The Milwaukee Admirals 2014-15 season officially came to a close this weekend. While it is sad that playoff hockey will not be happening it was a year of learning and growing that I feel can be a big boost for so many players on the Admirals team moving forward. There will be some departures from this year to next year, sure, but there will also be plenty of returning faces. I think the nucleus that returns will be stronger and smarter thanks to the ups and downs of this past season. And that makes me optimistic and excited about what could be in-store for the team later this fall.

I want to thank all of you great fans who have taken the time to make what I get to do so much fun. This was my second season operating Admirals Roundtable and third season following the Milwaukee Admirals from up close. To share my passion for this sport and team with fellow fans has been so fantastic. I love that this community that I’m part of is as savvy and hilarious as it is. It makes doing what I do that much more rewarding.

Get ready for a long list because there are some specific people I would like to thank for their contributions and comradery this season: Charlie Larson of the Admirals front office for taking time out to help set up interviews with coaches and players throughout this season. Aaron Sims for always being there to provide his help on plays or notes from the road while also being the brilliant broadcaster that he is (if you haven’t liked the “Admirals Center Ice” Facebook page please do). Dave Boehler (did you know he has a blog?) for once again being my pal up on press row this season and for all the banter we’ve had. Mario Tirabassi for being a great addition to Admirals media scrums this season. Jason Karnosky for his contributions to Admirals Roundtable throughout the season. Nashville friends such as Justin Bradford, Kristopher Martel, Robby Stanley, and Jeremy K. Gover for laughs and insight of all things Predators this season. The people of Predlines (Mark Carson Harris and Cutler Klein) for allowing me to chip in there earlier this season and chat Admirals hockey. Fellow AHL Bloggers Stephen Meserve of 100 Degree Hockey and Jack of Comets Army for their contributions to “Scouting the Enemy” this season. And, most importantly to me, my family and friends for all their love and support as I continue living out my dream covering a hockey club such as the Admirals.

Lastly, because some confessed as being readers this season, a massive thank you to all players of the Milwaukee Admirals this season. I can’t say enough of how much I appreciate the time you’ve taken out after a game, practice, or pre-game session of two touch soccer to have conversations with me. Thanks for your time, honesty, the laughs, and incredible work on and off the ice this season.

What’s on tap for Admirals Roundtable now that the season is over? Plenty. In the immediate future there will be a new feature story up Monday morning and then a decent amount of season recap material in the days after. I also plan to keep you all up to date with 2015 Calder Cup Playoff news as things move along. When off-season moves come I’ll be right back at it to provide the updates, as well. I plan on keeping things continuously moving still. So keep staying tuned and adding your commentary.

Again, thank you all so much your contributions as readers to Admirals Roundtable. This website is here because of fans and continues to exist because of you fans. Thanks for making this yet another great year for myself following the Milwaukee Admirals and being able to write, report, and be the dork that I am. Cheers.

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I had first heard that this was in the cards last night from a reliable source. During tonight’s broadcast Aaron Sims just announced it. There will be nine members of the Milwaukee Admirals joining the Nashville Predators camp after tonight’s game against the Chicago Wolves comes to an end: Colton Sissons, Viktor Arvidsson, Rich Clune, Austin Watson, Anthony Bitetto, Joe Piskula, Johan Alm, Magnus Hellberg, and Marek Mazanec. The Predators are currently in Chicago with their playoff series against the Blackhawks shifted there for games three and four.

When this news becomes official, or if changes are made with the news, I will provide an update to this story.

4/22/15 UPDATE: It has finally become official. One change though. Both head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Stan Drulia will also be accompanying the nine from Milwaukee.

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This year’s Les Cunningham Award has just been announced and Brian O’Neill of the Manchester Monarchs has won the distinction as the 2014-15 AHL MVP. O’Neill currently leads the AHL in scoring and assists on the league’s top team this season.

Press Release via AHL:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that right wing Brian O’Neill of the Manchester Monarchs has been voted the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable player for the 2014-15 season.

