So while the Calder Cup Finals are taking Conestoga wagons up to Binghamton (come on….Game 2 was Saturday….game 3 is Wednesday)the Admirals/Predators have signed a few guys to AHL contracts.

Please welcome back center Mark Van Guilder, and defenseman Jeff Foss. And please welcome center Joel Champagne.

I’m thrilled to see MVG back in the fold. I’m sure that we didn’t see Foss’ best in his limited action at the end of the season, so I expect that after some training and some coaching, he’ll be serviceable on the blue line. He’s got the size. We’ll see if he’s got the hockey smarts too (in addition to those RPI book smarts).

That brings us to Joel Champagne. Drafted by Toronto in 2008, but never signed. A 6’4 center, Champagne played last year on the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL, and was the second leading scorer on the squad in the regular season. 24 goals, 58 assists, 68 games. Also was over a point per game in the playoffs this season for his team.

I’ll be interested to see what he’ll bring to the table.  If he can use his size effectively, he may be a pretty good find.

But here’s what I want to know — why did Toronto have drafter’s remorse with him?

Pension Plan Puppets is the On The Forecheck equivalent for the Maple Leafs, and they had this post and this discussion when the Leafs relinquished the rights to Champagne.

It’s an interesting discussion, and it seems to come back to skating ability.

Big guy. Some scoring skills. Not a great skater. Castaway from previous organization.

Maybe this is Hugh Jessiman part deux?

Houston Aeros (2nd place West Division 46-28-6, 98 points) vs. Binghamton Senators (5th place East Division, 42-30-8, 92 points)

The 2011 Calder Cup Finals should produce an electric series on the ice.  Both Houston and Binghamton prefer an offensive-minded blend of hockey which should produce some high scoring contests.  Neither team is overly laced with playoff experience as both clubs missed the AHL playoffs last season and feature rookie goaltenders carrying the load in goal.  Finally, even though Houston and Binghamton did not face each other during the regular season, both teams competed in the considerably stronger division of their respective conferences.

Offensively, Binghamton should have a slight edge with a team unafraid to light up its opponent.  The Senators are stockpiled with several talented prospects capable of scoring big goals. Veteran Ryan Potulny leads all playoff scorers with 14 goals and 25 points, while his wing man Ryan Keller is not far behind (14 assists and 22 points).  However, the Senators biggest strength is their offensive depth.  2010-2011 AHL MVP Corey Locke has 10 points in as many games, while rookie sniper Bobby Butler is second on the team with 10 playoff goals.

The talented Colton Gillies leads a Houston offense that can nearly match Binghamton gun-for-gun.  Veterans Patrick O’Sullivan and Jed Ortmeyer (15 and 11 points respectively) lead the way offensively, but Colton Gilles (team leading seven playoff goals) is the Aeros’ most explosive offensive player.

Where Houston should have an advantage is defensively.  Maxim Noreau (11 points) is one of the AHL’s elite two-way defenders, while Jared Spurgeon (team leading +6 rating) and Marco Scandella represent talented cogs.

Veteran Andre Benoit is the Senators’ go-to defender with 14 playoff points to date to lead all defensemen.  Both Geoff Kinrade and Jared Cowen are talented puck-movers but Binghamton lacks Houston’s depth on the blueline.

In goal Senators feature sensational 19-year-old rookie Robin Lehner (10-2-0, 2.41 G.A.A., .932 S.P.), who has taken over the team’s starting goaltending duties since the Manchester series (where he won three straight games to help Binghamton turn around a seemingly lost matchup).  Though Lehner struggled at times in his first few playoff games, the Swede was sensational against Charlotte in the Eastern Conference finals, making 35 or more saves in his team’s final three wins while allowing just seven goals in the sweep.

If there is a weakness for Houston it is in goal.  Rookie Matt Hackett (12-6-0, 2.56 G.A.A., .898 S.P.) is two-years older than Lehner, but has shown plenty of the inconsistency common for a first-year player.  But Hackett’s biggest strength has been his play in Game 7s so far.  The London, Ontario-native has a pair of wins while allowing just five goals on 54 total shots.

The X-factor in this series might be the fact that Binghamton swept their third round series, while Houston was pushed to the brink by a Hamilton team that nearly turned around a 3-0 deficit in the Western Conference finals.  The Senators faced long series in their first two rounds and desperately needed some rest.  However, the question for Binghamton is whether Lehner lost his playoff momentum during the layoff?  After competing in two straight seven game series, the question for Houston is whether the Aeros have enough left in the tank to eliminate Binghamton?

