Paul Fenton hinted to it earlier this week.  It was officially announced today.  Scott Ford is back with the Admirals.

It’s an AHL deal instead of an NHL deal, unlike the one he signed last year with St. Louis.

Here’s Aaron Sims talking to Fordo today.

So Roundtable, are you happy that he’s back?  Does the -18 from last year scare you (although the vast majority of that came from Peoria…as you know, they weren’t very good), or do you think the veteran leadership trumps all of that?

Nashville assistant GM Paul Fenton joined Aaron and Wojo for the Admirals Center Ice Radio show Monday night on Sportsradio 1250 WSSP.  And as usual, he shared some great information to give us a little more of an idea on what to expect this year.

– Scott Ford is “pretty darn close” to signing.

– Fenton is not expecting Brad Winchester to be back.

– Thinks Daniel Bang may end up staying in Europe.  Bang is a restricted free agent who received a qualifying offer.

– Colton Sissons and Miikka Salomaki should be in Milwaukee this year.  More on them in a moment…

– Scott Valentine is working out as both a forward and a defenseman during the off-season, but Fenton thinks he’ll end up playing on D.

– Fenton is still looking to sign three or four more guys to complete the Milwaukee roster. (I would hope that one or two of them will be of the puck-moving-variety-of-defensemen.)

– Talked a bit about the big time AHL salaries that some guys are getting.  Previously, under the old CBA, if a guy on a two-way or one-way contract made more than $105k in the AHL, he was subject to re-entry waivers.  That magic number was removed in the new CBA, so some clubs are willing to spend some more, and some guys are cashing in.

Sissons played last season with the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL, and was over a point per game (28g, 39a, 61 games).  On The Forecheck blog posted some scouting reports from a couple of sources at the time he was drafted in 2012.  Follow the link for the whole bit…but here’s a taste:

A responsible two-way forward with a high level of compete, Sissons makes an impact at both ends of the rink for the Rockets. The 6’1″, 189-lb center, who also plays right wing, has good skating ability and mobility, and plays a very strong defensive game. With good size and strength, Sissons excels at winning those grinding battles on the boards and in the corners, and can protect the puck well.

Sounds like our kind of guy.

Salomaki is projecting to be another two-way player, who is good in the battles for the puck, and isn’t afraid to work in front of the crease.  Here is a highlight package from the youtube.

So the news is that Jon Blum signed with the Minnesota Wild.  A one-year two-way contract.

Some Admiral fans are dancing in the streets.  Some are indifferent.  Some are tired of us writing posts about all the former Admirals finding new places to play.  Some are licking their chops at the possibility of playing against Blum up to 12 times if he plays most of the season with the Iowa Wild.

So does Blum have a realistic chance to break camp in St. Paul?

Michael Russo, who does a great job covering the Wild for the Star Tribune, lists the defense depth charts as such:

Ryan Suter – Jonas Brodin
Marco Scandella – Keith Ballard
Clayton Stoner – Jared Spurgeon

Extra:  Nate Prosser

So on the surface, it looks like Iowa or bust.

But he does have a couple things in his favor.

Blum would need to clear waivers if he was sent to Iowa, and from an interview that he gave to a Minnesota Wild podcast, there were lots of teams interested in him.

“Yeah, there was definitely other teams,” Blum says.    “St. Louis, Philly, Rangers, Florida… There was probably close to eight or nine teams, but the fit for me with the Wild was best.”

So they run the risk of losing him on the waiver wire if they try to send him down.

Also — he’s a right handed shot, which isn’t so common on the Wild blue line right now.  Of Russo’s top six, only Spurgeon is a right handed shot.  So that’s another way he could worm his way into the opening night roster.

Later in the podcast he talks about his time with Nashville.  And I’m kind of surprised by some of the things he said.