The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.

O’Neill has scored 22 goals and leads the AHL with 56 assists and 78 points in 69 games heading into the final weekend of the regular season. His plus-28 rating leads all AHL forwards and ranks second overall, and he is tied for the league lead with 26 power-play points. Powered by O’Neill, the Monarchs are third in the league in offense (3.19 goals per game) and first in power-play efficiency (21.0 percent), and have clinched their first Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season points champions. O’Neill has strung together three separate scoring streaks of at least seven games each this season, and his five-assist night at Portland on Dec. 17 established AHL season highs for both assists and points in a game. He was selected to participate in the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic but missed the event due to injury, and last week was voted a Second Team AHL All-Star.

A 26-year-old native of Yardley, Pa., O’Neill has steadily and dramatically improved his offensive numbers over his three professional seasons; he put up 15 points as a rookie in 2012-13 and tallied 47 points a year ago. O’Neill, who played four seasons at Yale University and finished as the second-highest scorer in school history, signed as a free agent with Los Angeles on Mar. 15, 2012, and has totaled 52 goals, 90 assists and a plus-60 rating in 190 career AHL games, all with Manchester.

The AHL’s most valuable player award honors the late Les Cunningham, a member of the AHL Hall of Fame who was a five-time league All-Star and three-time Calder Cup champion with the Cleveland Barons. Previous winners of the Les Cunningham Award include Carl Liscombe (1948, ’49), Johnny Bower (1956, ’57, ’58), Fred Glover (1960, ’62, ’64), Mike Nykoluk (1967), Gilles Villemure (1969, ’70), Doug Gibson (1975, ’77), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Ross Yates (1983), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Tim Tookey (1987), Jody Gage (1988), John Anderson (1992), Don Biggs (1993), Derek Armstrong (2001), Jason Spezza (2005), Darren Haydar (2007), Keith Aucoin (2010), Cory Conacher (2012), Tyler Johnson (2013) and Travis Morin (2014).

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2014-15 regular season ends Sunday, and then 16 clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway next week.

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It wasn’t all that surprising when netminder Matt Murray of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins claimed the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s most outstanding rookie for the 2014-15 season. Perhaps then it shouldn’t be surprising that Murray has also taken this season’s Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award and the league’s top goaltender as well.

Press Release via AHL:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Matt Murray of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins has been voted the winner of the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender for the 2014-15 season.

The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.

A 20-year-old rookie, Murray has helped the Penguins clinch their 13th consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs, and is a big reason why Wilkes-Barre/Scranton leads the league in team defense (2.11 goals per game). Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Murray owns a record of 25-9-3 in 39 appearances, and his 1.51 goals-against average, .943 save percentage and 12 shutouts not only lead the league in 2014-15, they also all represent the second-best marks in the 79-year history of the AHL.

Murray set an AHL record for longest shutout streak by a goaltender when he held Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opponents off the scoreboard for 304 minutes and 11 seconds between Feb. 8 and Mar. 8, a stretch that included four consecutive shutout victories. Murray is an impressive 13-3-3 on the road this season, and since the All-Star break overall, he is 15-2-1 with 17 goals allowed and nine shutouts in 18 starts.

Murray, a native of Thunder Bay, Ont., was a third-round pick by Pittsburgh in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He was named a First Team AHL All-Star and the winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding rookie, and becomes just the second rookie in the last 20 years to win the Baz Bastien Award.

The Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award, which was first presented in 1984, honors former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Baz Bastien, who played four seasons in goal with the AHL’s Pittsburgh Hornets (1945-49) before suffering a career-ending eye injury. Bastien would go on to serve as head coach and general manager of the Hornets, leading them to the 1967 Calder Cup championship. Previous winners of the award include Jon Casey (1985), Sam St. Laurent (1986), Mark Laforest (1987, 1991), Felix Potvin (1992), Corey Hirsch (1993), Manny Legace (1996), Martin Biron (1999), Dwayne Roloson (2001), Jason LaBarbera (2004, 2007), Ryan Miller (2005), Michael Leighton (2008), Cory Schneider (2009), Jonathan Bernier (2010), Niklas Svedberg (2013) and Jake Allen (2014).

