The first post-lockout dominoes are starting to fall.  Jon Blum tweeted that he’s ‘packing’.  And two skaters have been called up to the Admirals from the ECHL.

And Victor Bartley looks sharp in a blue blazer.  Just saying.

About the callups — Welcome back defenseman Anthony Bitetto.  After starting the season in MKE, he then spent 23 games in Cincy, sporting a goal, two assists, and a -6 defensive rating.  It’s the ECHL…I don’t read too much into the -6.  But with Ryan Ellis and Blum likely Nashville bound, and with Ekholm out for a bit, I think we’ll be seeing a fair amount of Bitetto for awhile.

Forward Andre Bouvet-Morrissette is also on his way back to Milwaukee.  He’s been injured a bit down in Cincy, but had an assist in 14 games.  Those stats probably don’t knock anybody’s socks off.  But last year in the Quebec junior league?  Over a point per game, leading the Drummondville Voltigeuers in scoring as a 20 year old.  He was with Milwaukee’s training camp, so he got some time with the coaching staff.  So that should hopefully be helpful in getting him where he needs to be before the three-in-three this weekend.

And one more for the road…Whoop-em Vic-tor Bart-ley style.

So I’m waking up this morning to the same great news you’re waking up to.  The negotiators had a marathon session last night, and have come to a tentative agreement on the framework of a new CBA.

Want to read about it?  Try TSN or SBNation.  Stay away from the TMZ styled so-called ‘insiders’ that contributed as much to the roller-coaster ride as Gary and Donald did.  You know…the ones that are now patting themselves on the back because they said they always knew there’d be an NHL season this year.  Yeah.  Go take your victory lap.  Aren’t you the greatest?

So what happens next?

In our universe, I don’t expect anything to happen today.

The Admirals have a 3pm game against the Grand Rapids Griffins.  Expect everything to be business as usual today.

Until the contract is ratified and signed and sealed and delivered and whatever else they need to do, there’s no deal.  And until there’s a deal, don’t expect any Admirals to be sitting out.

I’m confident that Ellis and Blum will be on their way to Nashville when this is done.  And unless there are some AHL transactions that just haven’t hit the wire yet, we simply don’t have bodies to replace them in today’s lineup.

As for forwards, I think it’ll depend on what Nashville needs.  Strong cases can be made for Mueller, Henderson, and Latta right now.  But I think it’ll come down to wherever the openings are in the Nashville lineup.

Other teams are reacting differently….word from Jason Shaver and the Wolves, who are playing the Barons today, is that the young guys are heading back to Oklahoma City.  So Eberle and Hall may have ended their AHL careers in Milwaukee.  Lucky us.

But, things can change super quick….so we’ll see what happens here.

Josh Shalla was recalled today, but he may be here to replace Mark Van Guilder, who got a bit banged up yesterday.

In the meantime, let’s raise a glass to the 2012-13….or rather…just the 2013 hockey season!

Only one player has been signed to a PTO contract so far this year for the Admirals, and that’s forward Cam Reid.

A 7th round draft pick of the Preds in 2009, Reid was not signed to a contract, and became a free agent.  He played last year with St Cloud State of the WCHA and the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, making it to the finals of their playoffs, before participating in Milwaukee’s training camp this year.  Reid played one game for Peoria before signing a new PTO contract with the Admirals on November 20th.

17 games later, he’s getting regular minutes, most recently playing on a line with Austin Watson and Juuso Puustinen.  He has five assists on the season, with a couple of them of the spin-o-rama variety.

The PTO contract is up after 25 games.  Based on his play, do you feel that he deserves to have his PTO turned into an SPC (standard player contract)?

(Photo credit:  Scott Paulus)

In the ebb and flow of NHL labor negotiations, we seem to currently be ebbing in optimism.  Sides are talking,  concessions are being…umm…conceded, and there may be some kind of resolution this week.

This would be great for hockey.  I hope it works out.

