Tell us what you REALLY think about these guys…
(classic A through F grading scale)
Andreas Thuresson
Chris Mueller
Brett Palin
Aaron Johnson
Cue up the Smash Mouth, peoples.
We interupt the mid-season grades to pass along good cheer for Mark Dekanich and Linus Klasen.
They’ve been selected to play in the AHL All-Star Game at the end of the month. It’s an East VS West game this year, and maybe we’ll see a line of Linus Klasen, Linus Omark, and…some other guy….I don’t know…Linus Van Pelt?
Dekanich won’t start, but he’ll play.
Incidentally….that Smash Mouth song was in the movie Mystery Men, which I think is quite the underrated film.
Good day.
So the Admirals have played 40 games. I don’t think there will be a better time than this to dish out some mid-season grades.
Now, at the other blog….Eric and Sutty and I would do the grading, we’d be snarky, make stupid jokes, and then we’d call it a post.
Over here, I’m going to delegate the grading to you.
We’ll do a few posts like this. We’ll throw up the names of four players, and you’ll give us a grade and a couple of sentences about what you think of their season so far.
Let’s use the classic A, B, C, D, F scale. Plusses and minuses are acceptable.
In round 1, here are your contestants….
Mark Dekanich
Gabriel Bourque
Blake Geoffrion
Teemu Laakso
Get out your red pens, and go to town.
1) Blake Geoffrion spoiled two Badger homecomings.
This weekend’s games at the Bradley Center represented a Badger state reunion for two ex-University of Wisconsin defensemen, Josh Engel of the Toronto Marlies and Kyle Klubertanz of the Hamilton Bulldogs. Engel who hails from Rice Lake and Sun Prairie native Klubertanz each had significant cheering sections in Milwaukee.
But both player’s homecomings got overshadowed by the play of their former UW teammate, Admirals forward Blake Geoffrion. All Geoffrion did this weekend was score a shorthanded, game-winning goal against Hamilton and deliver one of the checks of the year against Toronto forward Nazem Kadri.
(Extra Note: I hate to say this but I was quite impressed by Josh Engel on Saturday night. I never really thought much of him as a player with Wisconsin, but he has developed into a pretty solid contributor with the Marlies)
2) Good things happen when you go to the net.
Less than 24 hours after getting shutout through 65 minutes of hockey against the Marlies, Milwaukee played a much more aggressive offensive game against Hamilton, making life difficult on NHL veteran goaltender Curtis Sanford. The Admirals got rewarded with a pair of redirection goals in the first period. Sanford saw heavy traffic in front of the net throughout the contest as Milwaukee worked to take away his eyes.
3) The Admirals power play remains a work in progress.
Even with Linus Klasen back in the lineup this weekend at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee’s power play left little to be desired. During a minute of five-on-three advantage in the third period Saturday night, Klasen saw a pair of passes hop over his stick. Against Hamilton, the Admirals had trouble just getting the puck into the zone on their first couple of opportunities. Expect plenty of special teams work in practice for Lambert’s crew this week.
4) Jamie Lundmark will be missed, but not for long.
Along with the unexpected call up of Andreas Thuresson, this weekend the Admirals faced the surprising departure of Jamie Lundmark. Lundmark quit on Milwaukee in order to pursue playing options in Europe. The veteran of 295 NHL games, Lundmark accumulated 18 points with the Admirals this season. Milwaukee struggled without his offensive presence on Saturday night, but with a few days of practice upcoming this week, the Admirals should move on a little easier without him by the weekend.
5) It wasn’t pretty, but Milwaukee racked up some big league points.
Saturday and Sunday might not have been the prettiest two games Milwaukee played, but in hockey the results are all that matter. Two wins over two strong Canadian clubs, Toronto and North Division leading Hamilton, gives the Admirals 52 points through their first 40 games. 52 more in the second half could earn Milwaukee a West Division title and the Western Conference’s top overall seed.
So Roundtable, How many more points in the second half of the season do you think Milwaukee needs to win the West Division and/or the Western Conference? Are you content with the Admirals just making the AHL playoffs, or with the team’s strong first half, have your expectations for Milwaukee changed?
It seems that the Admirals were saving all the scoring from yesterday for today’s game.