“I’m just thrilled to get a fresh start.  Things didn’t go as well the last year and a half with the Preds.  I wasn’t able to play my game there, play on the power play, play more than 14 minutes…whatever I played last year….  So I’m looking to come into camp at the beginning of the year and earn my ice time….and be able to play an offensive game, a puck moving game, and not just focus on being a shutdown guy.  When I was in Nashville, I was playing top 4 minutes, playing against teams’ best players every night.  It doesn’t suit my game…”

He said something else after that last line, but I had a tough time making it out.  You can listen to the full interview here….this comment starts around the 4:55 mark.  But shutting down the opposing offense doesn’t suit your game?  Excuse me?  I’m sorry.  Let’s not skate Shea Weber and Roman Josi on the power play so that we can better suit your game, Jon.  Let’s only send you out there when opposing third and fourth lines are on the ice so we can better suit your game, Jon.  And were those really top 4 minutes in Nashville last year?

He’s entitled to have those opinions, and I imagine it’s a thought process that plenty of players have….but I’m surprised that he elected to share them.

That’s going to be my new excuse.  Eh, I’m not going to mow the lawn today.  It doesn’t suit my game.  Eh, I’m not going to change the kitty litter.  It doesn’t suit my game.

I’m not going to defend Jon Blum on this blog anymore.  It doesn’t suit my game.

With Peoria, Illinois now without a franchise, another inevitable shakeup was coming as far as AHL realignment for the Milwaukee Admirals.

Enter the Iowa Wild (formerly the Houston Aeros) who replace the Rivermen, one of my favorite old school minor league franchises. Des Moines is returning to the AHL stage for the first time since 2009, when the infamous Iowa Chops played in the league. Certainly moving a team from Houston to Des Moines gets Minnesota’s prospects a lot closer to the Twin Cities, but its hard to believe that the city of Houston will no longer have either an NHL or AHL franchise. However, it will be fun for Milwaukee fans to see Minnesota’s prospects on a much more frequent basis. I’m curious to see if the playoff battles from previous years with the Aeros will carry over into the new divisional matchups.

As you all might already know, Chicago (AHL) once again changed affiliations for the 2013-14 season, taking on an affiliation with the St. Louis Blues, which formerly had its top prospects in Peoria. Vancouver moved on to Utica (now in the North Division of the Western Conference), after its two-year affiliation with the Wolves.

Abbotsford is now in the West Division, where it will have a division rival in Charlotte a mear 2,900 miles away (or eight large states and a border crossing). Grand Rapids stays put in the Midwest Division, where they geographically belong.

For a grid of the new divisions, click here.

For a list of NHL affilations for 2013-14, click here.

So Roundtable, are you ready for some new rivalries?

The financial terms of Chris Mueller’s contract with Dallas posted to Capgeek.com today.

Last year in the Nashville organ-eye-zation, Mueller made $105,000 in Milwaukee.

This year, if he spends the year in the AHL in Austin, he’s going to make $300,000.

$300k.  In the AHL.  That’s a nice raise, and an easy decision.

Andrew Gordon was good for 32 points in 54 games for the Wolves last year.  Winnipeg signed him to a contract that’ll pay him $350,000 in the AHL.

Nolan Yonkman.  A league worst -34 last year.  Anaheim is willing to pay him $200,000 to play in Norfolk this year.

So of all the players under contract that are likely to play in Milwaukee this year (as of 7/10/13), who do you think is set to make the most money?

Joe Piskula.  $135,000.

The market is weird, man.

We already knew Chris Mueller wasn’t going to be playing with the Admirals this season.

Today we found out where he will be playing.

Mueller today signed a contract with the Dallas Stars.

According to our friends at the 100 Degree Hockey blog, it’s a two-way, one-year deal.

And as the Defending Big D blog observes, they aren’t short on centers in Dallas.

Last week, (GM) Nill added centers Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, and Shawn Horcoff to the club. Because of those prior moves that have created a logjam of sorts at the center position (and the fact that Mueller split time between Nashville and Milwaukee), this appears to be a depth move to help restock the farm system and nothing more.

So I’d say there’s a decent chance we’ll get to see Mueller in an opposing uniform this year.  And it’ll be weird.

