Looking to shake up their recent offensive rut, on Monday the Nashville Predators have put in a waiver claim for talented forward Bobby Butler, from the New Jersey Devils. The 25-year-old had just two points in 14 games with New Jersey this season, but contributed 27 in 37 AHL games with Albany.

Butler is likely headed directly to Nashville, where the forward might be able to help a Predators offense that’s scored just seven goals in its past five games, including four losses (and two of the shutout variety).

Butler is playing on a two-way contract that pays him $525,000 at the NHL level and $105,000 at the AHL level. So far Butler has 108 NHL games to his playing resume.

Prior to turning professional, Butler was a star with University of New Hampshire, totaling 121 points in a solid four-year career.

Tuesday the Predators announced that they claimed Zach Boychuk from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 23-year-old has skated in 80 NHL games, mostly with Carolina, collecting seven goals and 18 points. Prior to joining Nashville, Boychuk dressed for seven games with the Penguins, who picked him up off of waivers from Carolina.

Much like Butler, Boychuk’s been a solid AHL player scoring more than 20 goals in two seasons, and 16 in just 37 games this fall with the Charlotte Checkers. The former 14th overall pick of the 2008 entry draft is on a two-way deal that pays him $625,000 at the NHL level and $105,000 at the AHL level.

2012-2013 Milwaukee Admirals: 53 G.P., 25-22-3-3–56 pts., 135 goals scored, 153 goals allowed, 11th place in the Western Conference (3rd Midwest Division). Leading scorer: Taylor Beck (11 goals, 27 assists, 38 points). Best Recent Win: Feb. 23, 3-1 at Toronto. Worst Recent Loss: Feb. 21, Lake Erie 7 at Milwaukee 1.

Admirals goaltender Magnus Hellberg has been named AHL Goaltender of the Month for February. Hardly shocking news considering his personal 6-1-0 record, 1.36 G.A.A. and .950 save percentage during the span, but I think what’s more shocking is that Hellberg, not Jeremy Smith is the Admirals’ defacto No. 1 netminder right now. Smith’s February has been nightmarish, considering he’s received four starts, lost all four and posted a 6.57 G.A.A. and an .810 save percentage.

In the race to be in between Milwaukee’s pipes, Hellberg is the clear frontrunner. Plus he fits the recent Nashville mold as a big Scandinavian keeper (he, Pekka Rinne and Anders Lindback are all 6’5″ or taller). It doesn’t hurt that “Hells Bells” is almost exactly two years younger than Smith either.

But before you start forgetting about Smith, remember how good he’s been at times with Milwaukee. Smith is not a “classic” goaltender, but rather a battler without the most “pure” style. Goalies of this mold (like a Tim Thomas or Dominic Hasek) tend to be streaky. If Smith can turn it around, he will still be a huge asset for Milwaukee going forward with four more 3-in-3s left on the schedule starting tonight.

Once last thing I want to rant about before putting away my keyboard: AHL standings. Does anyone other than me get frustrated when they pull up an AHL or NHL standings and the first choice (or default choice) is ranking by division? Sure its great to see when your team is in first place in the division, but that means practically nothing in the greater picture. Playoff berths are determined by conference standing, and therefore THAT should be always be the default. Being second place in your division doesn’t mean anything unless it earns you a playoff berth.

Speaking of divisions, the AHL just recently switched to a six division system to mirror the NHL. Now the NHL is again on the verge of reverting to a four division format, similar to the AHL prior to the 2011-12 season. If the NHL does realign it will be interesting to see how the AHL decides to move forward.

So Roundtable . . . Do you think Jeremy Smith can refind his game? Has Hellberg won you over? Do you think the AHL should realign once again?

Ok, yeah, that’s several years old.  But it’s nice to break it out every now and then.

Mike Liambas was assaulted by Mike Sgarbossa in the game against Lake Erie Cleveland on Tuesday.  It happened like this.  (Not sure the Lake Erie Cleveland play-by-play guy really knew what was going on….)

Sgarbossa received a match penalty on the play.  And the powers that be took a spin on the wheel of justice, and it landed on…..

One game.

Like it?  Love it?  Want some more of it?  Are you okay with the one game?

Some curious news out of Nashville/Milwaukee today.

The Calgary Flames have sent defenseman Joe Piskula to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Brian McGrattan. What makes this decision “curious” is the fact that McGrattan was available via the waiver wire earlier in the week, therefore on the surface its easy to wonder why the Flames didn’t just put a claim in for McGrattan, who was assigned to Milwaukee on Wednesday.

