Some roster news ahead of tomorrow night’s game in San Antonio. The Admirals have just signed goaltender Hannu Toivonen from the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. Also in the news, the Nashville Predators have made a trade that will see goaltender Devan Dubnyk join from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks.

So, as I suppose you’ll be thinking, what does this all mean?

The signing of Toivonen by the Ads is easy to explain. Yesterday the CCM/AHL Goalie of the Month in December, Scott Darling, was injured in practice. There is absolutely no time table or indication of what the injury is at this point. Only that it is enough to where the Ads needed to pull the trigger on Toivonen.

This should mean Magnus Hellberg gets the bulk of the upcoming games in net. Unless…

The Nashville Predators move makes things a bit more complicated to figure out the goaltending situation. Now with a proven netminder like Dubnyk around do we (A) see Marek Mazanec sent down in the near future to play more or (B) possibly see Carter Hutton test waivers and perhaps find his way into Milwaukee. It’s all very murky if you ask me. Lots of variables. Especially with that Pekka Rinne bloke looming in the background. Does this mean his season is done or just that they are tired of unproven goaltending between the pipes? For the moment, the Predators have three goalies in camp. That can’t last. Expect another move fairly soon.

Thoughts on the goaltending situation right now? What moves do you expect Nashville to make? Will Hellberg, with a chance to start consistent games, be able to find his form and carry the work load?

(Photo credit to Ludvig Thunman)

Here’s some news to start off your morning: Filip Forsberg will be in town when the team faces off with Chicago and Lake Erie this weekend.

This will mark Forsberg’s third trip with the Milwaukee Admirals this season: the first was to allow him to play more minutes and the second was a matter of conditioning after his month off from a concussion. With the Ads he has played seven games and posted eight points (three goals, five assists). To this point, he has managed to play in twelve games with the Nashville Predators scoring five points (one goal, four assists) – including a month absence due to injury.

For those who did not follow Forsberg’s progress in the recent 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship you missed out. He picked up the tournament’s MVP honors while putting up a hefty twelve points (four goals, eight assists) in seven games for Team Sweden. Sadly, he wasn’t able to secure gold in front of his home country – Sweden was defeated by Finland 3-2 in OT. Still, when you think about him missing a month and then playing a few games with the Ads before World Juniors: that’s a heck of tournament for a player who might not have been back to full-speed yet.

How long do you see Forsberg staying with the Ads this go-round? Can we expect more of his World Juniors output this weekend?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The AHL has announced its squad for the All Star Classic this afternoon. Joining the AHL All Stars for their game against Färjestad BK of the Swedish Elite League will be Ads first-year pro Colton Sissons.

This season Sissons has suited up for every game and leads the team in points and goals: 13 goals, 10 assists, 23 points, 4 PIM’s, and a plus/minus of -6. As said, this is his first professional season of hockey – but in all honesty it doesn’t show in his game one bit. He can play in all facets of the game – power-play and penalty kill included – and has been one of the most consistent players on the Ads throughout this season.

With the AHL playing against Färjestad BK, a first for the league to square up with a Swedish Elite team, roster spots were always going to be difficult to earn for this All Star game opposed to a battle of conferences. For the Ads youngster picking up a spot in this game is fantastic to see.

The AHL All Star squad is as follows:

Forwards
Brett Connolly, Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay)
Brian Gibbons, W-B/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh)
Mike Hoffman, Binghamton Senators (Ottawa)
Jason Jaffray, St. John’s IceCaps (Winnipeg)
Travis Morin, Texas Stars (Dallas)
Brandon Pirri, Rockford IceHogs (Chicago)
Colton Sceviour, Texas Stars (Dallas)
Colton Sissons, Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville)
Ryan Spooner, Providence Bruins (Boston)
Ben Street, Abbotsford Heat (Calgary)
Ryan Strome, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (N.Y. Islanders)
Linden Vey, Manchester Monarchs (Los Angeles)

Defensemen
Chad Billins, Abbotsford Heat (Calgary)
T.J. Brennan, Toronto Marlies (Toronto)
Cody Goloubef, Springfield Falcons (Columbus)
Alexey Marchenko, Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit)
Brayden McNabb, Rochester Americans (Buffalo)
Frederic St. Denis, Springfield Falcons (Columbus)

Goaltenders
Jake Allen, Chicago Wolves (St. Louis)
Martin Jones, Manchester Monarchs (Los Angeles)

The AHL All Star Classic will be on Wednesday February 12th in St. John’s, Newfoundland – with the always fun Skills Competition the night before the game.