So Roundtable…over the years, which former Admiral has been the most awkward to see in an enemy uniform?  And when Mueller makes his first BC appearance as a member of the Texas Stars, will you cheer or boo?  

Most years, it seems the Predators are in the passenger seat of the sports car that is the first day of NHL free agency.  Big names would sign for big money elsewhere, little names would sign for big money elsewhere, and we’d be spending a night like tonight talking about depth moves for the organ-eye-zation.

In 2013, the Predators are in the drivers seat.  They’re only going 35 mph in a 35 mph zone, but at least they are in control.

The Predators signed five guys today.  None of them for more than 3.5 mil per year.  So there’s no albatross in the back seat of our car.  That’s a good thing.

Welcome:

Matt Cullen
Viktor Stalberg
Eric Nystrom
Matt Hendricks
Carter Hutton

Carter Hutton, eh?  THE Carter Hutton?  The one with the 13-4 record against Milwaukee over the last two years, and a .938 save percentage and a 1.89 goals against average in those games?  One and the same.

So why did Hutton get the call to back-up Pekka Rinne?

He had a good interview, and the person he needed to impress the most was impressed.

The Goalie Guild caught up with Mitch Korn this afternoon, and posted these tweets:

#Preds Mitch Korn on C. Hutton: “He has battled for everything he’s ever gotten. He’s played in an AHL team that has produced goalies.” 1/3

— The Goalie Guild (@TheGoalieGuild) July 5, 2013

#Preds Korn on Hutton: “He handles the puck extremely well. He’s the right age [27]. He reminds me so much of when we took Dan Ellis…(2/3)

— The Goalie Guild (@TheGoalieGuild) July 5, 2013

#Preds Korn on Hutton: “…with one NHL game of experience. For all those reasons, we felt we’d go in that direction rather than recycle.”

— The Goalie Guild (@TheGoalieGuild) July 5, 2013

In Mitch we trust.

And to be honest, I kind of like the move.  For one thing, the Admirals won’t have to play against Hutton anymore, and it looks like the IceHogs are now looking for two new goalies this season.  But if it is determined that Magnus Hellberg is ready for prime time sometime in the middle of the season, they should be able to swap the two out pretty easily.  It’s a low-risk high-reward move, I think.  I figure he’s just buying time until Hellberg is ready anyway.  And that’s okay.

All the Nashville blogs have their takes on why these are great moves or why these moves are terrible.  But the one I’m going to link to I think does a nice job with the big picture.  So check outSam Page’s essay from On The Forecheck here.

You know who probably wasn’t impressed that much with the free agent frenzy?  Austin Watson.  Kevin Henderson.  Taylor Beck.  Four Nashville roster spots just went poof.  I’m counting 13 forwards signed right now, and it’ll be 14 if Nick Spaling accepts his qualifying offer.  Training camp should be interesting.

Former Admiral goalie Jeremy Smith follows the footsteps of the goalie he replaced, and signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets organ-eye-zation.  Hopefully with a little less of the injury bug than Dexshow had.  Dexshow never played a minute for the Blue Jackets, and only five games for their AHL affiliate.  Mike McKenna, who was in Peoria last year, also signed today with Columbus.  Could be a decent tag-team in Springfield.  Good luck, Smitty.

UPDATE:  Defenseman Mike Moore signed with Boston.  So we’ll have a new captain this year.  Unless the Preds sign Scott Ford…in which case, we would probably get to use the ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’ line again.

Looking at Capgeek.com, it looks like the Preds did extend a qualifying offer to Daniel Bang.  He’s still listed as an RFA, while other players have been shifted to UFA status.  So we’ll see what his future holds.

So Roundtable — what do you think about the transactions today?  Think Hutton can hold down the fort until Magnus is ready?  Did the Preds do enough to address offense?

So the draft happened.  And much to the public dismay of some bloggers and web savvy fans, the Predators took defenseman Seth Jones with the 4th overall pick.  I get it…everyone wanted some offensive skill.  But it isn’t everyday that a team in the #4 slot is able to pick the guy they thought was the best player in the draft.  It has been interesting to watch the fans on twitter be disappointed, while many of the media outlets seem to want to classify the Predators as one of the winners of the draft.  But what’s done is done.  Now they have to sign him.