Linus Klasen had a goal and an assist, Aaron Johnson had a pair of assists, and Blake Geoffrion netted the eventual game winner while shorthanded, as the Admirals defeated the 1st place Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 Sunday afternoon.
Coach Lambert time.
The game did not start the way the Admirals were hoping, for with the Bulldogs getting on the scoreboard first. At the 3:02 mark the Bulldogs were crashing the zone when Mathieu Carle sent a center pass from the far face-off circle to a wide open J.T. Wyman in the slot, who then put the puck past Admirals goaltender Mark Deckanich, off the post and in. Kelsey Wilson was the man responsible (or closest) for Wyman but was behind him and unable to do anything but watch the light go off.
Welcome back Linus Klasen. Number 86 was able to score the tying goal just over four minutes later. With Bulldogs’ Alexander Avtsin stepping back onto the ice after serving the period’s only penalty, Klasen was able to knock down the shot from the point from Aaron Johnson and put the puck past Curtis Sanford to light the lamp. The goal was Klasen’s 16th on the year and the spark that the Admirals needed after the early goal to the Bulldogs.
The Admirals were not done yet, and scored at the 10:29 mark on a great redirect from Ryan Thang. With the Admirals passing the puck around the perimeter of the offensive zone, it was Aaron Johnson that put the initial shot on net. With Thang camping out in front with a nice screen he was able to redirect the puck and scored (I can’t say light the lamp because SOMEONE forgot to hit the button, and don’t blame your tools Mr.Someone…..love ya BSB).
In the second period, the Admirals had chances early and even had a power play. It was the same ole’ power play as the Admirals were happy just passing the puck in the zone looking for the “perfect” set-up.
Brett Palin was sent to Johnson’s office to make some calls to headquarters about his recent commission check, so the Admirals were down a man at 9:30 of the second. That didn’t stop them from scoring though. Teemu Laakso was down low behind his net and sent a clearing feed off the boards to center ice where Blake Geoffrion was all alone. He went in on a 2-on-1 rush with Gabriel Bourque. A retreating Bulldogs player was able to catch up and close the passing lane to Bourque, so Geoffrion skated in, delayed, and went to the top shelf off of Sanfords glove for the Admirals 3rd goal of the game.
Still down a man the Admirals were not able to keep the Bulldogs from scoring on the same power play. Alexander Avtsin had the puck near the far face-off circle with the Admirals in zone coverage. He was able to hang on to it finally drawing an Admirals player to contest. Avtsin then sent the puck down low behind the red line to Aaron Palushaj who quickly sent the pass through the crease to J.T. Wyman who put the puck in the open net. It was a great set play that was executed to perfection, with Jon Blum and Teemu Laakso unable to get into the way of the passes.
The Admirals entered the 3rd period with the 3-2 lead and the advantage of a power play. They were unable to convert on the power play but it help set the tone for the remaining stanza. Neither team was able to get a goal but the Admirals did a great job on the defensive side and Dex came up big with some huge saves to seal the 3-2 victory.
LINES:
Gendur – Hunter – Wilson
Bourque – Geoffrion – Santorelli
Thang – Halischuk – Klasen
Flynn – Van Guilder – Bartlett
DISCUSSION POINTS:
Bartlett the bruiser? Does he have a future as a tough guy?
Dex was awesome. Feel free to find a more eloquent way to say it.
One of the best games we’ve seen from Johnson this year….didn’t like the mis-play of the puck in the 3rd period that led to a great chance that Dex bailed his butt out on.
Outshot again, 30-24. 0-5 on the power play….scored a shorty, but then gave up a goal on the same power play. Coach talks about special teams.
Was this one of Blake’s best games of the season too? I think the goalie wants that shot back (or a bigger glove), but outside of that, how did you like Blake’s game?
Home cookin’. 12-2-2-1 on the season at the BC. That’s pretty awesome. That’s almost a dozen wins, yo.
And how quickly did you get to your car or local bar to start cheering on the Packers?
This definitely wasn’t a slow news day.
With the Thuresson call-up and the Lundmark sail-setting, there was plenty to talk about at the Bradley Center Saturday night….in addition to the regularly scheduled game against the Toronto Marlies.
