So here are stat lines over the last three seasons for two players:

Player A:
07-08:  63 games, 11g, 7a, 100 PIM
08-09:  72 games, 4g, 12a, 124 PIM
09-10:  51 games, 6g, 10a, 40 PIM
Total:  186 games, 21g, 29a, 264 PIM

Player B:
07-08:  66 games, 8g, 11a, 179 PIM
08-09:  80 games, 15g. 17a, 160 PIM
09-10:  52 games, 18g, 22a, 231 PIM
Totals: 198 games, 41g, 50a, 570 PIM

One of them has played almost 300 games in the NHL.
One of them has played zero games in the NHL.

Player A is Jordin Tootoo.
Player B is Kelsey Wilson.

Of course, some of the difference in statistics is that Tootoo has been playing against the best hockey players in the world in the NHL, and Kelsey has been playing in Milwaukee and Europe.  But one could argue that the role of the two players is very similar.

The Predators are the ones that invited him back, so obviously they see value in him as a player.

For discussion:  What does Kelsey Wilson need to show us this year to have a realistic shot at cracking the Predators roster at some point?

(photo credit:  Scott Paulus)

As mentioned earlier Mark Dekanich has officially been recalled to Nashville.  Jeremy Smith will replace Dekanich on the Ads.  Smith last year was the co-playoff MVP for the Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL championship run.

Dekanich recall comes with Pekka Rinne battling injury and back-to-back Nashville games Wednesday and Thursday.

Bryan Mullen from the Tennessean spoke with Barry Trotz today.

Bryan tweeted the information Barry said.

Barry said Dekanich is getting recalled today.

Still waiting for the official announcement, which will come when all parties are good and ready to make it.

That is all.

One of the things that we enjoyed doing back at the Short Shifts blog was calling out hockey writers who presented garbage to their readers. Frequent targets were the Iowa Chops media relations team, John Glennon from the Tennessean, and bloggers who give GOOD bloggers a bad name.

After reading this post from The Hockey News, I’m motivated to keep the tradition going, in a new feature we’re going to call “TAKING OUT THE TRASH”.

First off, I must give credit to Ms. Conduct at The Third Intermission (A Houston Aeros blog that has consistently been one of the best in the league), who posted a piece about this story on Thursday.

The Hockey News decided, hey, the season is about to start, so we’d better rank all the AHL teams.  That’s what everyone else does, right?  Make lists…and stuff.

This seems like the biggest waste of time in the world.  Content for the sake of content.  The AHL is a developmental league, and it’s doubtful that this Patrick Williams guy took the time to actually review the rosters of all 30 teams.  He didn’t take a look at prospects making their debuts, or 2nd year players looking to take the next step in their development.

I imagine the prep that went into his post included a list of off-season transactions and a copy of last year’s standings.  Nothing more.

So here are the rankings for the West Division, along with what fails the sniff test for “analysis”.

Chicago (5th overall):  Darren Haydar and Jason Krog are reunited once more, giving the Wolves perhaps the most dangerous 1-2 punch in the AHL.

Anyone could have written that in their sleep.  Ok, so that’s two guys on one line.  Anything notable about the rest of the team?

San Antonio (7th overall): Phoenix Coyotes affiliate added Garrett Stafford and Nolan Yonkman on defense to go with netminder Matt Climie.

He drops Yonkman’s name?  HA!  Was he the missing link this whole time for the Rampage?  They probably still will be improved, but it’ll be due to the development of some of their prospects (MacLean, Tikhonov) and some decent veteran talent added to compliment them (Stapleton, Kearns, Beaudoin)

Peoria (10th overall): The Rivermen have a shiny, new blueline with Dean Arsene, Ian Cole and Nathan Oystrick headlining it. Will rookie Jake Allen push Ben Bishop in net?

Ah, that shiny new blue line….which doesn’t have Jonas Junland on it anymore.  They did give up the most goals of all teams in the division last year, but is 30 year old Dean Arsene (-12 last year) really that much to get excited about?

