Saros is still among the best AHL goaltenders statistically this season. The only catch is that he hasn’t played in the AHL since 12/12/16. In 13 starts for the Admirals this season Saros has a record of 11-2-0-0 with a 1.76 goals against average, 0.938 save percentage, and a shutout. He has managed to better some of those numbers with the Nashville Predators in the NHL this season: 1.25 goals against average, 0.957 save percentage, and a shutout from 8 starts.
The Admirals are down to Alex Carrier as their lone representative. Though, given how often things can change, you never know if more AHL All-Star roster shake-ups could take place prior to the event. This just so happened to be the first tweak and it could be that there are more prior to the event on January 29–30th.
The Nashville Predators ever changing roster landscape keeps on keeping on. Today they officially claimed defenseman Brad Hunt off waivers from the St. Louis Blues and placed defenseman Petter Granberg on injured reserve. The Predators then reassigned forward Kevin Fiala to the Milwaukee Admirals.
Both teams are in action tonight across North America as the Admirals play on the road against the Charlotte Checkers and the Predators are on the road facing the Vancouver Canucks.
The acquiring of Hunt is a move that makes me smile for two reasons. The obvious being that it avoids him from joining the AHL ranks with the Chicago Wolves where he was a destroyer of worlds offensively this season: 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) in 23 games. The second reason being that he can really fit in perfectly for the Predators system on defense.
At 28-years old it feels as if Hunt is beginning to play the best hockey of his career. He was always a great offensive minded defenseman from the moment he turned pro and his 0.73 points per game average across 287 career AHL games speak to that. Yet, this season had been his best and it has pushed him into 9 games with the Blues in the NHL where he has delivered 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists).
Fiala being reassigned today is a small shock to the system but one that doesn’t feel entirely down to performance. This recent run in the NHL for Fiala has seen him take a large leap forward. The problem might just come down to consistency of his production and work rate shift-to-shift. Fiala has 9 points (6 goals, 3 assists) in 32 games for the Predators and 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists) in 7 games with the Admirals this season.
Given the way that the Admirals have performed recently, with a struggling offense, the addition of Fiala will be a much welcome boost. The offense has been desperate for goals during a now four-game losing streak with all defeats coming in regulation. Fiala could be the igniter that this group needs to get the fire burning once again.
The Nashville Predators have acquired Cody McLeod from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Félix Girard. The trade occurs prior to the Predators playing against the Avalanche in Colorado tomorrow afternoon and prior to the Milwaukee Admirals game tonight at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Nashville, TN – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced Friday that the club has acquired forward Cody McLeod from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Felix Girard.
McLeod, 32 (6/26/84), has appeared in 659 games over 10 NHL seasons, all with Colorado, amassing 1,359 penalty minutes and 117 points (66g-51a). The Binscarth, Manitoba native has played in 28 games for the Avalanche this season and recorded 52 penalty minutes. He notched his first point of the season on Dec. 31 vs. the Rangers with a goal at 1:59 of the first period.
Originally signed by Colorado in 2006 as an undrafted free agent, McLeod has recorded eight fighting majors this season, fourth-most in the NHL. He led the League in fighting majors in 2015-16 with 12.
Girard was drafted by the Predators in the fourth round of the 2013 NHL Draft and has played 172 career games with the Admirals. In that time he has scored 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists) and has been a crucial part of the penalty kill. He has been a high quality face-off player and someone who has worn a letter for the leadership qualities he has brought to the locker room.
This move should send Girard to the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate the San Antonio Rampage. The Admirals will see Girard back in Milwaukee as an opponent on Wednesday February 15th.
The Nashville Predators have recalled defenseman Alex Carrier from the Milwaukee Admirals. It is his first career NHL call up and Carrier becomes the first member of the Predators’ 2015 NHL Draft Class to make it to the NHL.
This season is Carrier’s first as a pro but you really wouldn’t be able to tell that from watching the 20-year old play. He has been the Admirals best all-around defenseman this season and recently earned a selection to the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic. Carrier is tied for third among rookie defenseman in the AHL this season in scoring with 22 points (4 goals, 18 assists) in 35 games.
Carrier’s call up comes prior tonight’s Predators home game against the Boston Bruins. Should he play tonight he would follow Frédérick Gaudreau, Mike Liambas, and Vladislav Kamenev as NHL debutants from the Admirals this season. Should he debut he would wear his #55 that Admirals fans are accustomed to seeing him wear as it is his rookie number for the Predators.
The Nashville Predators have reassigned forward Frédérick Gaudreau to the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of tonight’s road game against the Chicago Wolves. Gaudreau follows the likes of Vladislav Kamenev who was reassigned late of yesterday’s contest as returning faces to the Admirals lineup tonight.
Gaudreau has now played 9 games this season for the Predators. It is still one of the true feel good stories given the path he traveled to make it into the NHL: undrafted, signed to the Admirals on an AHL contract, played for the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL, battled to earn an NHL contract in the AHL, and has pushed for NHL opportunities this season. Gaudreau has a lone assist in his work for the Predators with a plus/minus rating of +1. He was a healthy scratch in last night’s Predators game.
With the Admirals, Gaudreau has produced 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 24 games with a plus/minus rating of +2 and 4 penalty minutes. His return, as well as Kamenev’s for that matter, provides the Admirals with serious energy that was lacking last night and both provide work on both ends of special teams. There is no word as of yet if either Garrett Meurs, Shawn O’Donnell, or Derek Army will be released from their PTO Contracts at the moment as the forward depth returns to the Admirals roster.
The Nashville Predators have announced that Vladislav Kamenev has been reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals. The news comes only two-hours away from the start of both respective teams games tonight on home ice.
