It was around this time last year that the folks who write for The Hockey News decided that they’d like to give all the AHL teams pre-season rankings.  So they did, and we made a post explaining why we thought it was stupid.

How did those predictions turn out?

– The Calder Cup finalists were ranked 16th and 27th overall.
– The division winners were ranked 19th, 3rd, 14th, and 18th.
– Four of their top 10 didn’t make the playoffs (Chicago, Worcester, San Antonio, Grand Rapids)

The Hockey News writers won’t be mistaken for Carnac The Magnificent.

And really, ranking AHL teams this time of the year is such a silly exercise.  This is a developmental league, and there are so many things that can go right or wrong for a team over the course of a 76 game season.  By just basing your rankings off of how many names you happen to recognize on a pre-season roster, you are setting yourself up for failure, and wasting your time and our time.

Yet, they elected to try their hands at ranking the AHL again this pre-season, and their editor thought it was good enough to publish in this week’s print edition of The Hockey News.  They decided to separate and then rank the teams by conference, and Kevin Oklobzija (from Rochester) had the honors of penning the masterpiece.

Your Milwaukee Admirals are ranked dead last in the conference.

Hilarious.

Now, I’m not going to say that the Admirals are going to rock everyone’s world again this year, and it looks like many teams in the division/conference have improved.  But here’s the thing — the organization has had over 40 wins and over 90 points the last eight seasons.  They had the best record in the Western Conference last season.  They haven’t had a losing record since the 01-02 season, their first in the AHL.  Hockey-types laud the Predators for excellent drafting and scouting.

So what exactly are they basing this first to worst freefall on?  Not buying Coach Muller maybe?  Think we’ll really miss Andreas Thuresson?  What else did they say about Milwaukee to support the ranking?

Just one oddly constructed sentence:  “Rookie Ryan Ellis the next in Nashville’s never-ending defenseman pipeline.”

That’s it.

Just in case you are wondering…..here’s how they ranked our division in the conference:

1.  Charlotte
2.  Peoria
3.  Chicago
11.  Rockford
15. Milwaukee

Kevin is probably a great writer, but I think he’s way offbase with this list.  Ah well.  One of these years I’ll stop being surprised.

Carnac:  “Nate Silver, Miss Cleo, and Julius Caesar”
(Opens envelope)
Carnac:  “Name three people who are better at predicting the future than The Hockey News.”

First off I want to wish my congratulations to Madison native Craig Smith for making the Nashville Predators out of training camp.

But being from Wisconsin’s capital city, I feel I need to speak a few words on his behalf.  Craig Smith is the type of player that should succeed in the National Hockey League.  He has all the raw tools as a forward: the size, the speed, the physicality, the scoring touch, and the ability to beat a defenseman 1-on-1.   If you are an NHL scout or fan of hockey, you can’t help but be impressed by Smith’s talent level.

However, something was never quite right with Smith in college.  He was dominate player, as 27 goals and 76 points in two years can attest to, but Smith was also a bad penalty waiting to happen on a disciplined hockey team, racking up a whopping 154 minutes of sin bin time.  He also struggled to score against his team’s best opponents.  Smith’s three multigoal games last year all came against non-NCAA tournament teams (Holy Cross, Canisius and Bemidji State).

No doubt Smith’s aggressive style will go over well with Nashville fans.  If Predators coach Barry Trotz can continue the process started by Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves of trying to make Smith a smarter hockey player, Nashville might have a real gem on their hands.

“According to some of people I’ve talked to, Craig hasn’t looked out of place at all (with Nashville) at rookie and training camp,” Eaves said. “One of the goals of his life was to play at the National Hockey League level.  He sensed an opportunity to get there this year, so he’s determined (to do just that).”

Per Josh Cooper of the Tennessean, defenseman Ryan Ellis has been assigned to the Admirals.

And per other reports, (and since confirmed by Coach Trotz) forward Kyle Wilson has been placed on waivers, likely with the intention of assigning him to the Admirals as well.

The status of defenseman Mattias Ekholm remains unclear.  If the Preds elect to just keep 6 healthy defensemen (Weber, Suter, Klein, Blum, Laakso, Hillen), he may still get assigned to Milwaukee.  But there’s also a clause in his contract that would allow him to go back to Europe to play if he didn’t make the Preds out of camp.  Francis Boullion’s progress in returning to health may help with the decisions….we’ll see.

With Chris Mueller, Gabriel Bourque, and Tyler Sloan sent to Milwaukee, the Admirals have made three corresponding moves to their training camp roster.

Defenseman Garrett Suter, on a two-way contract, has been assigned to Cincy.

Forward Josh Shalla, a 4th round pick from the most recent entry draft, has been returned to his Junior team in Saginaw.  Maybe we’ll see him again at the end of his season up north.

Forward Aaron Marvin has been released from his try-out.

Still in camp:  Taylor Aronson, Charles-Olivier Roussel, David Leaderer, Scott Valentine, Jeff Foss, Evan Trupp, Chris Cahill, and three goalies.

Leading the team in pre-season goals wasn’t enough to keep Chris Mueller with the big club…..for now.

Mueller, Gabriel Bourque, and Tyler Sloan were officially assigned to the Admirals after the Predators defeated Carolina 2-1 in overtime on a Craig Smith goal.

Roman Josi will again begin the season on the IR, but will begin with Milwaukee when healthy.

Let’s drop the puck.

See you at Kern Center.

(Photo credit:  Scott Paulus…..circa a few years ago)

It seems the Nashville Predators have made their decision on which goaltenders they would prefer to carry for the 2011-2012 NHL campaign.

No surprise here, but netminder Jeremy Smith was returned to Milwaukee this evening, just in time to potentially suit up at tomorrow’s training camp session in the Brew city.

After an impressive AHL post season run last spring (on top of an stellar ECHL run a year before that), Smith continued to make noise as a prospect with his solid play during this fall’s Predators training camp.  Nashville general manager David Poile will likely have Smith’s number on speed dial in case of another Pekka Rinne injury this season.

Now back down on the farm full time, Smith has a chance to turn some heads and get noticed on larger scale with the Admirals as he will likely see the majority of starts for Milwaukee.  Goaltenders Atte Engren and Chet Pickard are left to battle for the coveted backup slot for a team with numerous three games in three nights scenarios early in their AHL schedule.

So Roundtable, handicap the horse race for backup goaltender, will it be Engren or Pickard? In a spot start for Smith, who would you rather see between the pipes for the Admirals?