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2014-15 regular season ends Sunday, and then 16 clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway next week.

The winner of the 2014-15 Les Cunningham Award (most valuable player) will be announced Friday.

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Some interesting news coming out of the late night hours as it pertains to next season. According to Henrik Leman of GT in Sweden, Nashville Predators prospect Max Görtz is leaving Frölunda of the Swedish Hockey League for North American hockey in the 2015-16 season.

Görtz had signed his entry level contract with the Predators in early-June last summer. Rather than join the likes of fellow Swedes Pontus Åberg, Johan Alm, and Viktor Arvidsson as first year North American pros Görtz was loaned back to his SHL outfit Frölunda for the entirety of the 2014-15 season. He produced his best senior team season of his career with 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in 53 games as well as 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff games. Downside? His season did end with him being taken off on a stretcher in Frölunda’s semi-final against the Växjö Lakers.

It’s not clear whether or not this means Görtz would be set to join the Milwaukee Admirals next season. If his aim is to shoot for an NHL spot in camp he’s going to have plenty of competition. The Predators already added Steve Moses after he finished a season with Jokerit in Russia’s KHL in which he led the league in goal scoring with 36 goals in 60 games – and 5 goals in 10 playoff games. Plus, I hear there is this kid named Kevin Fiala somewhere. He should be pretty good.

Should Görtz do what he did last season, opting to reject AHL hockey in favor of returning to Sweden, I think it would be a real shame for both himself and Milwaukee. He is incredibly talented but I think will need the time to adapt to the North American game in the same way his fellow countryman have this season. He could pull an Arvidsson and just fit right in or an Åberg and struggle to find his consistency. The difference between Åberg and Görtz for the 2015-16 season? Aberg has already learned from lots of mistakes that he’s experienced thanks to the speed of the North American pro game. Görtz hasn’t yet. And I think he should if he is ever going to make a dent in the NHL.

Will Max Görtz be a member of the Milwaukee Admirals next season? Do you think developing in Europe is better suited for certain players than developing in the AHL? If so, why?

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According to the AHL transactions page, the Milwaukee Admirals have parted ways with veteran defenseman Scott Ford. There hasn’t been any official statement made in regards to this roster move from the team but perhaps that will come in the morning.

Ford was the Admirals all-time leader in AHL games played until Mark Van Guilder topped him this season. Van Guilder has played 381 games for the Admirals over the course of seven different seasons. Ford has played 378 games with the Admirals -also- over the course of seven different seasons.

I suspect that Ford, like Gary Steffes before him, is set to join his previous ECHL team for the start of the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Admirals playoff hopes are no more. Both were effectively here on loan to help give the team a boost. Now the time has come to give them an opportunity to play more games and crucial ones at that in a playoff environment.

Steffes recorded power-play goal in the Allen Americans’ opening win yesterday and has scored again tonight. In total competitions, Steffes has scored 50 goals for his 2014-15 campaign.

Should Ford be joining his ol’ ECHL team the release Wednesday night allows him to get back just in time for the South Carolina Stingrays playoff opener on Friday night. I’d expect that to be the case and, I don’t know about you, but with no Cincinnati Cyclones in the playoffs I’m desperately pulling for a 2015 Kelly Cup Final that pits the Americans (Steffes) against the Sringrays (Ford).

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The AHL has announced this year’s winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for the league’s most outstanding coach for the 2014-15 season. This year’s recipient is Mike Stothers of the AHL’s top team this season the Manchester Monarchs.

Press Release via AHL:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Mike Stothers of the Manchester Monarchs has been voted the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding coach for the 2014-15 season. The award is voted on by fellow coaches and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.