David Poile and Paul Fenton held court today at a press conference, and indicated that they think Jones will be breaking training camp with the Preds this year.  So as a Milwaukee fan, this will rouse up a chorus questioning the phrase that pays that plays for days….”The road to Nashville goes through Milwaukee.”  But a 4th overall pick?  He gets a special road. An HOV lane maybe.  Access to a bypass that gets him from Portland to Nashville without having to navigate around the Mars Cheese Castle and adult video stores in Kenosha, and the agonizing traffic in Chicago.  Yeah, we may not get to see him in Milwaukee.  But I don’t think we should have expected to.

The rest of the draft class?  Don’t expect them this year either right now.  Not since our old buddy Andreas Thuresson has a Predator been drafted, and then played in Milwaukee starting that year.  But the European players should be eligible, in case it is determined that their North American style education should begin immediately.  Canadian junior players?  Still a pesky age limit before they can play in the A.

But this page on the Predators website has a nice overview of the draft class, with commentary from some of the scouts that actually spent some time watching them.  (which is why I link to this page….instead of the Hockey’s Future site).  In short….they kind of flipped our world a bit…..large defensemen, short goalies.

Preds prospect camp will start next Tuesday….but the official roster hasn’t been announced yet.  You’ll want to keep an eye on the Nashville blogs for updates on how the new guys look, and how some of our guys have improved.  This will be their first close up with Magnus Hellberg after we’ve spent the last 6 months gushing about him….hope he lives up to the pretty pictures we painted…

Poile also talked about free agents at the press conference today.  Doesn’t sound like Jon Blum and Matt Halischuk were sent qualifying offers, so they’ll be unrestricted free agents on Friday.  I know some readers will be bummed and some will be throwing parades with that news about Blum.  Me?  I’m sorry it didn’t work out.

There were previous reports that Jeremy Smith wasn’t sent a qualifying offer either.  Tough to find info about whether or not Daniel Bang was sent one.  I’d hope so.  He got a nice audition with the Predators at the end of the season, and the critic’s reviews seemed fairly positive.  Haven’t seen anything official yet about the other RFA’s, Jack MacLellan, Ben Ryan, or Chet Pickard.

Mike Moore and Scott Ford remain unrestricted free agents at this time.

And free agent frenzy begins Friday.  I find twitter to be kind of annoying, but extraordinarily useful on days like Friday, to keep up to date on all the madness.  I’m also usually fond of the TSN free agent tracker.  So if you are off of work on Friday…kick back and enjoy watching.  Or catch the Milwaukee Admirals show at Summerfest at 4pm!  Maybe we’ll be able to share some news hot off the presses!

(Photo Credit:  Scott Paulus)

Amongst all the draft excitement yesterday, came this tweet from Josh Cooper of the Tennessean:

Poile said Chris Mueller and Brandon Yip won’t come back

— JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) July 1, 2013

Direct.  To the point.  Didn’t even need the full 140 characters.  Although it leaves open to speculation who ultimately is saying no.  They won’t come back.  Were they asked to, and declined?  Or were they not even asked?

So, as AHL fans, here we are again.  A mainstay of Admirals hockey for several seasons, now hitting the road.  Darren Haydar….Rich Peverley…and now Chris Mueller.  Maybe Mueller will be the next Peverley, and a change of scenery (or two changes) will do wonders.  Or maybe the open market will decide that Mueller has peaked as a guy that is a rock star in the American league, and may periodically get the call to a big club.  Or maybe Europe is next for Mueller?

Regardless of where he’ll be heading next, let’s take a moment and appreciate the good times over the last four years.  We don’t usually see that kind of consistency for such a long period of time at this level.  It’s been a great run here.  We’ve been lucky to have him on our team.