Oklahoma City (11th overall): Picking up sniper Alexandre Giroux plus proven veterans Martin Gerber, Brad Moran, Ben Ondrus and Richard Petiot will provide a cushion for an organization rebuilding at every level.

Gerber split time with former Admiral Jan Lasak in the KHL last year and he’s 36.  It’ll be interesting to see if Giroux will have the same success outside of Hershey.  Production-wise, Ben Ondrus isn’t exactly a “proven veteran”.  But the team has a nice collection of 4A-type players.

  Milwaukee (18th overall): A strong net tandem and typically solid defensive group will keep this club in games.

Care to drop any names?  No?  Ok.  I guess that would have required some work.  I understand.

Rockford (23rd overall): Not unlike the parent Chicago Blackhawks, the hockey world picked over Rockford’s roster in the summer.

AHL vets deciding to play elsewhere doesn’t exactly equate to the hockey world picking over Rockford’s roster.  Yes, their top 7 scorers from last year are elsewhere, be it in the Blackhawks lineup or in another organization.  But Rockford will boast some of the proceeds from the Hawks fire sale.  They’ve got some former 60 point scorers on the team, and they’ll give their prospects the chance to shine right now.  But to say that the hockey world picked apart their roster is just silly.  Only one of the Admirals top seven scorers is returning (Blum), but we’re not blaming the hockey world…and we’re not panicking either!

Texas (24th overall): The Stars surprised many observers in giving Hershey a six-game fight in the Calder Cup final last season. But the off-season was not kind to the Stars.

The off-season was not kind to the Stars.  In what way?  Yeah, some guys signed with other teams.  But they’re returning 15 guys who played with the team last year!  And Brent Krahn will hopefully (for them) be healthy and ready to pick up right where he left off.  They may regress towards the median a bit, but how do they go from Calder Cup runners-up to 24th out of 30 teams in the rankings?

Houston (27th overall): Much will depend on two goalies: newcomer Josh Tordjman and rookie Matt Hackett.

That’s the big analysis that justifies your selection of them as 27th best in the league?  Goaltending didn’t seem to be the major problem last year, and Anton Khudobin should be back in the fold.  Scoring a division worst 206 goals was the problem.  If they can improve on that, they’ll likely finish higher than 27th overall.

Patrick Williams!  Congratulations on your horrible article!  (and you’re welcome for the web-traffic.)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to hockey season.

The Abbotsford Heat are first up for the Admirals — a team that they beat only once in four tries last season.  They’re also a team with 2 points in the standings already, after defeating the Grand Rapids Griffins in a shootout on Friday night.

The Heat is a young team — 8 of the 24 players on the roster were playing for their junior team last season.  And for four others, this is their second year.

That’s not to say that there won’t be some familiar names on their roster this year.  Both goalies currently on the roster played with the Heat last season — Leland Irving and Matt Keetley.  Cam Cunning and Chris Chucko are back, as is JD Watt, who was 5th in the league last year in penalty minutes.  Perhaps Watt and Kelsey Wilson will re-aquaint themselves.

But the Heat will also be boasting two of the top four prospects of the Calgary Flames system this year, according to Hockey Futures —  forward Greg Nemisz and center Mitch Wahl.  The latter made an immediate impact when he joined the Heat at the end of his junior season at the end of last year.  In four regular season games he had four points, and tallied six points in 12 playoff games.  He netted the game winning goal in the only game Abbotsford won in their playoff series against Hamilton.  And rookie center Brian Cameron lead the OHL in scoring last season.  Those are three guys to keep an eye on Saturday night.

As for the Admirals, they named their captain this week (thanks to CreedFeed for breaking the news after the season ticket holder event on Thursday), and it’s the former captain of the Abbotsford Heat, defenseman Brett Palin.  Fellow defensemen Scott Ford and Aaron Johnson are set to wear the “A” to start out.  While I’m sure a lot of fans were cheering for Ford to get the nod since he has had the seniority, Palin will be perfect for the job.  He’s done it before, he’ll be a great leader on and off the ice, and he’ll set a great example for some of the young talent on the team.

