While there has been no official press release, I feel confident reporting that there are a couple more guys that have been signed to AHL deals.

Why am I confident?

On the Predators training camp roster, they note players “Attending camp on an AHL contract with Milwaukee” with an asterisk.   And there are some names with asterisks you may not recognize.  So let’s meet them now.  They have some…interesting stories.

This might or might not be overly shocking news, but it looks like one battle at Nashville Predators training camp has already been decided–Carter Hutton, not Magnus Hellberg, will be the backup goaltender to Pekka Rinne with the Nashville Predators. For the development of Hells Bells, it does make sense, but it would be curious to think about who would get the Nashville net in a long term situation if Rinne ever went down for a significant amount of time.

As per usual this situation could change even further if Nashville G.M. David Poile decides to abandon his un-proven backup situation and sign a veteran backstop. This was Poile’s preference last season, and there are certainly plenty of options still available, like there is at just about every position. Damien Brunner, anyone?

That means for the Admirals there is decent chance that Milwaukee will start one of the best, if not the top goaltender in the AHL on most nights. If your squad is trying to make the playoffs for the 12th straight year, having Hellberg is not a bad way to go.

The Admirals certainly would have been quite the one-two punch again had Jeremy Smith stayed, got healthy and returned to his elite form. But alas Smith followed Mark Dekanich to Columbus on a two-way deal. Personally, I hope things work out better for Jeremy there than they did there for Mark. Speaking of Dekanich, he’s currently in the KHL with Medveščak Zagreb.

So Roundtable . . . Do you think Barry Trotz is acting too hastily with his backup goaltending situation? For his development, it makes sense to have Hellberg down for another season in Milwaukee, but what do you think the Predators would do if Rinne went down to injury? Are Poile/Fenton still looking for another netminder?

Head Coach Dean Evason arrived in Nashville today in advance of rookie camp, and was very nice to give us some of his time to talk about a wide array of topics.

Looking back on last season, there was certainly an adjustment for him as a coach, after having been an assistant in the NHL for so long.  But that finish at the end of the season…that was pretty priceless.

“It was a learning process, and I think what we take out of last season is…we were very proud of how we finished.  Obviously we struggled a little bit at the start with everything that was going on…in different dimensions.  But the way we finished the season, to win the amount of games that we won, I’m very proud of the guys for competing down the stretch like they did.”

Coach Evason and Coach Drulia will be diving in head first this weekend for rookie camp, going behind the bench for the games in Florida.  Evason talks about what he’s hoping to get out of this weekend.

“There’s obviously some guys that we’re going to have in rookie camp that won’t be with us (in Milwaukee)…the junior players.  But the projection is to have them next year, or whenever they’re going to come out of junior or college… I guess the main thing is to watch the players that are going to be coming to us.  The Salomaki’s…the Sissons’….guys like that are going to be coming to us, so we’ll get a good idea of how they play the game.   But as important, is how they conduct themselves on the bench and within practice.  It’s always fun to watch the progression from rookie camp into main camp, and see how guys excel or drop off.”

Speaking of Salomaki and Sissons…..

“We have real high expectations for both of them to play high up on our forward depth charts.  Both are highly touted prospects, played very well in their respective leagues last year, and we’re looking for them to play a prominent role.  Our job in Milwaukee is obviously to win hockey games, but we’re there to develop these players to eventually go on and play in the NHL and hopefully for the Nashville Predators.  We’re looking for big things from both of those guys.”

Of course anything can happen in Nashville’s training camp.  A player can impress amazingly or disappoint horrendously.  Or an injury or two can shuffle the roster a bit.  Remember the epidemic of hamstring injuries?  But for the most part this year, Coach Evason says he has a good idea who will be in Milwaukee.

“Last year was a different year clearly with the lockout…we weren’t sure exactly who we were getting or if the NHL was going to go and it then would bump guys down.  This year, we have a real good understanding of our team, and who is going to be coming to us.  And as I said earlier, it’s nice to know the personnel.  We’ve got our line combinations kind of structured already to at least get into training camp with those lines, and then play with it from there.  Whereas last year, coming into development camp when we first came here, we had no idea.  There were some players I had no idea what they brought to the table, besides watching a little bit of video.  So now I know the personalities of players, and obviously how they play on the ice.”