With their superior offense which should get to Hackett and a much needed rest for Lehner after the third round, I see Binghamton finishing off an improbable run for their first ever Calder Cup championship.  Senators in six games.

So Roundtable:  Which team do you have winning the Calder Cup and in how many games?  What will be the difference in the winning teams’ success?

In game 7 against the Admirals, the Aeros got the game winning goal with 1:21 left in the 3rd period.

In game 7 against the Bulldogs, the Aeros got the game winning goal with 1:13 left in regulation, and now move on to play the Binghamton Senators in the Calder Cup Finals.

I was listening to the Hamilton broadcast for the last few minutes of the game, and they were upset about a few things in those final minutes.  On the game winning goal, Drew Mac-In-Tyre seemed to have control of the puck, but with no whistle, the Aeros were able to whack at it and eventually put it past him.

And then in a scramble in front of the Aeros net with less than 10 seconds left, the Hamilton broadcast was saying that an Aeros player covered the puck with his hand in the crease…..which would be a penalty shot.  But nothing was called.

But something needs to be said for the Aeros ability to score important goals in crunch time.  It’s a pretty good hockey team.

I didn’t think that we’d be talking about new players this early…but the Predators have signed defenseman Victor Bartley to a two-year two-way contract.

Here’s a link to his career stats from Hockeydb.com.

Last season in Sweden, he was second among defensemen in the league in assists and points, and was a +11 defensively.

Now, I tend to take the Hockey’s Future essays with grains cubes of salt.  But here’s what they said about him in 2007.

13. Victor Bartley, D (Free Agent)
Height: 6’0. Weight: 195lbs. DOB: February 17, 1987

Victor Bartley went undrafted last summer, a notion that has had many a WHL prognosticator shaking their head. The Maple Ridge, B.C. native has scored four goals and 34 assists in 48 games for the Kamloops Blazers.

A pivotal contributor to the strong backend in Kamloops this season, Bartley has maintained the same high level of intensity he brought to the ice during his draft year. With the Blazers among the top teams in the country this season, compared to last year when the club missed the playoffs for the first time in decades, Bartley is certain to get a better look from NHL scouts. He brings leadership and poise to the Blazers and has been a steadying influence for young prospects like Keaton Ellerby and Ryan Bender, who are both 2007 eligible.

The post was ranking the top 20 prospects in the WHL at the time.  I think the more interesting thing about the link is who else was on this list, and who was honorably mentioned.  Some former Admirals, and some full time NHL’ers that are still playing hockey as of right now.

Where does he fit in our universe?  It’s a pretty crowded blueline in Nashville already.  And if we’ve seen the end of Ford, Johnson, and Palin, then this 24 year old may end up being one of the senior members of the Milwaukee defensive group.

Or not.  It’s May.  Who knows.

After the Houston Aeros jumped out to that 3-games-to-none lead in the series against Hamilton, things were looking pretty good for the Aeros.

Then this happened.  Hamilton 8, Houston 1.

Then this happened.  Hamilton 4, Houston 2.

Then this happened last night.  Hamilton 5, Houston 4, 2 OT.  Drew Mac-In-Tyre took a page out of the Jeremy Smith book, making 57 saves in the game.

The Bulldogs have become the 3rd team in AHL history to come back to force a game 7 after being down three-games-to-none.  And they now have history on their side, as the other two teams went on to win Game 7.

Game 7 is Tuesday in Houston.  Who are you cheering for?

1) As a few of you Roundtablers have already reported, Linus Klasen has indeed taken his game back to Sweden.  Klasen has signed to play for the Malmo Redhawks, who are a member of Sweden’s No. 2 league (Not the Swedish Elite League as some other sources have reported).

Though Klasen’s game never really fit with the Nashville brand, Linus did manage 22 goals and 45 points in just 47 AHL games, which was good enough for second most on the Admirals.  Though we will never know the answer, you have to wonder that if Klasen was healthy late in the season, could he have provided an offensive boost in the games where Milwaukee only had a limited shot production? All season long Klasen was the Admirals only true home run hitter, for better or worse.

I have a feeling that Klasen is looking to refind his offensive game back in Sweden and audition for another shot in the NHL.  From my various interviews with him this season, I know that he really wants to be a full time player in hockey’s top league.