And finally, Aaron Sims had linked to this video on his blog, but it’s timely, so I’ll do it here too.  Here’s the youtube clip of Abbotsford head coach Jim Playfair losing his mind.  See you at the BC!

About 48 hours until the new season.

Alexander Sulzer cleared waivers, but he hasn’t been assigned to Milwaukee yet.  In the grand scheme, it’s not the worst thing….It’s not like we have a shortage of defensemen on the roster at the moment.  Dirk at On The Forecheck sums the Sulzer situation up nicely.

“They now have a 30-day (or 10 game) window in which they can send him down to the Admirals before requiring another waiver, if they decide later on to do so. Presumably he’s still here to serve as a 7th defenseman, particularly since Shane O’Brien has to get paperwork in place to begin work in the U.S. as he transitions from Vancouver. You never know when bureaucratic delays can turn messy, so it wouldn’t make sense to send Sulzer down before (at the very least) O’Brien is on the ice in Nashville.”

Josh Cooper has a feature piece on Cal O’Reilly at the Tennessean website.

Aaron Sims has a new blog entry on the Admirals website.  He breaks down the defensemen on the roster, makes a Steve DeBerg reference, and gives an update on Roman Josi’s injury.

And finally this morning, don’t know if you had the chance to check out Jon Greenberg’s chat JSOnline….but if you didn’t, this link will take you there!

While we were all worried about goalie waiver claims yesterday, the Preds were mulling other moves.

And two of them came out of left field today.

They traded defenseman Ryan Parent and forward Jonas Andersson (both former Admirals) to Vancouver, in exchange for defenseman Shane O’Brien and a prospect (forward Dan Gendur).

Then, they placed defenseman Alexander Sulzer on waivers, likely with the intention of sending him to Milwaukee.  This comes a day after defenseman Aaron Johnson cleared waivers, and set sail for Cream City.  This also leaves the Preds with just 6 defenseman on their roster.

Makes you wonder if there isn’t more stuff in the works too.

Why O’Brien?  Josh Cooper from the Tennessean sums it up nicely here:

“Expe­rience plays a big role in the NHL, and Parent had pla­yed 102 games in an injury-plagued career, while O’Brien had been a regu­lar for two con­se­cu­tive divi­sion cham­pionship teams.”

Ultimately, this was a salary dump for the Canucks, since they were over the cap, and need to not be by Wednesday.  Both Parent and Andersson were placed on waivers as soon as the deal was done, so we MAY be seeing both of them as members of the Manitoba Moose this year.

Unless someone claims them.  Someone…..maybe, Nashville?  I don’t even know if that’s possible, or if the CBA would frown on it (the CBA and I haven’t been on speaking terms for quite some time now).  But it’d be a pretty shrewd move by David Poile if he went that route…..basically trading for a tough defenseman, and then claiming what he gave up on waivers the next day!

A question that’ll need to be answered is where this Dan Gendur guy goes.  He’s Nashville property now.  Does he get a ticket to Milwaukee or Cincy?  Last year he split time between Johnstown and Victoria of the ECHL, recording 12 points in 29 games.  Cincy is my bet.

As far as Sulzer goes, he’s on a one-way contract, so he’s making the same change no matter where he plays.  He may get claimed, or he might sneak through and add some more scoring and leadership to what is becoming an incredibly deep batch of defenseman in Milwaukee.  The thing that makes him different than Aaron Johnson, is that Sulzer would need to pass through re-entry waivers should the Preds attempt to bring him back up.  Johnson would not have to go through those motions.

Blum, Sulzer, Josi (when healthy), Palin, Johnson, Lewis, Ford, and Lehman.  Pretty solid group.

Sorry Julien Brouillette….we may be hearing of your release sometime soon.

We’ll find out the waiver fates of Parent, Andersson, and Sulzer late tomorrow morning.

So yeah….that’s a lot to digest.  What do you make of it, Roundtable? Leave a message.