One guy that everyone will be watching in training camp (when they aren’t watching Seth Jones) will be Filip Forsberg – the guy the Predators obtained for Martin Erat and Michael Latta.  Is there a snowball’s chance that he’ll play in Milwaukee?  Yeah, about a snowball’s chance, it sounds like.

“There’s always an opportunity depending on how things shake down in Nashville.  There’s always a trickle down effect.  Clearly, he’s a guy that Nashville wants to play in Nashville.  They made a trade for a highly touted player that we all believe can play in the NHL.  So the chances probably aren’t great that he’ll be in Milwaukee, but there’s certainly an opportunity.”

One of the treats for Milwaukee fans last year was watching some of the players take some giant steps forward in their games.  And Coach Evason expects those players to continue to take giants steps forward this season.  Guys like Austin Watson and Kevin Henderson, who got their first taste of the NHL at the end of last season.  And then there’s a certain goaltender…

“(Magnus) Hellberg is a guy that made GREAT strides last year for us, and all of these guys are going to play a more prominent role for us.  It’s going to be nice to see how they’ve developed through the summer, not only physically – a lot of people think, ‘ah, physically I wonder how he’s going to be…’  It’s more (developing) mentally…guys coming in more confident.  A guy like Watson who has played NHL games, he should come into this camp now feeling very good about his game.  He’s now made a step forward, and he should be a real leader on our hockey club.”

Aaron Sims talked a lot last year on the radio about how great the locker room was.  Obviously, he’s not talking about the furnishings…he’s talking about how great the players and coaches got along and worked together as a community.  I asked Coach what makes a locker room a great locker room, and is there something that he does to create or nurture it.

“I think as a coach, if you’re honest, you’re up front, there’s nothing behind the back, there’s no mind games…you just give it to the players straight up, what’s going on, how things are….I think individually they respond to that.  And then what happens is I think your group takes leadership and takes ownership of the dressing room.  The coaches give them that structure and that honesty, and then from there they take the room and make it the environment that it is.”

Looking ahead, the Admirals are one of six teams that won’t be playing any games that first weekend of the season.  When they play their first game of the year against Abbotsford on October 11^th, the Heat will be playing their third game.  Is this scheduling quirk an advantage or disadvantage for the Admirals?  Tough to say.

“We’ll wait and see how it works out.  We’re thinking of it on the positive side that we’re going to have an extra week to get our systems down, to get good conditioning in, so that we’re able to get into the first game in that second week and be full speed.  But it’s going to be tough not to play games.  We’re going to have to be creative as a coaching staff to try and keep the guys interested and motivated so that we are ready to play that first game.”

The last question I asked him was kind of a fluff question….it got the good laugh I was hoping for, and it also got the answer I expected.  Would Dean ever want to be the Uncle Ben’s Human Hockey Puck?

“I think our organization does a tremendous job of entertaining the fans, keeping it interesting  and fun….but being a human hockey puck is not something that I’ve ever aspired to do.”

Enjoy rookie camp, everybody.  Hockey is back.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a schedule.

If you like travelling to see the opening night game on the road, you’ll definitely get some frequent flyer miles out of it this year.  The Admirals will start the season with their one and only trip to Abbotsford for a pair of games.

Here are some notes about the schedule:

12 games against Chicago and Rockford
10 games against Grand Rapids and Iowa
4 games against Charlotte, Texas, San Antonio, Lake Erie, Oklahoma City, and Abbotsford
2 games against Toronto, Hamilton, Rochester, and Utica

There will be 9 sets of 3-games-in-3-days.  Of those 27 games, only a third will be home games, and a pair of 3-in-3 sets will be all road games.

January 24th-26th — A home and home and back home set against the Rockford IceHogs.  Friday in Milwaukee, Saturday in Rockford, Sunday in Milwaukee.  Think they’ll be tired of seeing each other?  Think that third game might be a game you’ll want to get tickets to?

80% of the schedule is weekend games (Fri, Sat, Sun).   On the home schedule, we’ve got 16 Friday games, 6 Saturday games, and 6 Sunday games.  And then 10 home games during the week.

There are 9 games in April.  Four of them are against the Wolves.  Grand.

One five game homestand, three four game homestands.  8 out of 9 games between February 26th and March 15th will be at home.