In his first season with Manchester, Stothers has guided the Monarchs to the AHL’s regular-season points title with three games still remaining. The Monarchs’ 48-16-6-3 record (.719) leaves them one point shy of securing the highest single-season points percentage in franchise history, and they will enter the Calder Cup Playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Manchester ranks third in the AHL in offense (3.19 goals per game) and second in defense (2.29), as well as first on the power play (21.0 percent). Under Stothers’ guidance, forwards Brian O’Neill and Jordan Weal are two of the top three scorers in the entire league this season, Colin Miller has emerged as one of the AHL’s top young defensemen, and Jean-Francois Berube and Patrik Bartosak have forged one of the AHL’s most successful goaltending tandems. The Monarchs have been in first place in the Atlantic Division since Nov. 16 and have lost consecutive games in regulation only once all season (Oct. 25-31).

Stothers, 53, joined the Los Angeles Kings organization on July 1, 2014, as the fourth head coach in Monarchs history following three seasons as head coach of Moose Jaw (WHL). In the AHL, Stothers spent one season as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2007-08, and was an assistant with the Hershey Bears (1994-96) and Philadelphia Phantoms (1996-2000), winning a Calder Cup championship in 1998. Stothers was also an assistant coach in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers. As a player, Stothers, a Toronto-born defenseman, was selected in the first round of the 1980 NHL Draft by Philadelphia. He played 671 AHL games and won a Calder Cup with the Maine Mariners in 1984.

The Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, which was first presented in 1968, honors the late Mr. Pieri, a long-time contributor to the AHL as the owner and general manager of the Providence Reds and a member of the American Hockey League Hall of Fame. Previous winners of the award include Frank Mathers (1969), Fred Shero (1970), Al MacNeil (1972, ’77), John Muckler (1975), Jacques Demers (1983), Larry Pleau (1987), Mike Milbury (1988), John Paddock (1988), Marc Crawford (1993), Barry Trotz (1994), Robbie Ftorek (1995, ’96), Peter Laviolette (1999), Claude Julien and Geoff Ward (2003), Claude Noel (2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2005), Kevin Dineen (2006), Mike Haviland (2007), Scott Gordon (2008), Scott Arniel (2009), John Hynes (2011), Jon Cooper (2012), Willie Desjardins (2013) and Jeff Blashill (2014).

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2014-15 regular season ends Sunday, and then 16 clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway next week.

The winner of the 2014-15 Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award (outstanding goaltender) will be announced Thursday.

Be sure to follow Admirals Roundtable on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and see our photos on Instagram.

The Milwaukee Admirals consecutive playoff appearances streak will stop at twelve after the Toronto Marlies defeated the Iowa Wild by the final score of 5-2 tonight. It is the first time since the Admirals inaugural season in the American Hockey League that they will not be in the playoffs.

It has been a wild season of ups and downs for the 2014-15 Admirals. They’ve been on top of the Western Conference and the Midwest Division at different points this season. The team set a franchise record for their best ever start to a season with a six-game winning streak out the gate. December saw a rough patch but then in January the Admirals were riding on a serious high note that saw them set a franchise record nine-game winning streak before everything started to trend downward in February until this exact moment in time. There will not be playoff hockey in Milwaukee for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

While this is by every means a downer I would like to point everyone’s attention to the 2015-16 season. The learning process of this past campaign should pay huge dividends moving forward. While some faces involved with the team could be moving on there will be more than enough returning faces that should return with massive chips on their shoulders. I always like to personalize situations like this by my own experiences. I am in no way the person that I am today without the mistakes I’ve made and the lessons that I’ve learned from them. There has been plenty of mistakes made this season from veteran and young players alike. All are learning. And all should turn up for the better thanks to the trials and tribulations that this season has provided.

Friday night will be the last home game of the season. Saturday night in Rosemont will be the last game of the season. The pressure and crippling feel of the playoffs slipping through everyone’s fingers will be gone and the team will have something entirely new to play for: respect. The Admirals will be facing the team that has just eliminated them from playoff contention this season on Friday. I would anticipate that being a statement game from the Admirals right back at the Marlies. In addition, the Admirals saw their end of the season head-to-head with the Chicago Wolves as a playoff series to see who would get in. That has already been decided as well, but the Amtrak Rivalry remains and there will need to be one last hurrah from a group looking to leave 2014-15 on a positive note.

