The Roundtable has enjoyed Roscoe levels of fun over the years. This is thanks to silly writers such as us being fans like you! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Today we take the focus ever so slightly away from the Milwaukee Admirals to something different. With this post, the Roundtable has officially reached 1,000 posts over the course of four seasons of Admirals hockey.
It all starts with Ryan Miller and his brilliant work that has established the Admirals Roundtable name, smarts, and fun! His work created this great environment for fans of the Admirals to come in, banter, banter some more, and act like the kids we all know and love that we are. Cheers Ryan!
The next “Cheers” goes out to all of our readers, frequent folks in the comments section, and our Twitter followers that chirp in during games. A website like this doesn’t last without such great readership and people who enjoy adding to the conversation. I feel at the Roundtable we’re incredibly blessed to have such a wide range of fans who all add to the different flavors of the Roundtable. Whether you’re reading right at home here in Wisconsin, in Nashville looking towards the future, in Canada, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, or more – we can’t thank you all enough! It’s such a blast having an international audience who loves this international game as much as us. Cheers to all of you for making this such a fun place to write for.
It’s not even been a full-season for myself at the helm of the Roundtable but I can already say I love everything about this. I greatly enjoy interacting with you Admirals fans, seeing and chatting with you at games, or bantering online. It has been phenomenal to be a part of something like this and I only hope we continue delivering you readers with news, wit, and great access to your Milwaukee Admirals. Let the good times continue, peoples! Cheers again for all of your fantastic and continued support of the Roundtable.
Our Olympian Simon Moser made some memories he’ll remember forever – starting right here with his last second game-winning goal against Latvia in Switzerland’s opening game of the tournament.
The Olympics wrapped up today with Team Canada shutting out Sweden for the Gold. Finland put a hurting down on Team USA for the bronze yesterday – rounding out the medal podium.
Once again, it was a fantastic Olympics for hockey. There were great performances from NHL’s top stars. We saw a total of 49 former AHL players earn themselves medals. It was another great show for the game of hockey.
I feel like we were all cheering on our nations but also our players. This go-round, it was really special to have a player like Simon Moser to root for – having spent the majority of his season to date as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals. He, and Team Switzerland for that matter, may not have been an offensively explosive team as some were in the Olympics – but Moser really played brilliantly in the tournament. His highlight came with his game-winning goal in the opening game for the Swiss against Latvia. Even beyond that, the way that he played throughout was great – and, when the NHL season resumes, I do feel as if he has earned his way into Nashville’s roster for his efforts in Sochi.
Other solid performances from Admiral alumni included Shea Weber, Roman Josi, and Antti Pihlstrom. Weber earned a gold medal with Canada – and he was his usual beastly self from game one. Josi chewed up the minutes for the Switzerland defense – and was great playing both ways for the Swiss – especially for a Swiss defense that was fantastic. Pihlstrom played a great tournament for a Finnish side that perhaps surprised some teams for how complete they were despite some missing names in the mix.
Whenever the Olympics go away, I’m sad that we don’t get more of these major international tournaments with this level of talent. It is such a great watch. The passion from the players to represent their country and succeed makes the games absolutely thrilling -USA against Russia anyone? And, while World Juniors gives us a slice of the fun, seeing the big dogs play alongside one-another and against one-another – is hard to really top.
See you in four-years, Pyeongchang Games!
Did you guess the medalists? What was your favorite moment of the Sochi Games? Who stood out to you as the tournament’s best player?
Yeah. It’s been feeling a lot like this lately. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 4-1 in Rockford against the IceHogs Saturday night. Despite outshooting their opponent 37-26 – the Admirals came up short again for their third consecutive loss. The IceHogs are now on a points streak of nine-games. They are one of the hottest teams in the entire AHL at the moment.
“I think we played a pretty good game,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “There were a couple of situations that could have went our way early. It could have been a different outcome. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good work ethic. We maintained some offensive zone time. We got pucks to the net. Then LaBarbera played real good.”
Just halfway through the first period – the IceHogs were able to put a puck past Hannu Toivonen for a goal. The former-Admiral Brad Winchester fired a slap shot that snuck through Toivonen’s glove arm to make it a 1-0 game. It’s Winchester’s sixteenth goal of the season.