(Read my early season feature on Klasen here)

2) No doubt more defections from the Admirals will occur in the coming months, but that cannot take away from what Milwaukee accomplished in 2010-2011.  This week I wrote a feature recapping the Admirals successful campaign on milwaukeeadmirals.com.

3) So far the Eastern and Western Conference AHL finals are not going anywhere near to my predictions.  Thanks to Hamilton’s 8-1 win last night, I still have the Bulldogs alive, but just barely.  Charlotte has already checked out, getting swept by Binghamton.  I really wanted to pick the Senators, but I figured the Checkers had something special brewing after knocking off both Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  I guess goalie Robin Lehner had other plans.  Houston has really surprised me so far, but I know Hamilton can play better.

4) The Atlanta Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg seems imminent, so much so that Manitobans were seen partying in the streets last night.  However, both the NHL and the new owners have yet to confirm the transaction.

5) Finally, I would like to express my thanks to everyone involved with the Roundtable for a great 2010-2011 season.  First to our commenteers, Admirals fans never cease to amaze me.  There was lots of intelligent hockey conversation on this blog and I loved every minute of it.  You are truly the heart of this site.  Second of all, a special thanks to Ryan Miller who put this production together and allowed me the freedom to write up just about anything I wanted to (so if there was any of my posts that you didn’t like, you can blame him).  Thanks to Sutty for writing provocative game stories and to Andy for making them sing with great audio.

Finally, thanks to Charlie Larson, Kevin Wilson and others who setup my numerous interviews this season.  Coach Lane Lambert always seem to have time for me and he always provided thoughtful and expressive commentary.  Players and coaches from the entire Nashville organization were friendly and more than willing to talk to me no matter what my request was about.  As a writer that is truly appreciated.  I especially enjoyed my first ever visit to a Predators game, which was facilitated by both the Nashville organization and the Anaheim Ducks.  What a tremendous experience!

Have a great summer everyone!

The dates for the Admirals’ annual garage sale have been released.  So if you’re in the market for some jerseys, skates, pads, sticks, gloves, and other assorted merch, you’ll want to highlight Tuesday June 14th and Wednesday June 15th on your calendar.

Here are the details!

Those AHL conference finals?  Not nearly as exciting as the semis….both the Aeros and Senators can sweep their way to the Calder Cup finals with wins tonight.

And with all the talk about the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg, that would leave an opening in the Southeast Division.  Our friend Dirk from On The Forecheck profiles the idea of the Preds being the chosen team to switch to the Eastern Conference.

What do you think?  Would the Preds be better off in the east?

This is about the time of the off-season that we typically put up a post, thanking the readers for their support, and thanking the significant others for their patience.  So we won’t stray from tradition….here’s the end of season thank you post.

Oh, and we’re not retiring again.  Let’s just get that out of the way.

Thank you very much for reading and participating on this site.  I really cannot say that enough.  After closing down the Short Shifts blog at the end of last season, I really didn’t know what was going to be in store for this year.  Hockey news was happening in the summertime, and my first thought would be, “Oh!  I’ve got to go get a post up about that!”  And then I’d remind myself that I didn’t have a legit place to write it.

As the new season approached, our friend Charlie Larson with the Admirals introduced me to Jason Karnosky — an actual clinically trained bona fide WRITER.  And we decided to put this little blog together.

I wanted this site to be different than Short Shifts so that it would be more discussion-driven, and less beat-writery.  And again, I must thank you for embracing this platform in that way.  A Roundtable isn’t a Roundtable unless lots of voices are heard.

And I must also compliment you on your temperment.  There are some sites where the fans are just brutal to each other, making people like me more of a babysitter than a moderator.  Disagreement drives discussion, but disrespectful rhetoric doesn’t work out well for anybody.  The fact that there’s only been a handful of comments that I’ve needed to edit for content or delete, it speaks volumes to the character of the fans.  So thank you for that.

Specific thank yous…..

Thank you to Jason for providing a lot of the non-gamestory content each week.  You are an absolute pro, and you brought a kind of credibility to the table that I just don’t have in me!

Thank you to Sutty, for being hilarious, and for stepping up to the plate as a writer, instead of just a twitter guy.  The off-season is UNDER THERE!

Thank you to Andy Grebe, who helped out a lot with the audio clips that you listened to on this site.

Thanks to Kristen, for her patience, and for being more actively interested in the team than ever before.  Glad we could make a hockey fan out of you.  Plenty of room on the bandwagon.