No huge roadtrips….the longest is a four game stretch, which happens twice.  Once in beginning of the season on the trip that includes the Texas teams, and one in March that includes the teams in the northeast.

Over the last 12 games of the season, it’s split evenly between home and road games.

By my count, just five, maybe six trips that’ll involve expensive airplane fares….depending on if they want to fly or bus to Cleveland.  And there aren’t any weird scheduling quirks where they’re in playing in Milwaukee on Friday, and then playing in Charlotte the next day.

No random mid-week school-day-game matinees at 10am.

Chris Mueller, if with the Texas Stars, will be visiting Milwaukee twice in October — Saturday the 26th and Wednesday the 30th.  We’ll see Utica (aka last year’s Chicago Wolves with new free agents like Mike Santorelli and Zach Hamill) on February 7th.  And Rochester will make their first trip to Milwaukee since the 06-07 season on March 2nd.

And last but certainly not least…….For our friend Todd from Milwaukeehockey.com …..  Daytona 500 is February 23rd.  The Admirals will NOT have a home game…they’ll be in Grand Rapids that afternoon.

It was announced today that the Admirals signed a pair of players to AHL deals.

Forward Paul Crowder was one of them.  You may remember him from suiting up in 5 games for the Admirals in the second half of last season when everybody and their mom were called up to the Preds.  Back when Coach Drulia was the boss in Wheeling, Crowder was his captain.  So there’s history with the guy.  And he made a nice enough impression last season to get a two-way (AHL-ECHL) deal this year.

And then there’s Mathieu Tousignant.

A forward who we last saw as a member of the Texas Stars.  And one of those guys that might be described as a rat, a pest, and a nuisance if you’re playing against him.

We got our fill of him in the playoff series against the Stars in 2011 Calder Cup playoffs.  And then according to Stephen from the 100 Degree Hockey blog, things didn’t seem to work out with the Stars.

” ‘Tousi’ had one really good year with Texas, 10-11. He was effective that year in using speed to get to pucks and make things happen.  For the most part, his role was 3rd line at best, 4th line more likely. Pest more than enforcer. Did have some fights, mostly forgettable.

“He spent a lot of time (last season) in ECHL Idaho and then was deemed expendable and sent to St John’s for nothing.”  Not even a bag of pucks.  He was loaned to the IceCaps, similar to the way Zach Hamill was loaned to Milwaukee at the end of the year.

And that’s how he completed his entry-level contract.  So he’s got a change of scenery now.

If he still has some nastiness to his game, or if the coaches can get him back to being the pest that he was in 2011….imagine him on a line with Mike Liambas.  That might be fun to watch.

So Roundtable — what do you remember about Tousignant from that playoff series?  Are you happy with these depth moves in general?

It’s not the full AHL season schedule…but it’s a start.

It’ll be a two-game pre-season schedule for the Admirals.  At home on Friday September 27th to play the Rockford IceHogs at the Kern Center on the campus of MSOE.  And then one away game in suburban Chicago against the Wolves — Saturday September 28th at Hoffman Estates Ice Arena.

Hang in there….it’ll be hockey night in Milwaukee soon!

So Roundtable…do you usually try to make the pre-season games?  Do you ever make the trip for the road pre-season game?  What do you like about the training camp matches?

The NBA released their schedule, so we know some of the days the Admirals WON’T have home games now.

The Bucks home opener is Saturday November 2nd.

They’ll have home games every Saturday the rest of 2013 except for one — December 14th.

Sounds like lots of Fridays and Sundays for the Admirals early on, and any early 3-in-3’s will have the Ads on the road in the middle game. The Bucks only have four Friday or Sunday games for the ENTIRE SEASON.

Charlotte, Lake Erie, San Antonio, and Milwaukee share arenas with NBA teams, and now that the NBA is done with their business, the AHL can proceed with theirs.  Expect an Admirals schedule in the next couple of weeks.

———

The Admirals always have a great presence at Wisconsin State Fair.  And now they’ve got some hardware to prove it.

Hojo won the Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest.

So when you see her at State Fair this week, or around the BMO Harris Bradley Center this season…be sure to tell her that she’s awesome! Because she is.

Time to re-start the ‘Checking In With _____’ series.  Let’s start with Admirals play-by-play extraordinaire, Aaron Sims.