Later in the first period the Admirals were caught for having too many men on the ice. It was a mental error that caught them out twice in last night’s game against the Abbotsford Heat – and tonight the IceHogs burned them for it. A great cross-ice feed from Pierre-Marc Bouchard was one-timed by Brandon Pirri. His shot flew by Toivonen for a power-play goal that made it a 2-0 game. For Pirri, it is his tenth goal – first scored on the power-play – this season.
Despite the Admirals doubling-up the IceHogs in shots, 12-6, in the second period they not only didn’t score – they conceded a goal with thirty-two seconds remaining in the frame. Jeremy Morin was able to score his eighteenth goal of the season by zipping one by Toivonen on the shortside post to extend the IceHogs lead to 3-0. For Morin, he now has scored points in nine-straight games.
Before the puck dropped in the third period the team decided to pull Hannu Toivonen in favor of Scott Darling. Toivonen allowed three goals on nineteen shots on goal before exiting.
“Dean and I talked before the second period,” said Drulia. “It’s 3-0 and do we really push these guys or do you kind of save some energy for tomorrow? We thought the only way we’re going to get out of this slump is to work hard.”
Six minutes into the third period – the IceHogs were also able to put a puck behind Darling to push the lead into rout territory, 4-0. Terry Broadhurst chipped a puck towards the net and, after some scrambling, Mark McNeill managed to put in the garbage for his sixteenth goal of the season.
Having endured a power-play drought of no goals from their last nineteen opportunities with the man advantage – Vinny Saponari finally ended the drought by scoring his eleventh goal of the season. Bitetto slid a pass to Saponari who kicked the puck from his skate to his forehand – beating a very phenomenal Jason LaBarbera to end his shutout bid.
Nothing more would come from this one. The Admirals have now lost three straight games and the IceHogs are on a streak of points in their last nine games – and a winning streak of four games. The gap between the Ads and IceHogs is now up to six points in the division.
Ramblings: Simon Moser made his return from Olympic hockey where he represented Team Switzerland. His last game played was with the Swiss against Latvia on 2/18/14. His last game before leaving for the Olympics came with the Nashville Predators on 2/8/14 against the Anaheim Ducks. His last game with the Admirals was on 1/31/14 at Iowa.
How do you think the Admirals can turn games like these into wins? It seems like many good things happen in these games but fail to earn them the win. Why? What’s alluding them here? And can it be solved tomorrow in Grand Rapids?
Remember when Taylor Beck scored to put the Admirals out in front of the Heat during the second period? Remember? That was awesome! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Last night the Admirals went toe-to-toe with the best in the Western Conference and came up short. Of all the recent losses, to which sadly they are now piling up, this one hurt a little bit more because it was the top team in the West and the Admirals didn’t just hang with them during the game – they outplayed them through two periods of hockey. This was a game to step up, knock off a big dog, and get momentum going ahead of a big weekend. Instead, we get another loss at home – and more head scratching as to what is the missing ingredient that the team needs to push the over the top.
The Chatterbox
Being that last night was a concert night (and a loss) I zipped through post-game interviews. I sat in on Dean Evason’s post-game presser and talked with Anthony Bitetto before heading back up to press row to complete my story before loud noises happened (Cheap Trick, for those who missed it, was the highlight of the night). Here is what Evason and Bitetto had to say following the defeat to Abbotsford.
The Admirals hung in there with the best in the West but came up short late. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 4-2 against the Abbotsford Heat Friday night. It was a solid effort for the Ads through two periods but the Heat stuck around to haunt them in the third to take the win.
“We continually shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’re not happy with obviously our situation here.”
The Abbotsford Heat were able to score an opener in the first minute of the game. A puck in the slot, played by Ben Street, fumbled on towards Sven Baertschi on the right wing side of the cage. He had no one around him by the net – and essentially scored on an empty net for his fifth goal of the season on the Heat’s first shot.
It didn’t take the Admirals long to find an answer goal. After a hard drive to the net by Colton Sissons, Vinny Saponari cradled the rebound, spun, fired, and the puck flew past Olivier Roy. It was the tenth goal of the season for Saponari.
There have been some flat offensive efforts for the Admirals in recent games. It wasn’t the problem in the first period. Despite that opening goal, the Admirals really controlled the period and outshot the Western Conference’s top team 20-8 in the period.
We also had a fight in the closing seconds of the first period between Mike Liambas and Carter Bancks. This fight happened after a huge hit by Liambas on defenseman John Ramage in the corner on the forecheck. There were some good punches landed by Liambas. Bancks was able to tug Liambas to the ice for the take down. For a quick bout – I’d call that one even.