In the event that it does work out, what will happen to the Admirals?

We didn’t have a ton of Nashville guys come down, but we will still feel the sting when they go back up.

I think it’s safe to say that Ryan Ellis will be going back up to Nashville.  I think a strong argument can be made that Jon Blum will probably be the 7th defender in Nashville.

With Mike Moore and Mattias Ekholm already out with injuries, losing Ellis and Blum would be quite a blow to our blue line in the short term.

Imagine a defensive lineup with: Bartley, Valentine, Jarvinen, Roussel, Bitetto, and ____?  Taylor Aronson maybe?

And then up front… with Gabriel Bourque’s injuries (he’s only played in 13 of 31 games), is it still a guarantee that he’ll go back up to Nashville right away when he’s healthy?  I think that is up for debate.

Chris Mueller should probably be in the discussion too.  A constant in Milwaukee over the last 3 and a half seasons, does he really have anything left to prove here?  And is there enough healthy talent in Nashville to keep him off their roster?

Things will certainly look different around here when the lockout ends.  But as we’ve heard every coach tell us over the last bunch of years, this will create new opportunities for other guys to step into larger roles, and hopefully raise their own games.  Every team will have to make some adjustments.  Such is life in the “A”.

Okay Roundtable….just the one question…..Who do you think we’ll lose to the Preds when the lockout ends?

We here at Admirals Roundtable wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

As I sit here on the couch with all the wrapping paper finally put away, the younger siblings out sledding, and switching over from the third running in a row of “A Christmas Story” to the KIA NBA Countdown on ABC, I can’t help but feel a bit gypped.

Don’t get me wrong.  The holidays are all about family and spending time with the ones we love. I’ve gotten all of that and more this season and I hope all of you are too. Thanks to the recent storms in Wisconsin, we’ve also been blessed with a beautiful white Christmas outside our windows.

But I can’t help, as I sit here watching Jalen Rose talk about the “relevance” of the New York Knicks, but feel like one of the biggest items on my wish list was stolen away by the Grinch himself, Gary Bettman this year.

I’m going back home to Tampa, Fla. next week, and whenever I get that rare chance I see as many of my hometown sports teams play as I possibly can. Unfortunately the Tampa Bay Lightning are my most beloved, and instead of watching Steven Stamkos wreak havoc on the record books, the Tampa Bay Times Forum will stay empty.

Not to mention how excited I was for a hockey game at the Big House in Ann Arbor this New Years Day.

NHL Hockey has always been a big part of my holiday sports tradition, but this year I’m left with that empty feeling that I’m sure is shared with a lot of you.

It’s not all on Bettman of course. He’s an easy figurehead to heap blame upon, but it’s really a failure on all sides of the debate.

While we never get NHL games on Christmas Day itself anymore, it just feels more poignant today for some reason. That feeling of incompleteness.

But rather than stew over the present, all we can do as the powerless fans is reminisce on the past.

A few years back I spent Christmas in Canada, and on that trip got to attend an Ottawa Senators game and watch a few Habs games in some bars across Ontario. The passion there was incredible as it exists in hockey towns all across Canada and the U.S.

And I don’t believe another prolonged argument among millionaires will change that. It didn’t before at least.

We also can be thankful for what we do have.

Whatever happens this year, we still have our Admirals, and right now that’s all that matters. The spotlight still burns bright on the AHL.

They’ll be back in action Thursday, and I for one can’t wait to head back up to MKE to see them even the score with Peoria.

With all that in mind, the last thing we can do is look forward to the future. One day they’re going to work all this out. Even if it means carrying over our holiday wishes into next December.

Again, Happy Holidays to all as I leave you with a bit of Ron MacLean 80s Christmas hockey nostalgia.

Questions:

Did your holiday go/ is it going as well as you’d hoped?

How have you gotten your sports fix with no NHL and the Admirals on break for a bit?

What’s your favorite hockey holiday memory?

