so many new guys like we do this year, it is about getting used to playing with each other.  I have never worried about the start as long as we are a good team at the finish.”

I’m sure that headline couldn’t be farther from the truth, but I wanted to fit in with all the mis-information that has been spread by both sides in the campaign to be the next governor of Wisconsin.  You can’t talk about the race without putting words in people’s mouths.

That big news Jon Greenberg was tweeting about yesterday?  They were hoping to announce that both candidates would be at the Admirals game this Saturday night, to go along with the promotions that are already planned.

Scott Walker declined the invitation.  Tom Barrett accepted the invitation, and will be there to drop the first puck, and meet and greet with fans/voters/mascots.

According to Greeny, they had been working to get both candidates for the last couple of weeks, but Walker officially turned them down today.

But wouldn’t it have been awesome to see them go sled-to-sled in the human hockey puck?  Or have them skate as racing cups of Merkt’s cheese?  Maybe in the next election….

Suddenly feeling the pinch at the center position, the Predators have recalled Nick Spaling, who should be making is season debut for the Preds on Tuesday night against Calgary.

Matthew Lombardi and Marcel Goc were placed on IR today.  And if you saw any of the game against the Capitals on Saturday night, Jerred Smithson kind of looked out of place on a scoring line.

So in the short term, it looks like Colin Wilson and Spaling will handle the center-duties on the 2nd and 3rd lines.  Wilson had been playing the wing, but is certainly capable of playing in the middle.

So that’s great for Nick.  But what about the Admirals?

Reports are saying that Jamie Lundmark is close to recovering from his groin injury, and he may be ticketed to Milwaukee soon.  He could certainly step right into the spot on the first line vacated by Spaling.  Mike Bartlett or Blake Geoffrion could get promoted to the first line, although Geoffrion hasn’t exactly shown anything to deserve the privilege of playing with Linus Klasen…

Still plenty of time to get the roster sorted out before the Admirals next game on Friday.

Dexshow has officially been re-assigned to the Admirals.  And after our adventures with Chet this past weekend, don’t be surprised to see Dex in two of the three games next weekend.

Meanwhile, on Jon Greenberg’s twitter page, we get this message:

“Hoping for a major news announcement regarding next Saturday’s game vs Abbotsford on Monday. Fingers crossed for some good news.”

Well, October 23rd is my father’s birthday, so they’re probably flying him in for the game.  They delay is that he hates flying, so they’re trying to work out the details.
That would totally be a major news announcement.

Or, some kind of big announcement with Mole Day.  You chemists out there know what I’m talking about!

Maybe the candidates for Wisconsin Governor will be present and handing out the masks at the gates to go along with that promotion?  And kissing hands and shaking babies and whatever else they do.

Maybe a special guest as the Admirals continue The Hunt For Pink October?

Maybe something related to the Packers/Vikings game next weekend?

Just thinking typing out loud.  I guess we’ll find out when we find out.

– Ford looked pretty awful in both of his fights.

– Lots of guys in black jerseys unable to pick up the puck on the Wolves 1st goal.  Yes, Johnson was right there.

– Shootout:  They had the right idea going on the right side, and they would have been goals if there could have been a little more elevation.  And then nice to see Klasen go forehand this time on Pasquale, you know, for a change of pace.

One thing I’d like to put up for discussion:  Interesting choice of the first four shootout players:

1.  Santorelli
2.  Klasen
3.  Van Guilder
4.  Bourque

Don’t know who the fifth shooter would have been, but I’m surprised to see that the following names did not get the chance to shoot:

Thuresson
Halischuk
Geoffrion
Spaling
Bartlett
Mueller
Blum

So Roundtable:  Who would your five shootout guys be and in what order?

I might be what one would call a music snob.  I’m not a huge country music fan, but I know a lot of people are really into it, and that’s cool.

Chris Young (no, not the Padres pitcher, D-backs outfielder, or Broncos defensive back) was in town on Thursday night performing at the beautiful Pabst Theater.  One of the Roundtable regular readers happened to be at that show, and happened to snap this photo…

Is that the new Admirals road jersey that he’s sporting?

Why yes it is! (Thanks to Mr. and soon-to-be-Mrs. ManInTheBox for forwarding this picture).

Turns out, the winner of the Nashville Star competition back in 2006 is a huge Preds fan.  So much that the Preds website has a special video with him.

So that’s pretty cool.

You know what else is pretty cool?  Cal O’Reilly with 3 assists in the Preds 4-3 win over the Blues on Thursday night.  Preds TV caught up with Cal after the game.  We’re just……so damn proud…..sniffle sniffle.

Ads and Wolves Friday night at the Bradley Center.  See you there!