In the second period the Admirals were able to claim the lead after a fantastic play from Taylor Beck. The 22-year old winger skated in one-on-one with defenseman Shane O’Brien. He skated right in on him, deked to the right towards the slot, used O’Brien as a screen, and fired a wrist shot hard over the glove of Roy. It was Beck’s twelfth goal of the season.
The Admirals lost their brief lead midway through the second period after Ben Street’s twenty-first goal of the season. The Heat, just earning a power-play for a questionable too many men on the ice call, broke into the zone with a two-on-zero rush led by Street. He took it all the way in on Scott Darling, flipped a backhander, and his shot hit off the cross back and down. Once that puck was in the crease it rolled back towards Darling’s right leg and he slid it into his own net.
Abbotsford was able to break the deadlock past the halfway marker of the third period in a goal very similar to their opener. Max Reinhart was able to allude Charles-Olivier Roussel and get to Darling’s doorstep with space around him. He took a pass from Markus Granlund and scored to the blocker side of Darling for his thirteenth goal of the season.
That goal would be the game-winner for the Heat – who added an empty netter from distance by Brett Olson for good measure with 0.8 seconds left on the clock. The Admirals have now lost four-straight home games.
“I think right now we’re beating ourselves,” said Anthony Bitetto. “I think we’re better than most teams. It says on the board every day playoff hockey. It’s the little things that are going to make us a playoff team and hopefully go far in the end.”
Ramblings: Scott Ford missed tonight’s game with an upper body injury. In his absence Bryan Rodney wore a third “A” patch for the Admirals alongside fellow alternate captains Mark Van Guilder and Joe Piskula.
Miikka Salomaki is a bull. The Abbotsford Heat wear red. Explosions! (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals start a highly competitive three-in-three weekend with the top team in the Western Conference the Abbotsford Heat. This will be the fourth and final meeting between the two teams in the regular season. With road games against the Rockford IceHogs and Grand Rapids Griffins looming in the days to follow – this is a big first step to a weekend where the Ads should start looking to right the ship after a few off-games.
First and foremost let’s talk Admirals. Entering tonight’s game they are now trailing the Rockford IceHogs in the Midwest Division and Western Conference by 2 points – sporting an overall record of 23-16-6-5 (57 points). In fact, with a win on Wednesday, the Rochester Americans bumped the Ads down to eighth place in Conference. Yep, that’s the bubble spot. What we then have tonight is a very possible playoff scenario, first seed versus the eighth seed, Heat against the Admirals.
The Ads have been a bit hot and cold the past few games and are on a run of 3-4-1-2 (9 points) from their last ten games. The offense has been very erratic. The goaltending has also been a bit hit and miss as well. After a solid week of practice – we’ll get a look tonight to see just what kind of response the team will have after some flat performances. They will also have a fresh goaltending duo in the form of Scott Darling and Hannu Toivonen. Darling provided the Admirals with AHL award winning work in December. It’s going to be great to see him back in net and, hopefully, continue where he left off before his lower-body injury nearly a month ago.
For those who happened to miss the news yesterday, Marek Mazanec picked up a slight injury during team practice on Wednesday. As I said – slight injury. Dean Evason said he sees this as a short term injury. Mazanec should miss the weekend games and be re-evaluated on Monday before the team makes a decision ahead of their Wednesday game against the Griffins.
One thing that I didn’t make too public yesterday, outside of a tweet on the Roundtable Twitters, was that Joonas Rask practiced with the team. He was in full-gear and leading the group on the way back to the locker room. I talked with him briefly and he seems his ol’ self. I’m not certain he could factor into the weekend – but I certainly wasn’t expecting to see him back and practicing with the team as quickly as he did.
Our enemy tonight, the Abbotsford Heat, are a perfect storm of party crashers for tonight’s Cheap Trick concert game. They are the best team in the Western Conference: 32-15-4-1 (69 points). They have gone 6-1-3-0 (15 points) from their last ten games and are on a two-game point streak. The Admirals started off the season against them and also had a previous meeting against the Heat in Milwaukee in November:
If the big concert crowd is looking for a show – they might be in for some extra hockey. The previous three-games spilled beyond regulation. Sadly, that is a major sore spot for the Admirals. As far as the entire AHL is concerned – only the San Antonio Rampage have played as many overtime games, 17, as the Admirals. In overtime, the Ads are tied with the Iowa Wild with a league-high 6 overtime losses. The Ads also have 6 losses from a shootout and, for those wondering, their skaters have yet to score in the shootout from 10-consecutive shootout attempts. The last time the Admirals have scored in a shootout came three shootouts ago when Simon Moser beat Richard Bachman. While every point is nice, even against the best in the West, overtime is the Ads kryptonite this season. It’d be fantastic to not go past sixty-minutes.