Thoughts on the AHL’s All Star selections? Any snubs? Any other Admirals who you feel deserved to join the team? General thoughts of Colton Sissons start to this season? Can Nashville expect to see Sissons at some point in this season?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

Cool news to announce ahead of tonight’s game. Simon Moser will be representing Team Switzerland in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

I ran into #Sochi2014 Olympian today at lunch, had to snag a picture w @21_Moser #TeamSwitzerland #ProudTeammate pic.twitter.com/GnffeSZFks

— Mike Liambas (@mliambas) January 6, 2014

Moser started this season as one of the final roster cuts out of Nashville’s pre-season camp. Since joining the Ads he has played in 29 games and scored 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists).

Joining Moser is former-Admiral and current Nashville Predators d-man Roman Josi. In Milwaukee Josi played 74 games and scored 44 points (7 goals, 37 assists). This season with the Preds he has suited up for 33 games scoring 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists).

The 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi start on February 7th with the hockey tournament beginning on Wednesday February 12th. Moser’s Team Switzerland is in Group C with the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Sweden.

Are you as excited as Mike Liambas to have an Admiral in the Olympics? What have your thoughts been on Moser’s season to date?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus… with Photoshop help from me)

Good morning, Roundtable!

After last night’s game I figured it was time for some additions to our website to include the following: the team Roster and the team Schedule.

Considering how frequently I buzz around various websites for such team information – why not add it here for everyone’s convenience?

I also added an updated Reporting Cast with my personal biography and assorted social media and contact information. Jason’s will come in time – but he’s a busy man.

All additions can be accessed from the main menu tab at the top of the website. After every game I will update the schedule with an official box score. After any roster move I will update the team roster to make sure it is as up to date as possible.

Are there any other additions or alterations you would like to see? Let me know!

Surprise, surprise! Scott Darling has been selected as the CCM/AHL Goalie of the Month for his efforts in December.

No shocker there considering just how outstanding his numbers were in December: played in eight games, made seven starts, has a record of 6-1-0-0, has allowed 1.12 goals a game, has a 0.964 SV%, and two shutouts.

Who saw this coming at the start of the year? Just another example of how stacked the Nashville Predators organization is between the pipes… or how great it is to have a guy like Ben Vanderklok around!

Would you like to see Darling continue carrying the load in net? How long do you see this level of play from Darling continue for the Ads? What does this do to the mind of Hellberg – deflate or ignite?

Coming off of yesterday’s 4-0 shutout of the Iowa Wild we get some more good news. Scott Darling was just announced as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week.

I made mention in yesterday’s game recap how outstanding his entire month of December has been. This past week just about sums up how good it has been for Darling: 2-0-0-0 record, stopped 65/66 shots on goal, 0.985 SV%, and a 0.45 GAA.

Something tells me we’re not done with this story either. I imagine he’ll be in the discussion for December’s Player of the Month award as well. Expect a post for that if it goes down.

What has impressed you the most about Scott Darling? What do you think is going right for him versus Magnus Hellberg at the moment? Going forward, should we expect more games and more results like this month for Darling?

Just turned up at the Bradley Center and heard word spreading that defenseman Theo “Teddy” Ruth has announced his retirement. A source of mine claims that this decision comes from the fact that he was not able to maintain his status among the AHL to stay tight and to the radar of the NHL.

If true, Ruth leaves the game of hockey at the age of twenty-four years old with three full-seasons of professional hockey under his belt. He played college hockey at the University of Notre Dame for three seasons where he would play with eventual Admirals such as Mark Van Guilder, Ryan Thang, and Ben Ryan.

His college numbers were 4 goals, 13 assists, and 130 PIM’s in those three-seasons as a golden domer. This lead to his selection by the Washington Capitals in the 2007 NHL Draft (2nd Round, fourty-sixth overall). His draft rights were then traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Sergei Fedorov. He played in three-seasons for the Springfield Falcons of the AHL and produced 2 goals, 14 assists, 85 PIM’s, and a plus/minus of -50.

He was brought into the fold with the Milwaukee Admirals this season – and actually started his campaign with Milwaukee before being sent down to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. He played six-games as a member of the Ads: no goals, no assists, no penalty minutes, and an even plus/minus. For the Cyclones he dressed in eighteen-games and scored 1 goal, 3 assists, and also had 8 PIM’s with a plus/minus of -2.