Admirals Roundtable:  Of course Texas was the number one seed in the playoffs, but if the Admirals had won in overtime in Game 1, do you think they could have advanced in the playoffs?

Aaron Sims:  A game one win could’ve done the trick. Goals were definitely at a premium in the series. Nihlstorp and Magnus Hellberg were both tremendous…only twelve goals were scored in the series. Aside from losing game one, the losses of Brad Winchester and Mike Liambas to injury hurt Milwaukee’s chances. Those were two important players. It’s hard to make up for such strong, aggressive players on the forecheck. Throw in Winchester’s offensive ability and his loss hurt the team. I give the coaches credit for trying Mike Moore at forward in the last game to try to add a little strength on the forecheck. While Mike probably had the most ability and speed to be a force on the forecheck, he didn’t have the experience. Texas was a good team. I’m a little surprised they didn’t go deeper in the playoffs.

AR:  You have mentioned on the Admirals Center Ice radio show how great the locker room was this past year.  What is it that makes a good locker room, and why does it make such a difference?

AS:  Players respected the coaches and the coaches respected the players. That became more evident as the season wore on after veterans like Scott Ford, Winchester and Joe Piskula were added. When the veterans feel comfortable with their roles, that rubs off on the other players. Winchester, in particular, was tremendous at passing on tips to the younger players. The credibility from the leadership group was terrific. Because everyone respected one another, the guys were more comfortable filling certain roles to help the team.

AR:  How have you passed the time during this off-season?  Did you do any travelling? What’s keeping you busy?

AS:  I’ve spoken to quite a few clubs and groups around the Milwaukee area about the Admirals. (A quick plug, if anyone has a Rotary, Kiwanis, church club or group and needs a speaker, I am available.) My wife and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon in May. Also, I am finishing up my tenth season with the Madison Mallards baseball team.

AR:  I understand you’re from Minnesota, and were a big North Stars fan growing up?  Who were your favorite players when you were young?

AS:  I loved the Minnesota North Stars. There is an Ikea where the old Met Center used to stand. I loved Bobby Smith. He was a tremendous playmaker. I played defense when I was young and I wore #2 because I was a big Curt Giles fan. Giles coached Zach Budish when Budish was in high school. I also loved Willi Plett, Basil McRae, Jon Casey, Neal Broten, Stew Gavin, Gordie Roberts and many others. The first game I attended was against Detroit and Lane Lambert was a rookie forward for the Red Wings.

AR:  At what point did you realize that play-by-play was something you wanted to do?  And what was your first play-by-play gig?

AS:  I’ve wanted to be a play-by-play announcer since I was eight years old. I used to bring my tape recorder to games in high school and record play-by-play for my friends on the team. At Winona State I did football, basketball and baseball. I moved to LaCrosse, WI to do play-by-play for the Onalaska high school hockey team.

AR:  What are your thoughts on the moves that Nashville has made so far this summer?

AS:  I like what Nashville has done. They got a couple heart-and-soul guys in Nystrom and Hendricks. They’ll be able to fill third and fourth line roles better than a rookie. I say that because so often teams recall guys and put them in a role they are unaccustomed to. How many times do you see a top AHL scorer go up and be put on a fourth line? This happens with nearly every team. If you need a tough guy, call up a tough guy. Nystrom and Hendricks will fit in well. Cullen still has some game left. He’s a very smart player. I love the Stalberg signing. He seems to be a player who is ready to break out into a more prominent role. Certainly, we hope he is. We all saw how sharp Carter Hutton can be when he played for Rockford. If nothing else, he can hold a spot until Hellberg is ready to move up.

AR:  We see a lot of other teams spending some big money on AHL free agents.  Mike Santorelli is going to get $250k if he plays the full season in Utica.  Alexandre Bolduc and Mark Mancari will earn $550k between them in Rosemont.   The Wolves just signed Corey Locke.  The Predators haven’t signed anybody close to that kind of money.  Do you think this new bit in the CBA that has led to this increased spending has the potential to shift the competitive balance in the AHL?  Or do you think that Admirals will be just fine with all of the home grown talent they’ve drafted and developed?