And let’s thank the readers one more time.  I’m not in this for the site hits, but it sure makes things a lot more fun when there are discussions going on about the team that we all love.  Thank you for making this site exceed my wildest expectations.

We’ll still put content up during the off-season, so when news breaks, and you have an opinion about it, your thoughts will definitely be welcome here.

Talk to you soon.

Houston Aeros (2^nd West, 46-28-6) vs. Hamilton Bulldogs (1^st North, 44-27-9)

After dusting off Peoria in four games, Houston had their hands full with West Division regular season champion Milwaukee, needing seven games to eliminate the Admirals.  The Aeros feature a solid balance on offense led Patrick O’Sullivan, a veteran of 311 NHL games who has 10 points.  He is complimented by Robbie Earl and the always dangerous Colton Gillies (team leading six goals).  Houston also features a strong blueline, led by the developing Maxim Noreau (eight points) and Jared Spurgeon.

The lone weakness for the Aeros is in goal, where the always-combustible Matt Hackett mans the net between the pipes.  Hackett carries an 8-3-0 record with an impressive 2.29 G.A.A., but his save percentage is an anemic .896.

After a roaring start to their second round series, Hamilton survived the longest Game 7 in AHL history to eliminate Manitoba in a classic matchup.  Despite Moose goaltender Eddie Lack’s best efforts, veteran Drew MacIntyre won the goaltending matchup over the rookie.  212-game NHL veteran Nigel Dawes has carried the Bulldogs offense, with a team leading nine goals and 14 points.

But Hamilton lacks much secondary offense behind him and fellow forwards Aaron Palushaj and Dustin Boyd.  The Bulldogs make up for their offensive deficiencies with a strong defense that prevents heavy shot totals against MacIntyre.

On paper this series favors the Aeros, the playoff winners of the much stronger West Division and the holders of home ice in this series.  However, Hamilton is extremely well-coached and plays a stout team game.  The Bulldogs discipline should be enough to win this series.  BULLDOGS advance in 7 games.

My quick Calder Cup finals preview:

Hamilton over Charlotte in 6 games.

Charlotte Checkers (3^rd East, 44-27-9) vs. Binghamton Senators (5^th East, 42-30-8)

If there is one team in the AHL playoffs that continues to be underestimated, it’s the Charlotte Checkers.  I’ve managed to pick against them twice, yet Carolina’s top farm team continues to impress.  The Checkers have managed to dump two of the league’s elite franchises, Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, on their way to an East Division playoff crown.

The Checkers are loaded at the center position, led by Brett Sutter (12 playoff points) and Zac Dalpe (team leading six goals, 13 points).  Rookie goaltender Mike Murphy has impressed in the playoffs, winning seven games, while carrying a 2.09 goals against average and an impeccable .934 save percentage.  The lone weakness for Charlotte is their blueline, but that could be solved if former Minnesota-Duluth star Justin Faulk continues to mature.

Though it has taken 13 games to get to this point, Binghamton is riding a wave of playoff momentum after crossing over to the Atlantic Division and eliminating both Manchester and Portland (including a rally from a 3-1 series deficit against the Monarchs).

The Senators feature most dangerous offense remaining in the Calder Cup playoffs, having scored 51 postseason goals so far (16 more than the next closest team).  Binghamton features the AHL’s leading playoff goal and point scorer in Ryan Potulny (10 goals, 19 points), the Latvian spark plug Kaspars Daugavins (nine goals, 13 points) and sniper Bobby Butler (eight goals, 10 points).  And don’t forget about reigning AHL MVP Corey Locke, who racked up 86 points during the regular season.  Like the Checkers, the Senators weakness is at defense, but Andre Benoit and Geoff Kinrade are both talented two-way puck movers.  The backbone of explosive Binghamton is rookie Robin Lehner in goal.  The 19-year-old Swedish prospect recorded seven wins and carries an effective .919 SP so far in the playoffs.  Expect him to challenge Craig Anderson for playing time in Ottawa next year.

Much like the West Division Finals, the matchup between the Checkers and Senators will pit an elite offensive club—Binghamton, versus an elite defensive team in Charlotte.  As much as I like Binghamton, I feel they have feasted on subpar teams out of the Atlantic Division.  Playing against East divisional foe Charlotte, their run will come to an end as I see the Checkers making their first ever trip to the Calder Cup finals.  CHARLOTTE in 6 games.

(Author’s note this preview was written prior to Game 1)