The Heat are loaded with scorers. They have three players on the team who have 40-or-more points: Markus Granlund, Ben Street, and Max Reinhart. They also have three others who are in the 30-or-more points range: Corban Knight, Chad Billins, and Corey Locke. Perspective, the Admirals top scorers are in the 30-point range: Miikka Salomaki, Colton Sissons, and Taylor Beck. It makes sense that a team like the Heat has scorers and is out in front in the West. You have to have some sort of firepower to be playing a team like the Texas Stars and be ahead of them in the standings! The Ads defense will need to have a highly detailed game if it means beating the Heat. Either that or Darling or Toivonen will need to play out of their mind.
In net the Heat have Joni Ortio who has been really good for the team this season. Only two other goalies in the entire AHL, Jake Allen (22) and Drew MacIntyre (22), have more wins than Ortio (20). He has a 2.22 GAA, 0.926 SV%, and has 2 shutouts. He played against the Admirals the last time these two team met back in November: making 37 saves, allowed 3 goals, and earned the overtime win. How did they put the pucks past him? See for yourself and hope they get that and a bit more tonight.
What are your expectations for tonight’s game against the Abbotsford Heat? What does the team need to do to beat the best in the West? If they’re able to take a regulation win tonight – how well does that set them up for the rest of the weekend?
Dean Evason likes to refer to Miikka Salomaki’s game as a bull in a china shop. That comes with great reason. He’s a force to be reckoned with every game. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
In his first season of professional hockey in North America – Mikka Salomaki has fit into the Milwaukee Admirals from the opening puck drop. His style of play is perfectly tuned for the high-tempo atmosphere that the North American game presents. And he has taken to it all rather well.
“I like this style here,” said Miikka Salomaki. “It’s good for me I think.”
Through 50-games for the Admirals this season, Salomaki leads the team in scoring and assists: 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists). He’s a player that has been tasked to do a great deal in only his first season in North America – but he has delivered with a relentless work output when his name is called.
“We’ve talked a lot about Mikka being a big part of our success early in the season,” commented Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “When you can get a guy like that, a rookie, to come in and play first or second line minutes, power-play, penalty kill, he’s played in the middle, he’s played left wing… he’s mature beyond his years on the ice.”
A lot of Salomaki’s high workmanlike attitude can come from his time playing with Oulun Kärpät of the SM-liiga in Finland for three seasons. He would have only been 17-years old in his first full-season of professional hockey. In that first campaign of work with Kärpät he produced 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) and was also a positive player on the ice, +2, through 40 games at Finland’s highest playing level. He had to work extremely hard to earn his minutes then – and he continues doing it today.
In the 2011 NHL Draft, Salomaki was chosen by the Nashville Predators organization in the second round (52nd overall). He played one more professional season with Kärpät before making the leap to North America this season. While those of you who watch him on the ice might think, “it doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat,” the story off the ice has been the real story of development for Salomaki.
When I first spoke with him at the start of the year I felt like I was talking to the middle school version of myself: a kid who looked afraid to speak publicly. My reasons? Confidence. Salomaki’s reasons? Language barrier.
I don’t think we can ever give enough credit to some of the young talented hockey players who come over from Europe to North America. While the main focus for most at a player of his age, 20-years old, is on development and what it takes to make that next leap up to the NHL – players like Salomaki are working hard on learning a second language, adapting to life in a new country, and -like the rest of their teammates- still trying to work hard on the day job. The language barrier was something that made Salomaki quite shy – even to his head coach.
“He’s a pretty shy guy,” said Evason. “So, early on we weren’t sure what we were going to get. Just speaking to him and what have you. But – as soon as he puts pads on – he is a different guy.”
One thing that definitely helps with situations like this is (A) the game speaks for itself and (B) there’s always plenty of Euros in the mix when it comes to the game of hockey. Salomaki has fellow Finns such as Joonas Rask, Joonas Jarvinen, and even Hannu Toivonen to speak to off the ice to allow him to better communicate and get settled in North America.