Monday will see Admirals Roundtable “Season in Review” content starting up. That makes me sad. What doesn’t make me sad is how truly remarkable the relationship of the Nashville Predators and Milwaukee Admirals has been and the success that it has provided the Admirals over these twelve straight playoff seasons. So many teams have come and gone. So many NHL teams have changed AHL affiliations. Yet it has been the same ol’ same ol’ here in Milwaukee. One season without playoff hockey hasn’t made this year a failure. What would make this past season a failure would be if it is brushed aside and the hardships are forgotten. The success of the past shouldn’t be taken for granted and, just as importantly, nor should the failures. Because it is the ability to overcome failures that can truly define both individuals and an organization.

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Milwaukee Admirals defenseman and team captain Joe Piskula is heading back to the team after being reassigned by the Nashville Predators following a one-game stint on an emergency call up.

Piskula played in the Predators regular season finale which was a 4-1 loss on the road at the hands of Jamie Benn and the Dallas Stars. Piskula logged 16:27 of ice time over 19 shifts in the game, was a -1, and also took a delay of game penalty.

The return of the Admirals captain should shuffle things up on defense. The team brought up Garrett Noonan from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL after their season came to an end this past weekend. There’s certainly plenty of bodies available to choose from for the Admirals final two games of the regular season this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see who gets a game and who sits.

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There might not be too much chatter on Admirals Roundtable as far as the Eastern Conference is concerned but for anyone who has followed the AHL this season it would be impossible to not hear of the incredible season being put together by goaltender Matt Murray of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Today, Murray was awarded the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the league’s most outstanding rookie for the 2014-15 season.

Press Release via AHL:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that goaltender Matt Murray of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins has been voted the winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding rookie for the 2014-15 season.

The award is voted on by AHL coaches, players and media in each of the league’s 30 member cities.

A third-round draft pick by Pittsburgh in 2012, Murray has spent much of his rookie season rewriting the AHL’s record book. The 20-year-old native of Thunder Bay, Ont., is 25-9-3 in 39 appearances for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while leading the league with a 1.51 goals-against average, a .943 save percentage and 12 shutouts, more than any other rookie goaltender in AHL history. From Feb. 8 to Mar. 8, Murray held Penguins opponents off the scoreboard for 304 minutes and 11 seconds, the longest shutout streak by a goaltender in the AHL’s 79-year history. Murray has been named CCM/AHL Player of the Week and CCM/AHL Goaltender of the Month twice each, and last week earned AHL All-Rookie Team and AHL All-Star First Team honors.

This award, which was first presented by the AHL in 1947, honors the late Dudley (Red) Garrett, a promising young player who lost his life during World War II while serving in the Royal Canadian Navy. Garrett split his only pro season, 1942-43, between the AHL’s Providence Reds and the NHL’s New York Rangers.

Previous winners of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award include Terry Sawchuk (1949), Wally Hergesheimer (1951), Jimmy Anderson (1955), Bill Sweeney (1958), Roger Crozier (1964), Gerry Desjardins (1968), Rick Middleton (1974), Darryl Sutter (1980), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Steve Thomas (1985), Ron Hextall (1986), Brett Hull (1987), Felix Potvin (1992), Corey Hirsch (1993), Darcy Tucker (1996), Daniel Briere (1998), Rene Bourque (2005), Teddy Purcell (2008), Nathan Gerbe (2009), Tyler Ennis (2010), Luke Adam (2011), Cory Conacher (2012), Tyler Toffoli (2013) and Curtis McKenzie (2014).

In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2014-15 regular season ends Sunday, and then 16 clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway next week.

The winner of the 2014-15 Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award (outstanding coach) will be announced Wednesday.

Be sure to follow Admirals Roundtable on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and see our photos on Instagram.