On factor could be the Reserve List, which I will let Dirk Hoag of On the Forecheck explain.

No matter what the reason, McGrattan failed to make much of an impact with either Milwaukee or Nashville this season. The physical forward registered no points and four PIMs in his six games with the Admirals (his last being Sunday against Hamilton).

In Piskula the Admirals receive an immediate upgrade to their blueline, picking up a defenseman with two goals, 10 points and a plus-five rating, combined with 51 PIMs in 46 games this year.

Though the 28-year-old’s best shot to play in the NHL might be behind him (the Antigo, Wisconsin native has earned 10 games in the show to date, registering no points and eight PIMs with a minus-eight rating), Piskula remains a top defenseman in the AHL. In his five AHL seasons with Manchester and Abbotsford, Piskula has always played as a plus defenseman, averaging a rating of +7.4 at that level, while collecting eight goals and 62 points.

Admirals fans might remember him as the player who was a plus-three with Abbotsford against Milwaukee in a three-game playoff sweep last spring. I will always remember Piskula as a top blueliner on the Wisconsin Badgers’ most recent NCAA championship team (which claimed the title at the Bradley Center). Piskula then bolted to the Los Angeles Kings after his junior season.

As Ryan mentioned below, to replace McGrattan’s vacated spot on the Admirals roster, Milwaukee recalled talented forward Josh Shalla from Cincinnati. Shalla owns 21 goals in 37 games with the Cyclones, but has just three assists in 11 games with the Admirals so far this season.

So Roundtable . . . How would you like to welcome Joe Piskula? Can he be an impact defender with the Admirals, or even Nashville? Were Milwaukee’s recent changes to their blueline necessary considering the unfortunate rash of blowout losses over the last few weeks?

As Jason reported earlier today, defenseman Scott Ford has been reacquired, and Jani Lajunen has been sent to St. Louis/Peoria.  Just as surprising to me is that Patrick Cehlin  has been sent to Cincy in the ECHL (along with Taylor Aronson).  Not surprising in that Cehlin deserved to be sent down….I’m surprised that he actually WAS sent down.

First…Fordo and Lajunen.  Two guys that had been spending more time in suits than jerseys lately.  Lajunen had been a healthy scratch since January 26th, except for the game on Saturday when Taylor Beck was a late scratch.  Tough to look at his stats and argue that he was a victim of a numbers game.  His game just didn’t take the step forward in this sophomore season that it needed to.  He had one goal and four assists, and was -9 defensively in 40 games.

Fordo has played in just one game since January 23rd.  The -14 defensive rating kind of jumps out at you, but look at that team….Only one of their D-men is on the plus side for the season right now.  And if the D-men aren’t getting much cooperation from their forwards (Hensick -10, Nesbitt -9, Schwartz -14, McRae -11, Grachev -12), Ford’s numbers might take a dip like that.  Sure he’s a year older, but I definitely don’t think he is as bad as that -14 suggests.  Even with as many veterans as Peoria has on their roster, I was very surprised that they would bench their captain like they did.  But good on them for moving him to a place where he’ll get the chance to play.

Taylor Aronson has exceeded my expectations this season, but I still feel more comfortable with Fordo back on the blue line.  I look forward to seeing him back there.

It’s tough to say Patrick Cehlin hasn’t had chances to be an important part of the offense here.  He’s had ice time with other guys that ARE producing.  He has skated with the Mueller’s and the Beck’s.  He’s been on the power play units.  He had a three point night on November 9th, with a goal and two assists, and he’s scored just one goal since then.  One goal in 36 games.  Scoreless in the last 25.  In addition to invisibility on the scorer’s sheet, he’s been prone to errant passes, poor decisions, and the tendency to pass up shots (although, he’s not alone in that last affliction).

Andreas Thuresson had a 30 game goal-less streak back in the 10-11 season.  As a 4th year player, despite that monstrosity of a dry spell, I can imagine that a visit to the ECHL probably wasn’t an option on the table for him.  For Cehlin as a rookie, a quick trip to Cincy I think is a much easier sell.  He can go down there, try to get some confidence back, hopefully have some success, and he’ll come back with the “Dexshow Bump”. (TM)

Easier sell, sure.  But I’m still surprised they actually went through with it.

I suppose if there ever was a time to do it, now would be the time.  The team is as healthy as it has been in awhile, and new players are popping up every week it seems.  Winchester, Liambas, McGrattan….  Assuming the Predators bring McGrattan back up after the conditioning assignment is done, Cehlin may be on his way back to town at that point.  He just needs to take care of business while he’s playing with the Cyclones…or it might be Jack MacLellan instead!