With the Ads off til Thursday and Christmas soon upon us, let’s take a look down on the
farm and at the season as a whole so far.

With a record of 17-8-2-0 the Cyclones currently lead the North Division of the ECHL by three points over the Toledo Walleye. Cincinnati is riding a three-game win streak into the Christmas break after beating South Carolina back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.

After getting out to a three-goal lead Friday, the Cyclones had to fend off the rallying Stingrays with rookie David Pacan scoring his first career game-winner to seal the 6-5 victory.

Saturday night was a tighter affair with Cincinnati getting both the goals it needed in the second period from Garrett Wilson and John McFarland. Starting goalie Brian Foster earned first-star honors with 25 saves.

Center Michael Pelech leads Cincy with 21 points in 27 games, while Pacan is second with 18 in 20 games. Foster has been impressive in net as the main starter with a 12-3-2 record and a .913 save percentage. Backup Zoltan Hetenyi has compiled a 2-4 record with a .883 save percentage in six starts.

Shifting our gaze back up to the Admirals, its shaping up to be a close battle all year in the Midwest division. If the playoffs started today Milwaukee would miss the cut, but they sit just three points out of the eighth spot.

In last place in the division with 29 points, the Ads are just five points behind first place Grand Rapids with more than half the season left to go. Everyone has a winning record in the Midwest meaning every win over a Midwest opponent bears even more importance than usual.

It seems a bit early to be talking about the postseason, but if things stay tight these games against Rockford and Peoria could end up making the difference in tie-breaker scenarios down the line.

The biggest thing that’s plagued the Admirals (and really every team in the division) this season is inconsistency. That’s understandable looking at Milwaukee’s situation. They’ve had a nice start in a transition period under Dean Evason. With leaders like Captain Scott Ford and scorers like Kyle Wilson gone, other names like Austin Watson have stepped in to fill the void.

New captain Mike Moore has been out since November, but assistant captains Chris Mueller and Mark Van Guilder have been solid offensively. MVG has quietly been the team’s best facilitator in my opinion.

Evason has been pleased with a nice level of competitiveness that has developed between Jeremy Smith and Magnus Hellberg. Hellberg’s challenged Smitty more than he was last season and its starting to see fruition.

Questions:

What’s your take on the season so far?

Whose your team MVP so far?

What are your holiday plans with the Ads off for most of the week?

The Roundtable got a chance to catch up with Nashville’s goalie coach Mitch Korn last week. The 22-year NHL coaching vet attended a few Ads games over the last week and a half, and imparted some of his vast knowledge to goaltenders Jeremy Smith and Magnus Hellberg.

For those of you who don’t know, Korn is one of the best in the biz, being named to “The Hockey News” list of “Top 10 Geniuses in Hockey” in 2010. He’s in his 15th year with the Preds, and over the course of his career has helped develop such household names as Pekka Rinne and Dominik Hasek, or as Preds head coach Barry Trotz calls them, “The Children of the Korn.”

He still considers Hasek to be the most talented player he’s ever worked with, with all due respect to Rinne.

“Four Vezina trophies, two Hart trophies when we were together. He had six total Vezinas. Not to throw Pekka under the bus, but it’s still Hasek just because of the results.”

He still recalls one of his favorite stories involving the Czech goalie: the story of the day he realized Hasek had a big time future ahead of him.

“Dominik Hasek had a competitive battle going on with a guy named Don Audette. It was Hasek’s first year with us in Buffalo and my second year in the NHL. Audette loved to score goals and it didn’t matter if it was the first shot of practice or the last. Dom was the same way, rather on his end he had to keep it out. They had this little war that started almost from day one.”

“I remember one day Dom was in net and Audette was in the right corner getting ready for this drill where they were breaking out and curling out and coming down 3-on-2 on the goalie. I watch Audette grab a puck while waiting in line in the corner and Hasek’s at the top of the blue paint, and Audette shoots the puck at the empty net behind Hasek. While Hasek’s waiting on the 3-on-2 he sees the puck, he turns slightly, he knocks it out of the air with a baseball bat-like swing, and then stops the 3-on-2 coming at him.”