AS:  There will always be a few teams that will pay a lot for, let’s call them 4-A players…guys who are tremendous in the AHL but, for some reason, haven’t stuck in the NHL. The AHL is still, primarily, a development league. The majority of NHL teams will not sign players for big money to play in the AHL unless they think they can help them at some point. Plus, who can say whether a guy getting paid a lot of money is better than a second year guy? I’d put a player like Austin Watson up against nearly anyone in this league. The big money guys can add depth and talent, but they may be in the way of a prospect.

AR:  When you start to think about possible line combinations for this season, do you get excited about the personnel that we’re likely to have in Milwaukee?  

AS:  The signing of Bryan Rodney leads me to believe that the Admirals will have at least one elite offensive defenseman this season. If Rodney sticks in Nashville, I would think Ellis or Ekholm will be in Milwaukee. I’m very excited to see what Joonas Jarvinen does this season. Piskula, Ford and Valentine will ensure a really solid defensive corps. The additions of Stalberg, Nystrom, Hendricks and Cullen likely mean Watson starts the year in Milwaukee. It could, I stress could, mean the same for Taylor Beck and Filip Forsberg. There are a lot of forwards in Nashville. A full season from Zach Budish and Joonas Rask will be fun to watch. Mark Van Guilder, Kevin Henderson, Mike Liambas…we’ll always get maximum effort and smarts with them. I’m anxious to see Sissons and Salomaki. Hellberg has the potential to be the best goalie in the AHL this season.

AR:  We saw the coaches sign contract extensions last week.  What is it that makes Dean and Stan such great coaches?

AS:  Dean and Stan have a great deal of respect for the players. They’ve both been in the players skates. They understand when a player needs a day off and wen he needs to be pushed. They preach a smart, detailed game. They do their homework on the opposition. They are extremely straight-forward and honest with players. They hold players accountable. Teaching sessions never belabor a point. They keep their emotions in check in public. It bothers me when people get upset that coaches aren’t yelling and screaming on the bench. You don’t do that on the bench…that’s like spanking your child at the grocery store. If you rant and rave in public, that attitude/mood sets in with your team during the game. You don’t want that to happen.

AR:  And finally….your twitter account says you are the lead singer of the band Chili Sabotage.  Think we’ll see you guys play after a game in the east atrium sometime?

AS:  The singer needs to be better, but I hope it happens one day.

Brad Winchester got the NHL deal he was looking for, and he got it from the Stanley Cup champs.  Will he play with the Blackhawks or with the IceHogs?  Probably the latter. Maybe both.  But after spending last season with Milwaukee on two PTO contracts, you certainly can’t fault him for jumping to a team that was willing to give him the NHL deal.  If he has a great training camp, or if the injury bug starts spreading along the midway, I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch to see him on the 4th line with the big club.

—-

Do you know Tyler Doig?  He’s a former professional hockey player who is a strength and conditioning coach now.  And he’s on twitter.  And he knows people.

Congrats to RevCon athlete Bryan Rodney on his deal with Nashville! #Preds

— Tyler Doig (@Coachtdoig) July 25, 2013

I haven’t seen anything official about this yet, but if it’s true, that sounds like a good signing.

He’s a 29 year old defensemen, standing 6’0, with 34 games of NHL experience with the Hurricanes and Oilers….mostly with the Canes.  He has won something…he was part of the Memorial Cup winning London Knights in 2004-05.  He spent last year with the Manchester Monarchs, but didn’t sign until December.  He’s also a two-time AHL all-star.

Aaron Sims offered this tweet this afternoon…

Re: Bryan Rodney…@mkeadmirals coaches always knew to account for him when played against his team. Much respect for his offensive ability.

— Aaron Sims (@aaronadmirals) July 25, 2013

An defenseman with offensive ability?  Sign us up.

Will he be an Admiral?  I think that’ll be up to Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm.  If they’re not ready for prime time, and could use the opportunity to play every day, Rodney might be able to stay with the Preds as the 7th defenseman.  It’s possible.  If they are ready for prime time, we can probably expect Rodney to be QB-ing our power play.

Well….all this if Tyler Doig’s scoop is right.

—-

Coaches Evason and Drulia signed contract extensions today that would keep them here through the 2014-15 season.