The other moves:  According to the AHL website as of 3pm on Tuesday, Zoltan Hetenyi and Andre Bouvet-Morrissette were sent to Peoria as well.  Zoltan assigned to Orlando, ABM loaned to Evansville.  I have no analysis for this.  It happened.  The end.

Oy.

It should be noted that I’m just going for the easy punchline with Al….but I’ve always kind of liked the guy. I know some of you have some legendary Stensland stories from over the years….but it’s tough to be down on a guy that works for a fire department for his day job.

Tweets from Bob McKenzie this evening:

“I think we can all agree the missed offside that led to COL goal today was a horrendous mistake by the linesman. No doubt about that, but…FWIW, linesman who missed call is one of NHL’s most experienced, accomplished, respected officials. Bad call, yes. Bad official? No way. Linesman obviously was aware Duchene preceded puck over blueline but mistakenly believed NSH, not COL, played puck into zone.”

Ads pick up Liambis

The Orlando Solar Bears lent former Cincy left winger Michael Liambis to Milwaukee three days ago, and he’ll be with the Ads Friday night.

The Toronto native was traded to the Bears last October, and he’s skated in 32 games for Orlando this season.

He scored two goals, collected seven assists and garnered a whopping 151 penalty minutes.

Getting set for a wild week

Buckle up. After just two games in the past two weeks, the Admirals start one of their tightest stretches of the season with six home games over the next ten days.

Against the five team’s it’ll line up against this week, Milwaukee is a combined 7-10-1.

Currently fourth in the Midwest Division and seven points behind Houston for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, the Ads take on the Aeros tomorrow to open the home stand with a chance to narrow that gap.

Peoria visits Sunday for a key division battle, then the Abbotsford Heat come knocking Tuesday. San Antonio will kick off a Bradley Center 3-in-3 next Friday, followed by Charlotte Saturday and Abbotsford again that Sunday.

It’s going to be a huge sequence of games for the Ads and an excellent chance to gain some ground and exorcise some demons (especially against the Heat who are 5-0 against Milwaukee since 2/24/12.)

The time is now for the Admirals to Unleash…er Fury the Fury and make a serious push with home ice advantage, as this stretch could define their season.

Checking in with Cincy

The Cyclones are at the top of the North Division and sit in third place in the Eastern Conference with  58 points.

Cincinnati is 4-4-1-1 in their past ten games, but currently rides a three-game losing streak. It now leads the Toledo Walleye by just two points in the Division race with 24 games left.

Rookie David Pacan leads Cincy in points with 11 goals and 27 assists, while Garret Wilson leads the team in goals with 19.

Brian Foster’s been the top guy in net with a .902 save percentage and a 13-6-4 record in 25 games started. Meanwhile Zoltan Hetenyi has a 5-4 record with a .913 percentage and Michael Houser has a 7-5 record with a .921 percentage.

Questions:

What do you think of the Liambis project? What role do you think he’ll fill in his first trip to the AHL?

What record do you anticipate over the next six games realistically? How many wins do the Ads need to climb back into serious contention?

How many games are you going to get out to?

Any guys in Cincy right now that pique your interest?

Heading into last night, the Blues were one of the most talked about offensive squads in the NHL. When the final buzzer sounded in St. Louis, however, it was the Predator’s offense that had stolen the show.

Coming in ranked in last place in the league with just 1.88 goals per game, Nashville had relied heavily on the play of Pekka Rinne and Chris Mason. For the first time this season, Rinne got some breathing room thanks to three players who spent a lot of time in Milwaukee during the lockout.

Ryan Ellis gave the Predators an early lead taking a cross-ice feed from Colin Wilson and beating Brian Elliot through his A gap for his second goal of the season.

Former Admiral Nick Spaling made it 3-0 later in the first with his second goal of the season.

The goals kept coming in the second period, when in just his second game of the season, Jon Blum picked up his first point, setting up a Kevin Klein strike.

Then, Gabriel Bourque made it 5-0 with a nice tip-in for his first goal.

Blum and Ellis helped the Preds ice the cake, each assisting on a Martin Erat goal that made it 6-1.

It was certainly a big night for a team that had previously scored just seven goals in its last six road games. To put up those kinds of numbers against the Blues on the road was a huge statement.

Questions:

So Roundtable, what do you think of the impact Milwaukee’s “Big Three” made last night?

Do you see them helping the offense get turned around in the future? Does it make you wish they were back down here, or are you happy to see them progress.

Again, between Blum, Bourque and Ellis which do you think will have the best stat line at the end of the season?