“It’s good help because my English is not so good,” said Salomaki. “When I came here [my English] was awful. Of course it is good help. I can ask something in Finnish if I don’t know something. But it is getting better all the time – my English. It’s good.”
From that first moment speaking with him to this interview – I can see a huge change in the way he’s taken to socializing in English. He looks really comfortable. He gets to hang out with his fellow Euros a fair bit, but the entire team has taken to him – shy or not.
“He has been more confident,” said Evason of Salomaki’s off ice behavior. “Obviously the language is coming. It’s nice to have a couple of Finnish guys on our team. Probably makes him comfortable but yet they don’t stick together – they’re not click-y. He’s a very well liked guy. Yeah, he doesn’t turn purple anymore when you talk to him. It’s more a pink now.”
There’s probably a great reason why Salomaki is so liked by his teammates and coaches without even having to talk up much: his work ethic. Game after game, shift after shift, Salomaki looks relentless when his name and number is called to hit the ice. He skates fast. He hit hard. And never, and I mean never, shies away from going to the dirty areas. With the language barrier being an issue for him – he’s generated many facewashing scrums all down to his hard plays to the net and boards all season long. It was this playing style that contributed to his head coach referring to him as, “a bull in a china shop.”
“That has always been my style,” said Salomaki of his aggressive style of play. “I just play like that. I’ve always played like that. I just can’t play different ways because that’s just me.”
It’s been clear very early on from my side that the coaching staff absolutely adores his relentless style of play. He doesn’t take a shift off and it is often hard for me to detect where some of the weaknesses are in his game despite being a 20-year old in his first year playing outside of his native Finland. In speaking with head coach Dean Evason he explained to me the areas that he best needs to improve concern being detailed with his game and being able to look after his energy levels.
“You never want to take the ‘bull in a china shop’ away from him because he is going full bore all the time,” said Evason. “What we’ve seen, certainly at our level, is we get into the three-in-three nights and on that third night he doesn’t got a lot of gas. Which, clearly, you want. You want a guy to put it out there every single night – but eventually he’s going to have to find a way to conserve energy in different areas. For now, we are really happy with the way he plays the game each and every night.”
With guys like Taylor Beck, Colton Sissons, and Simon Moser getting the attention of Nashville this season – one wonders when the call might be coming for Salomaki. The truth is – it’s been discussed a few times this season.
“He was in the conversation when Moser got called up, when Beck got called up,” said Evason. “Anytime there is a winger – he is always in the conversation. If the situation warrants, and he plays the way he has been, he’ll get an opportunity.”
So Smashville, future warning, prepare your china shops. As for now, Salomaki continues to grow on and off the ice in the city of Milwaukee – a place that has quickly grown on him.
“I like it really much,” said Salomaki of Milwaukee. “Its not so big. In Finland we don’t really have such big cities like in here. But, I like it. It feels like home already.”
What have you made of Miikka Salomaki’s performance this season? Can he can make it to the NHL this season?
Marek Mazanec was injured during team practice yesterday. That means we should expect a dose of Scott Darling and Hannu Toivonen this weekend. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
This afternoon I had the chance to drop in and chat with the Milwaukee Admirals after their morning skate. They just about let me do everything but actually drop in and join them for the women’s gold medal game between Team Canada vs. Team USA. It sounded intense. By “it” I mean the players and coaches watching it.
I wanted to get to the bottom of yesterday’s goalie question of the day, why do we have three goalies right now, so I spoke with head coach Dean Evason. I also got to speak with Hannu Toivonen and Scott Darling. Here’s what everyone had to say.
Vinny Saponari. A Toe-Dragging Expert. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
During last week’s AHL All Star break I took the time to highlight two players I considered to be the Admirals’ Underrated All Stars. I picked Zach Budish and Joonas Jarvinen because I feel their work can sometimes be lost in all the focus on the scoring aspects of the game. Perhaps then, as a few pointed out, I overlooked Vinny Saponari in the mix for such a title. It wasn’t that I missed him or anything. Far from it actually. I feel what Saponari has been doing this season as a member of the Admirals pushes him beyond underrated and into a certain spotlight that he has earned for his hard work.