So we’ll wish Chris the best of luck….preferably in the NHL, or with some EASTERN conference AHL team….  We’d rather not have to play against him 12 times like we do against Haydar….

Poor poor neglected blog…

Okay, so what has happened over the last month?

Well, we have a date for the home opener!  October 19th!  It’s a Saturday.  I’ve also heard that we’ll be playing every team in our conference this year….so we’ll see the Rochester Americans for the first time since…since I don’t know….since Ryan Miller was their goaltender maybe?

– Kevin Henderson, Joe Piskula, and Victor Bartley have all been signed.  The first two on two-way contracts, and Bartley on a one-way deal.  That’s another feel good story for us here in the developmental leagues…  Another undrafted guy that developed right here in Milwaukee, and all of a sudden is getting second defensive pair minutes with he Predators.  I’d like to be the Nashville scout that saw him and convinced Poile/Fenton to take a chance on him.  That’s got to be extraordinarily rewarding.

Henderson and Piskula were unrestricted free agents, so it’s going to be nice to have them back in the fold again.  I would predict that Henderson splits time with Milwaukee and Nashville as needed, and Piskula will provide some good veteran leadership here in MKE.  He was a nice stay-at-home defenseman for us, and from a marketing standpoint…can we really have TOO MANY former Wisconsin Badgers on the team?  I don’t think so.

– The Predators signed a goalie from their 2012 draft class, and I’d say there’s a decent chance we’ll see him in Milwaukee this year.  Start learning how to pronounce “MAREK MAZANEC”.  It’s a two year entry level deal for the goalie from the Czech Republic.  Another tall one…6’4, and he catches with the right hand.  Another good project for Mitch Korn, as he plays his first North American minutes this year.

– Restricted free agents:  David Poile told Josh Cooper of the Tennessean that they sent a qualifying offer to Nick Spaling, but that they had not decided whether to do so for Matt Halischuk or Jon Blum.  Qualifying offers are due on July 2nd.  If they don’t sign those two or send qualifying offers, they’ll become unrestricted free agents.  We certainly have fond memories of Halischuk this year, as he was by far the best player on the ice when he was in Milwaukee for his conditioning assignment.  Why the delay in deciding?  Poile gave a nice quote to explain:  “Blum and Halischuk, at different times, have been really good for us, but I would probably like to make some changes.  That’s why I’m trying to keep the door open at least a little bit so I can see which other teams might have some interest so we can get something back.”

– In a trade that may have snuck under your radar, the Predators traded pending RFA forward Bobby Butler to Florida for pending RFA and defenseman TJ Brennan.  Brennan is a 6’1 left handed shot who split time last year between the Rochester Americans, Buffalo Sabres, and Florida Panthers.  The Sabres traded him to Florida for a 5th round draft pick in March.  Panther GM Dale Tallon said the following at the time:  “T.J. is a young and mobile defenseman with a hard shot, who we are pleased to have acquired.  He is a hard working player with an offensive upside, who has averaged almost a point-per-game in the American Hockey League this season.”

Brennan was selected 8 picks after Jon Blum in the 2007 NHL draft.  We’ll see over the next week if he gets an offer sheet…I’d imagine he’d have to…they traded for him, right?  And depending on the numbers in Nashville, he may be ticketed to Milwaukee.  We’ll see.

We know Juuso Puustinen will be playing in Finland this year.  And we know he’s a rap star too.

– Nashville has elected to continue its ECHL affiliation with the Cincinnati Cyclones.  Because you know what they always say….the road to Milwaukee goes through Cincinnati.

Annnnnnnnnnnd the NHL draft tomorrow.  Will any of these kids be old enough to play in Milwaukee next season?  We’ll see.  Keep an eye on the twitter and the Predators blogs for news.  Section 303 is on location for the draft, so look for some good coverage there.

– And finally….Do you follow Scott Ford on the twitter?  If you do, you may have seen this great photo.  It’s nice that former Milwaukee players like to come back here to visit.  His Yonkness, Calder Cup winning Triston Grant, and Fordo.  Drinking ginger ale, I imagine.  Right?