Question #1: What are you looking for out of your veterans during training camp and to start the season?

Coach Lambert: The first thing we are looking from our veterans is for leadership and direction for our younger guys, which is going to be critical.  That is a big job for them, to lead and to lead by example.  Later on we will establish our captains and assistants, which at this point is still a work in progress.  However, our veterans are here to get better and work to get better every day just like everyone else, but they are also here to show the younger kids that this is how it is done at this level.

Question #2: Has there been players at camp that have surprised you or stepped up and showed you something unexpected?

Coach Lambert: There have been signs and flashes for a few different guys, but I am not getting into any names.  But our preseason games (against Rockford and Chicago) are more indicative of somebody stepping up.  Players can be ok in practice, but where they really want to show what they are made of, they do it in the exhibition games, which are part of the evaluation process.

Question #3: What are looking for this season out of Blake Geoffrion, who just finished his career at the University of Wisconsin?  Is there more pressure on him playing professional hockey in state?

Coach Lambert: Obviously Blake has great potential, but he is no different than any other rookie.  He is going to have to establish himself, but there is a difference between the pro level and the college level, no question.  He is going to have to dedicate himself now that hockey is a full time job.  My job is to help get guys up to the National Hockey League and help develop players for the Nashville organization, and he is one of those players.

Question #4: When coaching first year and second year players who are used to being top-line guys with their former teams in college and in juniors, how do help them establish new roles and adjust their games to be successful professionally?

Coach Lambert: It starts with communication between me and a player.  Though this is a team game, it is played by individuals, some 22 or 23 guys, so it is important that we have a great line of communication and continue to work with the players and help them.  But what a player’s role is going to be is a decision that has to be made by us (as a staff).  Then the players have to accept that role and do what’s best for the team.

Question #5: How do you see your goaltending battle shaping up?

Coach Lambert: Our goaltending comes from in the Nashville Predators organization, but it is no different than any other position, with our decision being based on who is playing better than who.  At the end of the day, the best guy is going to end up playing more often.  We’ve been evaluating since day one, September 17^th at Nashville, so I have a pretty good clue as to how it is going to shape up, but our exhibition games were critical for both Chet Pickard and Jeremy Smith.   (Authors note:  Since this question was asked, Jeremy Smith was assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, while Milwaukee added goaltender Mark Dekanich, who was a late cut from Nashville)

Hey hey!

– Defenseman Aaron Johnson cleared waivers, so he should be Milwaukee bound.  This may or may not impact the stay of Julien Brouillette, who avoided the pink slip on Sunday.

– Did you catch the twitter-madness about LA Kings goaltender Erik Ersberg?   The goalie was placed on waivers on Monday, and shortly thereafter, it was being reported/suggested that the Predators were going to be placing a waiver claim for Ersberg.

There’s a good summary of the whole charade here (note the part where Barry Trotz says that there is no interest in the guy), but here’s the short version courtesy of On The Forecheck that sums it up nicely:

“It appears that what we have here is a combination of semi-informed speculation from reputable journalists, and rumor-mongering from overzealous, hockey-deprived fans.”

It’s a little bit shame on them (the reporters), and a little bit shame on us (the fans).  It shows what an amazing tool twitter can be, but also shows how it can be abused if not used properly.  It’s another bruise in the mainstream media versus blogger media battle.

Of course, the Preds may still claim him on Tuesday and we’ll have some major goalie issues to sort out…. We’ll find out after 11am.

– Time to introduce some of the other cast members here at the Roundtable that’ll be leading some of the discussions this season!

First off, meet Andy Grebe.  Andy was an intern with the Admirals communication department last year, but he’s no stranger to the Milwaukee sports media.  He’s opinionated, he’s tech savvy, and can formulate complete sentences….so he’ll be an asset around these parts.

Also, pretty soon you’ll meet Jason Karnosky.  He’s a bona fide hockey writer, who will be providing some feature stories for the Admirals main website, and we’ll be poaching a few stories from him too.

And that’s the end of this post.