I’ve yet to see a full-confirmation of this announcement amidst all the World Juniors hockey news swirling the internet traffic today. No news out of Cincinnati or Milwaukee right now. Once a confirmation or clarification is given: I will add an update to this story.

UPDATE: It’s official. Just heard word from Milwaukee Admirals Hockey Operations Coordinator Ryan Costello who confirmed the news.

After being sidelined for a month due to a concussion, Filip Forsberg is set and ready for game action beginning tomorrow night when the Admirals play host to the San Antonio Rampage.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” said forward Filip Forsberg after this morning’s practice at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. “Been sitting out. Just trying to get back as quick as possible and get ready to play again.”

Forsberg’s season started in Nashville. He played in eleven games scoring one goal and four assists prior to being reassigned to Milwaukee. In a four game span with the Ads, he scored one goal and five assists – also firing eighteen shots on goal. As far as the initial script went, getting Forsberg more ice time and reigniting his offense while playing with the Ads, all went according to plan. He came back to the Predators for a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on 11/15. He took eleven shifts, played nearly ten-minutes of ice time, but didn’t even put up a shot on goal in that game. Then came the injury news that would later be revealed to be a concussion that sidelined him for a month.

When asked, Forsberg didn’t want to go into any specifics of his concussion or any symptoms he was experiencing during the past few weeks. Considering how vast and complex concussions and concussion symptoms are – the fact he returned to full-contact practice for the first time yesterday in Nashville, and then today in Milwaukee, tells me we’re not talking Sidney Crosby or David Perron levels of bad symptoms. For a nineteen year old dealing with any sort of a concussion though – it’s worth the biggest of precautions to even allow him to get back to full-contact practice. He’s cleared that hurdle. Now comes the joys of returning to the ice for game action.

“I’ve been out for a couple of weeks and it is going to be great to playing,” said Forsberg. “The last time I was [in Milwaukee] that was kind of the last game I was playing. It’s gonna be good to be back with the boys and get some more ice time. It’s going to be fun.”

You could clearly see just how happy he was to say he’s back playing. Truthfully, he was fighting off a smile during that quote. As far as who he plays with, tomorrow night, remains to be seen.

“I was playing with Moser and Sissons last time and that worked out well,” said Forsberg of potential linemates for this weekend. “I’ve been here for awhile. Obviously it’s up to the coaches to pair me up with good guys and I’m not really worried. There’s a lot of really good guys here.”

Forsberg’s return might also have come just in time for the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championships, as well. This year they will be held in Forsberg’s native Sweden and will be played from December 26th to January 5th. When asked if he expects to join Team Sweden for World Juniors his response was, “I don’t know.” To me, I think Forsberg’s chance to play in Juniors has plenty of crucial factors attached to it. A lot of which can be answered by his own fitness and performance in this weekend’s three-in-three with the Admirals.

Thoughts on how Forsberg will play this weekend? What kind of impact can the Ads expect? With Forsberg on the roster, who gets scratched in his place for this weekend’s game?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

#preds have sent Forsberg to Milwaukee…

— JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) December 18, 2013

The Admirals might be getting a boost for this weekend’s three-in-three in the form of Filip Forsberg. The young Swede, who has been sidelined for over a month, returned to full-contact practice this afternoon for the first time since being injured with a concussion. This is a move that will look to shake off the rust on Forsberg and slowly get him into full-game speed while playing quality minutes as a member of the Ads.

This won’t be Forsberg’s first rodeo with the Ads. Earlier this season he was sent down in an effort to provide him more ice-time and give him different looks on the ice. How did he do? Phenomenally well. As an Admiral he scored a goal and five assists in four games. He might not be entering in the same shape as he was then – having missed the last month. Still, that’s the sort of quality that will be on the ice this weekend.

No word as of yet if the team will make a subsequent move of a forward down to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. The team only just recalled Joshua Shalla yesterday from the Cyclones. If there is a move to be made. They may have made that one a day too quick.

Update: It sounds like Filip Forsberg will be taking part in the upcoming 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship – which is being hosted in his native Sweden this year. For those wondering – World Juniors lasts from December 26th to January 5th. My guess is he returns to Nashville after the tournament – provided he performs well.

Thoughts on what Forsberg could bring to the Ads this weekend? Will he be rusty or rested? What line should he play on?