Saponari was one of the last cuts in Milwaukee’s pre-season camp. His season started off with one month of games in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones. He played 14 games, scored 11 points (1 goal, 10 assists), had 25 shots on goal, 4 penalty minutes, and a plus/minus of +3. He had done enough to get that next chance with the Admirals. From the time that he was called up to right now – he’s never felt out of place on the ice despite getting himself in different line combos and earning time on the power-play.
To me, he took Joshua Shalla‘s place on the team when he was called up – and he has solidly kept it. He started off on those lower-end lines but quickly found himself getting paired with Austin Watson and Mark Van Guilder on a consistent basis. The thing that I like about Saponari’s game the most is that, where ever he gets plugged in, he seems to maintain his game very well. He forechecks well. He skates and stickhandles really good. He’s already scored a few dandies when it comes to toe-dragging and letting rip. He’s crafty with that when he has to be but he doesn’t often work his way into trouble. When he does – it does make for a terrific photo … herp derp.
Since he recall to Milwaukee, Saponari has suited up for 33 games, produced 17 points (9 goals, 8 assists), scored 4 power-play goals, plus/minus -2, and gone to the penalty box for 10 minutes. While the month of January was brutal for many Admirals – he really did so well: 5 goals, 2 assists, and generated 22 shots on goal in 13 January games.
I suppose what I want to really say with all of this is that Saponari isn’t really someone I’d classify as an underrated player. You look at his numbers from just prior to this season (here’s his Hockey DB profile again) and you see a player who has always been pretty reliable and responsible when it comes to his game. 24-years old, longest stint he’s played at the highest professional level of hockey that he’s played in… he’s doing superbly.
If there was any true quality about Vinny Saponari that I would classify as underrated it is that he is one of the few Admirals players where I know what I’m going to see from him time-and-time-again. He’s going to skate hard, create, and be smart on defense. I never go to the rink thinking about him in the way that I do with a, say, Bryan Rodney wondering if we’re getting a 2 assists game or a 2 assists for the other team game. Saponari can score a flashy goal here and there. But it’s the smoothness about his game away from those toe-drags that has done him very well so far this season. Make no mistake about it. He has earned every second of ice time he has been logging with the Admirals. And it has often been time well spent.
How have you felt about Vinny Saponari’s season? What can you see from him going forward? This is really his best AHL experience to date – so should we expect more and more in his development or is this just about what we should expect?
Pekka Rinne was under the impression we didn’t have enough goaltending news lately so he did something today.
Welcome to the latest and greatest post on the newly renamed Goaltenders Roundtable (I know, I know.). The latest news out of Nashville camp is that Pekka Rinne returned to team practice for the first time since late October. About two weeks ago we had discussed the news of Rinne returning to the ice in full-gear. That was about a fifteen-minute skate around more than anything. Today, he actually participated in a proper team practice.
“It feels great to be on the ice with the boys, just taking shots,” said Pekka Rinne. “It’s been a long time. So it feels great.”
“I don’t want to come back and be 80 percent or anything like that. I want to be strong,” Rinne said. “I want to be able to help this team. As of right now, I feel great and I’m just super-excited and can’t wait to get back between the pipes.”
“You have to listen to the doctors and listen to your own body,” Rinne said. “It’s been a tough go at times but now I’m enjoying this, being back on the ice and feeling good. There’s not really a set timetable. I’m sure each day you kind of feel how it goes and how it reacts.”
As far as this news goes – it’s a nice sign for the Predators and Pekka Rinne that he has taken another step forward in his recovery process. This does act as another interesting aspect to what happened today though in the world of the Milwaukee Admirals.
When I heard of today’s news for Toivonen I assumed another body went down or a trade is in the works. If Mazanec is healthy and Rinne is close to returning… what do you think that means could happen next when, between the Predators and Admirals, there are currently seven goalies (Rinne, Hutton, Dubnyk, Mazanec, Darling, Toivonen, and Hellberg). See why I might think an actual move could be rumbling? This could easily be swayed off to pure speculation on my part if, when I got to practice tomorrow, I find out Mazanec is actually injured – hence the need to call up Darling a day before he could play another game in the ECHL before joining the Admirals – and the need to re-sign Toivonen.
Something is up. Injury? Trade? There are far too many numbers at one position right now With the possible returns of Rinne and Hellberg between the NHL and AHL – it will only grow.
What is your impression of the amount of goaltenders in NHL/AHL camp right now? How does this shake out? Does Pekka Rinne’s return to the ice say a trade could be imminent for anyone beneath him on the system’s depth chart?
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