Brandon Bollig, Tyler Gaudet, Troy Grosenick, and John Ramage take to the center of the stretch circle following their first practice as members of the Milwaukee Admirals. (Photo Credit: Daniel Lavender)
The Milwaukee Admirals returned to practice at the MSOE Kern Center after a scheduled off-day. What happened during the practice was rather standard but who participated made the day feel special. All of the brand new faces added recently were in attendance in today’s practice and there was also the return of Bobby Butler from his time with Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The process of re-engineering the team comes with 21 games remaining in the Admirals schedule. The Admirals are in sixth place of the Central Division standings.
When you look back at recent draft classes by the Nashville Predators it is hard to look past that group in 2014 and not just stare at all the names. It was a sensation draft that helped the Nashville Predators and feed into the Milwaukee Admirals. You had Kevin Fiala, Vladislav Kamenev, Jack Dougherty, Justin Kirkland, Viktor Arvidsson, Joonas Lyytinen, and Aaron Irving. That last name on there was really the only one that didn’t stick but Irving still made his pro debut with the Admirals and continues to play at an incredible level for the Kalamazoo Wings in the ECHL.
Yet, when Lyytinen first arrived to Milwaukee it was much like Irving: at the end of the 2015-16 season. He actually showed up with a fellow Finn and Nashville Predators draft pick named Janne Juvonen. Neither played. They sat back and had the chance to see the North American game up close through an AHL lens.
It felt like neither would be coming over after a 2016-17 season flew right on by with neither leaving the pro scene in their native Finland. That changed this season. Lyytinen is here and looking to make strides in one of the most competitive defensive cores in all of hockey: the Nashville Predators organization.
The Milwaukee Admirals started the 2017-18 season with plenty of returning faces from a team that last season felt truly special that simply ran into a Grand Rapids Griffins buzzsaw that would ultimately work its way to a Calder Cup triumph. 19 players returned from last season’s Admirals squad. Come opening night of the new season the Admirals would win 5-2 on the road against the Iowa Wild. 20 players suited up that night. Jump ahead to the day after the NHL’s Trade Deadline and a quarter of the Admirals opening night roster has been traded away. This season was built to fail from the beginning and a final attempt was made the last two days in the hopes of rescuing what is left of it.
The Nashville Predators have traded forward Pierre-Cédric Labrie and defenseman Trevor Murphy to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for defenseman John Ramage and forward Tyler Gaudet. In addition, the Milwaukee Admirals have traded forward Derek Army to the Tucson Roadrunners for future considerations.
Today was NHL Trade Deadline Day. The Nashville Predators starting things off by announcing the signing of Mike Fisher to a contract for the rest of the season and then made another addition. The Predators acquiredRyan Hartman and a fifth round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Victor Ejdsell as well as a first and fourth round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. All this happened in the background as the Milwaukee Admirals returned to practice in Milwaukee following the completion of their four-game road trip.
The Milwaukee Admirals wrapped up the month of February with a four-game road trip. It started with one of the best periods of hockey they had played all season followed shortly by about eleven periods of scrambled form and sheer confusion. The Admirals started the month by ending a six-game losing streak and going on a nice run by claiming wins in the next four straight. Then the doom and gloom of 2017-18 crept back in and they ended the month on a 1-4-0-1 stretch. “Up and Down” continues to be this season’s theme.
The Nashville Predators have had a very active Sunday. They shutout the St. Louis Blues 4-0. They then made a trade which sent Pontus Åberg to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Mark Letestu before shipped him to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a fourth round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. Now the Predators have made a trade with AHL implications as they have acquired forward Brandon Bollig and goaltender Troy Grosenick from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a sixth round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-2 on the road against the Texas Stars at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on Saturday night.
The Admirals started this four-game road trip with a 3-2 win against the Manitoba Moose. They end it having lost three consecutive games in regulation and conceding fourteen goals. They have now fallen to sixth place in the Central Division standings with twenty-one games remaining in the regular season.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-1 on the road against the Texas Stars at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on Friday night.
This was close to being like the first meeting of the season against the Stars. Mike McKenna was nearly perfect in net for the Stars and he would only be beaten late by Trevor Murphy. McKenna has stopped all but one of the sixty-five shots he has faced against the Admirals in the two games played this past week. The Admirals have now lost their past two games and will need a rebound result tomorrow night.
It is probably safe to say that the Milwaukee Admirals will be flying from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Cedar Park, Texas with a massive chip on their shoulder. If it’s not that when they first played the Texas Stars back at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena that they played a very flat game and were shutout 1-0. If it’s not that they lost that last game against the Manitoba Moose 6-3. It’s that explosion that came after the last game that was the culmination of many months of repressed frustration that only needed an initiator named Brendan Lemieux to cause the rage to burst loose.
What the Admirals will be off of that moment will be fascinating to watch. Is that the sign of unraveling or the moment the team gets together and really shows a fighting spirit from now until the end of the season? What I think back to is the 2011-12 season when the Rockford IceHogs triggered a bench clearing brawl on 4/1/12. The Admirals would finish the season on a run of 6-1-0-1 and make it into the Calder Cup Playoffs as the fifth seed. The playoffs are worked far differently now and the rallying point for the Admirals is to push through the gauntlet and start moving their way up into the Central Division standings. The time to channel those frustrations and emotions the right way begins this weekend against in Texas.
Admirals Roundtable 