“It was at that moment that I knew he was special.”

Moving forward to the present, Korn compared one current Admirals goalie to Pekka.

“I think from a size standpoint you can see Magnus Hellberg a little bit. Magnus isn’t as (for lack of a better term) dynamic as Pekka. He’s more of a blocker. He’s really efficient in his movement. Pekka’s a little busier than Magnus when he plays.”

“We want him to be able to play sometimes what we call ‘outside the box.’ There are times that you have to scramble and you’re going to have to do things that are less robotic and more desperate. Instead of blocking pucks we want him catching more pucks, and he’s doing that better. We’re taking years of training from him and trying to change all that. And that’s not easy.”

“Anybody who goes to an unfamiliar environment has to adapt. Pekka Rinne has gone over to the KHL and hasn’t done nearly as well he has in America. There’s guys at the top of the KHL who wouldn’t be able to compete in the NHL. Pekka knows he’s coming back, but Hellberg still needs to adjust to factors like rink size over here.”

Korn also offered his thoughts on Jeremy Smith’s start to the season.

“They both need to play differently to be effective. Smitty needs to be more aggressive because he’s smaller. Smitty relies more on skating and movement and getting into position whereas Magnus doesn’t move very much because of his size.”

“Jeremy’s made a lot of progress from day one. He came in here when our goaltending was struggling and seized the job. He won it over Engren and Pickard so you gotta give him high marks. I think he’s struggled at times this season, but I think he’s been a little snake bit. He’s played well enough some nights to win and hasn’t won. There are ebbs and flows in this game and he’s won a lot of games over the last few years.”

Though fondly known as a spirited talker, Korn was mute on the subject of the NHL lockout.

“I’m not allowed to have thoughts on it. We all just want it to be over. We want to get going,  but as far as opinions go, I don’t have enough information to have any.”

Questions:

What do you think of Korn’s evaluations?

Do you agree with his critique of Hellberg?

Just for kicks, do you think Rinne will ever take the place of “The Dominator” on his list?

For a seventh year, the Milwaukee Admirals will host high school hockey at the Bradley Center throughout next week.

This year, the annual Admirals Cup tournament will feature two new teams, Stoughton High School and Sheboygan High School, while last year’s champion Marquette, Hartland Arrowhead, Cedarburg, Germantown, Mequon Homestead, Whitefish Bay-Nicolet-Shorewood all return.

The first four games will be played next Wednesday starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Mullett Center on the campus of Hartland Arrowhead. Games will be played at the Mullett and Bradley Center starting Thursday, and end Friday with the championship game  at 2:46 p.m. at the Bradley Center.

Monday six of the coaches met with local media in a conference headed by team president Jon Greenberg and governor/CEO Harris Turer.

Each coach gave a brief statement on his team, and what it meant to have a chance to compete in the tournament.

Marquette’s Troy Sippl: “On behalf of MUHS ice hockey, I’d like to thank the Milwaukee Admirals for all they’ve done in the past seven years for high school hockey in southern Wisconsin. After being fortunate enough to win the tournament the last two year’s we’re looking forward to competing again. We’re 3-3 after six games played. we’re doing a lot of things well. Of those six games we’ve played we’ve only played one with our full roster. We’re hoping to get some guys back in time for the tournament.”

Sheboygan’s Keith Bartholomaus: “Sheboygan’s very excited to be part of this tournament.  I think that we have a team that we feel will be competitive in this tournament. We’ve had a real nice start to our season, we’re 6-3-1 at the moment. We did lose our first two games, the first one being to No. 1 ranked Notre Dame. We’ve played six one-goal games and we’ve got a battle tested team from tight contests.”