Kamenev made his NHL debut on 1/6/17 on the road against the Florida Panthers after making a cross-country flight after having traveled with the Admirals to San Jose. He played in 2 games for the Predators registering a shot on goal, a plus/minus rating of -1 that came during his first career NHL shift, and 2 penalty minutes.
With the Admirals this season he has played 31 games while amassing 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists). It isn’t clear just yet whether he will arrive in time for the Admirals game tonight against the Charlotte Checkers or if the team will need to dress seven defensemen to fill out a squad.
Mark Visentin has just been named the ECHL/CCM Goaltender of the Week. Visentin came up huge in all three games this past week for the Milwaukee Admirals’ ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones and had a 1.65 goals-against average, 0.940 save percentage, and shutout.
Mark Visentin of the Cincinnati Cyclones is the CCM ECHL Goaltender of the Week for Jan. 2-8.
Visentin went 3-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.65 goals-against average and a save percentage of .940 in three appearances last week.
The 24-year-old made 25 saves in a 4-3 win at Wichita on Wednesday, stopped all 25 shots he faced in a 4-0 victory at Quad City on Friday and made 29 saves in a 3-2 win at Wheeling on Sunday.
Under an American Hockey League contract with the Milwaukee Admirals, Visentin has appeared in 15 games for the Cyclones this season going 8-5-1 with one shutout, a 2.71 goals-against average and a save percentage of .902. He has also appeared in one game for Milwaukee with a record of 0-0-1.
A first-round selection (27th overall) of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Visentin has appeared in 16 career ECHL games with Gwinnett and Cincinnati while also seeing action in 89 American Hockey League games with Milwaukee, Rockford and Portland where he has posted a career record of 33-37-3 with three shutouts, a 3.04 goals-against average and a save percentage of .903. He has also appeared in one career NHL game with the Coyotes.
Prior to turning pro, he appeared in 166 career Ontario Hockey League games with Niagara posting an overall record of 89-55-16 with 14 shutouts, a 2.75 goals-against average and a save percentage of ..911.
Runners Up: Brandon Anderson, Norfolk (3-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .966 save pct.) and Parker Milner, South Carolina (3-0-0, 0.97 GAA, .954 save pct.).
Also Nominated: Anthony Peters (Florida), P.J. Musico (Fort Wayne), Branden Komm (Idaho), Eric Levine (Indy), Joel Martin (Kalamazoo), Jake Paterson (Toledo), Colin Stevens (Tulsa), Troy Redmann (Utah) and Sean Maguire (Wheeling).
Visentin has only appeared in a single game this season for the Admirals. That came during the food poisoning night for the Nashville Predators and he put on a great performance against his old team from a season ago but fell short in a 3-2 shootout loss.
In the ECHL this season Visentin has a record of 8-5-1-0 from 15 appearances with a 2.71 goals against average and 0.902 save percentage. In this past week he recorded his first shutout of the season stopping all 25 shots on goal in a 4-0 win for the Cyclones on the road over the Quad City Mallards.
The defense is back to full-strength tonight for the Milwaukee Admirals but the offense keeps getting more and more depleted. The Nashville Predators have recalled Pontus Åberg from the Admirals ahead of both teams’ games tonight. In response, the Admirals have added forward Garrett Meurs from the Wheeling Nailers on a PTO Contract.
Åberg has 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 9 games this season for the Predators. The 23-year old has 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists) in 23 games at the AHL level with the Admirals. He now joined the likes of Harry Zolnierczyk, Vladislav Kamenev, and Frédérick Gaudreau as recent forward call-ups to the Predators roster.
Meurs currently leads the Nailers in goal scoring and joins his ol’ teammate Derek Army to the Admirals roster on PTO basis. Meurs has 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 31 games this season in the ECHL as well as a plus/minus rating of +13 and 49 penalty minutes He is a former draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche and has played 87 career AHL games including 6 career games played against the Admirals as a member of the Lake Erie Monsters.
Yesterday, Petter Granberg was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators. The waiver wire process has completed and no team opted to pick him up. That has allowed the Predators to reassign the defenseman to the Milwaukee Admirals. He could be available for the Admirals when they face the Charlotte Checkers tomorrow night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena at 7:00 PM CST.
Granberg has played 9 games this season for the Predators. For the Admirals he has played 16 games and during that time the Admirals have a record of 12-2-1-1.
With Granberg back the Admirals finally have their defensive pairings that were in place when the completed a perfect month of November that saw them never lose in regulation in 10 games. That run is what has helped cushion the blow on the past few weeks when the injuries topside have caused the Predators to resemble more of a hodgepodge of the Admirals.
This could help see the return of three left-handed shots paired with three right-handed shots which is a preferred method of Admirals head coach Dean Evason. It does put a question mark over the next steps for Rick Pinkston and Jonathan Diaby.
The Nashville Predators have recalled Frédérick Gaudreau from the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of the Predators game tomorrow night on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks. Gaudreau was withheld from playing in last night’s 3-1 Admirals win on the road against the San Jose Barracuda due to a potential recall. That potential is now realized.
Gaudreau made his NHL debut with the Predators on 10/22/16 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has played a total of 8 games this season for the Predators and recorded an assist in his third career game for his first NHL point.
With the Admirals this season Gaudreau has produced 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 24 games. He participates in all areas of the game for the Admirals including the penalty kill and power-play. He is yet another forward fully capable of playing center or wing. The majority of his AHL season to date has been spent on the wing.
This is the most stretched the Admirals really have been all season. Fortunately, that was already the case for last night’s game and they were able to get a really high character performance and a win. Derek Army scored a pair of goals after having been brought in on a PTO Contract prior to the game and the Admirals dressed seven-defensemen including fellow PTO Contractee Rick Pinkston. The group that performed last night will do so again later tonight against the Stockton Heat.
Admirals Roundtable 