AHL coaching contracts aren’t the most binding contracts in the world….if an opportunity presents itself (cough…Kirk Muller), they’ll leave town.  But I think this offer from Nashville management says a lot about how they feel regarding the way Evason and Drulia ran the ship last year.

Aaron has said on the radio show numerous times how great the locker room was this year.  It’s not a fluke or an accident.  And with all of the players that saw their games take giant steps forward last year, the coaches are obviously helping great things ON the ice too.

And they’re both great with the media….so that makes me happy too…

Happy summer, everybody.

We’re at that point of the summer where the next big landmark day is when the AHL schedule is released.  Sure, there may still be some free agent activity (Scott Ford just re-signed, and The Goalie Guild reported that Scott Darling has signed a two-way AHL-ECHL deal to be the #5 goalie in the organ-eye-zation this year), but the schedule is probably going to be the next big news day in our world.

The slate has come out in the middle of August the last two years, so there’s still plenty of the waiting game to play.  But I’d like to share with you some of the behind the scenes information about the schedule making process.

Cue Admirals team president, Jon Greenberg.

“The process starts in February, but doesn’t end until August,” Jon says.  That’s funny to me…the league celebrates its All-Star game, and then dives right into planning next season’s schedule.

“We are in an NBA building,” Greenberg says, “as are Charlotte, Lake Erie, and San Antonio, so we all have to wait for the NBA to give our co-tenants their dates so we can fill out our date submissions to the league.”  The Bucks released their schedule July 27th last year, so we should know pretty soon what dates we WON’T be at the BMO Harris Bradley Center this season.

“Once we can do that, we see an early draft, a first draft, a second draft, and a final draft.  There are many conversations between teams to make changes during this time and we all try to help each other out the best that we can.”

That’s nice to hear that there is such great cooperation between the clubs for this, especially with all the travel considerations the teams have to deal with as members of the esteemed Western Conference.

What does a perfect schedule look like in the eyes of the front office?  According to Greenberg, it looks like the 2011-12 campaign.

“It has good spacing of home games, meaning no four-home-games-in-a-week stints,” And that’s a scheduling quirk we may not think about that often.  Certainly we all notice when the team is out of town for awhile, but when there are four home games in a week?  I know we’ve got some dedicated season ticket holders…but how easy is it for you to make all four that week?  Life happens.  And for the casual fan, it may be a tough sell to get them in the building for multiple games in the same week.  So from a business perspective, I can see why avoiding that would be desirable.

Greeny continues about the perfect schedule, “It also has reasonable road trips that get us back home in relatively short order.  No three week periods without home games.  Without the ability to play four games in five nights, we’ll still have plenty of three-in-threes as we’re a weekend heavy league, but keeping the travel in those to a minimum makes them manageable.”

Thank you Rockford.  Thank you Rosemont.  Still a long bus ride to Grand Rapids and Des Moines, but it’s manageable.

The Admirals have announced that their home opener is set for Saturday October 19th.  Same date it was last year too.  But the season opens on October 4th.  Does that sound like another early season road trip?

I recall Lane Lambert talking about how he kind of liked the early season road trips so that the players could bond as a team on the road, away from whatever distractions they may have had at home.

According to Greeny, this is NOT a special request that the team makes every year.

“The early road schedule is never requested per se, but is often a product of building availability.  We’ve had major events in our building over the last few seasons which have kept us out for extended periods of time.  We’d like to have a couple more home games early every year but haven’t been able to.  Fortunately it has worked out in the long run.”

Greenberg also shares some news that…well….shouldn’t be news to most sports leagues.  But it is for the AHL.

“We are indeed playing everybody in the West for the first time in many years.  That means we’ll see Utica and Rochester, which should be fun, in addition to Iowa.  It also means when we get to the home stretch in April and the playoffs, that we will have at least had a chance to see everyone.”

It certainly would have been weird if we had played Rochester in the first round of the playoffs last year….having not seen them since….the 06-07 season.  Craig Anderson was in net for the Amerks.  Karl Goehring and Pekka Rinne for the Ads.  So it’ll be nice to catch up with them after all these years.

So while you’re eating all kinds of food-on-a-stick at Wisconsin State Fair, the AHL, Admirals, and the other teams will be putting the finishing touches on the schedule.  While you’re there, raise a creampuff in appreciation of all the behind the scenes work going on.