WNS’s Maco Balkovec: “This really is turning into the prominent tournament in the state. It’s just an incredible opportunity for our young men to play here at the Bradley Center. I remember playing here myself and how great it was.  Milwaukee is such a great hockey town and what a great opportunity for these kids to come play here. My players have always marked it down as one of the major highlights of their careers. It’s like the kids are playing pro for one night. We’re off to our best start that we’ve had in our school’s history. We’re currently ranked 10th in the power rankings at 8-1, and we’re just getting a great amount of help from all three schools.”

Arrowhead’s Mike Watt: “This is always a highlight for our team. Our record is 5-2-1. We’re just getting everybody back as obviously Arrowhead went to the state football championship and five of the kids on our team were on that team also.  We’re just starting to get the pieces back and get the line combinations back together.”

Germantown’s Al Haga: “We’d like to thank the Admirals and Bradley Corp. for having us. This is our fifth year in this tournament. We’ve started the season kind of light this year, we’ve had a few weekends off. We’ve got some new faces and it’s given us a lot of time to practice. We’re 3-4 right now and we’re looking forward to competing during the holiday season in the tournament.”

Cedarburg’s Dale West: “I think this is our fourth year in the tournament and like the other coaches said our kids really look forward to it. It’s a lot of fun to play here at the Bradley Center and I think going out to Mullett will be a nice addition this year. It’s a great way for us to showcase hockey from southeastern Wisconsin. I’m a little biased but I like to think that hockey in the Milwaukee area has now become the hotbed of hockey in Wisconsin. We’re kind of a hardhat and lunch pail team. There’s not going to be anyone in front of (our goalie) that’s going to light the lamp consistently, but we’ve got a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net. There’s not many teams that are going to outwork us. We’re 4-3-1 right now, we started slow in typical Cedarburg fashion, but we’re 3-0-1 in our last four games.”

The bad news is Milwaukee now sits at the bottom of the Midwest division with an 11-11-2-1 record. The good news is its just three points out of first place.

It looked like Grand Rapids might’ve had a good chance to pull away in the division until the Admirals broke their eight-game winning streak a few weeks ago. On the flip side, the Peoria Rivermen looked bad enough to fall out of competition early in the season.

Over their last ten games, however, every team in the division has a winning record, with Milwaukee at 5-3-1-1. It’s become apparent now that every game in the Midwest is going to be a dog fight, and no lead can be taken for granted.

See Saturday night’s match up.

The Admirals were in the midst of a 3-in-3 with a road trip to Peoria sandwiched between two home games. After knocking off second-place Rockford Friday in OT, the Ads took a step back in Illinois.

Things were looking good for Milwaukee, as Magnus Hellberg was having another good showing. Stopping 34 shots, Hellberg had helped his team preserve a 1-0 lead thanks to a Michael Latta goal right after the second intermission.

It seemed like Milwaukee was well on its way to a win, especially after killing off a 5-on-3 penalty with about five minutes left to go. But then everything shifted.

With 4:26 remaining Sergey Andronov deflected a Mark Cundari shot into the net to tie the game 1-1. Then, just like that, with just under two minutes left Peoria snatched the lead when Evgeny Grachev scored from the top of the right circle.

It eerily resembled what Milwaukee did to Chicago at the Bradley Center back on Nov. 30th, but this time, for the fourth time in their last five games, the Admirals blew a lead.

Peoria added an empty-netter to complete the stunning turnaround leaving the Ads with little time to regroup. Today at 5 pm, its onward with Hamilton.

The way things have been going, I wonder if it’d be best for the Bulldogs to score first. This team seems to be playing better from behind than with any lead (large or small.)

Hamilton is the bottom dweller of the North division, but its record is only one game worse than Milwaukee’s. Not to mention the Ads are going to have to fight through some wear-and-tear after two straight games with no rest.

All of that should make for a compelling game, and a big testament to resilience should the Ads pull off a win.