Scoreless through three periods and five minutes of OT, Mark Van Guilder was the only player to score in the shootout, giving the Admirals the 1-0 victory Saturday night.
You might think that since there were no goals, that it was a boring ho-hum kind of game. That could not be farther from the truth. Despite the low scoring affair, it was a very exciting game with lots of offensive chances for both teams thwarted by two goaltenders who resembled brick walls.
And now, I present, Coach Lambert.
The Admirals dictated play for the first period, with newly returned Linus Klasen responsible for setting up some scoring chances for others, and a few for himself. Despite playing much of the period in the offensive zone, they only outshot the Marlies by a 7-4 margin.
The first five minutes of the second period had some swarms around the Toronto net, but Marlies goalie Ben Scrivens was able to keep the puck out.
The rest of the period belonged to the Marlies, and Mark Dekanich made a slew of NHL caliber saves, many of them involving lateral movement in the crease. And I can’t emphasize enough how great his rebound control was throughout the whole game.
The Marlies outshot the Admirals 17-5 in the second period.
Both teams had great chances in the 3rd, as the Marlies had a pair of breakaways off of turnovers from Jon Blum and Brett Palin. The Admirals had 49 seconds with a 5-on-3 power play, and controlled the play during the PP, but came up empty in terms of goals.
In the shootout, Linus Klasen tried a little dipsy-doo on his attempt…we’ll call it slight-of-stick….it almost worked, but he ran out of room, and lost control of the puck.
Scrivens saved Mark Santorelli’s shot, won the staring contest against Klasen, saved Halischuk’s shot, but was beaten by Van Guilder’s wrister. Roman Josi tried Klasen’s patented slow-down play in the 5th round, but hasn’t quite mastered it yet. Do you think Van Guilder is the odd guy in that shootout lineup? Coach Lambert doesn’t think so.
Meanwhile Mark Dekanich faced two missed shots, a great glove save, a great right pad save, and a poke check on Mike Zigomanis to seal the deal in the 5th round.
————-
LINES:
Bourque – Geoffrion – Santorelli
Klasen – Halischuk – Thang
Wilson – Hunter – Gendur
Flynn – Van Guilder – Bartlett
Discussion points:
– Anyone miss Lundmark or Thuresson? Coach didn’t really want to talk about it after the game, but here was his comment.
– How about those missed checks by the Marlies tonight? Ever seen a player miss and then go head first into their own bench?
– Dekanich. Talk about a guy who was in the zone tonight.
– Klasen. Bit of a puck hog tonight. Lots of skating with the puck, but the Marlies gave him a TON of room to work. Would prefer that he get rid of the puck instead of turning around and reversing course so much. But there were some signs of creativity that on some nights will turn in to goals for him or his teammates. Here’s Coach Lambert on Klasen’s night.
– Only 17 shots on goal during regulation for the Admirals. They had a lot of blocked shots, but still. Tough to win when that few are getting through.
– Not liking Blum’s turnovers lately.
– The tweet of the night comes from the Norfolk Admirals. The original tweet has been taken down….but the apology is still up. The “I” and the “O” keys are so close to each other, and if you’re typing real fast…..you might have to make this apology sometime too.
“WOW. I apologize for that typo, everyone. Gudas took a SHOT. He took a SHOT.”
– And I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sutty’s team, the Seattle Freaking Seahawks, for keeping the dream alive that a 7-9 team MIGHT win the Super Bowl. All hell would break loose, and it would be beautiful!
See ya’ll back here tomorrow.
(Photo credit: Chris Jerina)
Forward Jamie Lundmark has left the Milwaukee Admirals. He has been placed on unconditional waivers, and there have been Internet reports that he has been in contact with a team in Europe.
Head Coach Lane Lambert broke the news during the pre-game show of the Admirals’ radio broadcast, prior to their game Saturday night against the Toronto Marlies.
“(Linus) Klasen is back with us, that should provide us with some offense. And Jamie Lundmark, who was supposed to provide us with offense this year, and didn’t really….decided to pack it in. And that’s okay. We certainly would rather see him do that than give us half an effort or decide that he wanted to do that later on in crunch time.
“Our team has always been about commitment, and commitment to each other, and we don’t want anybody in our locker room who isn’t committed, and committed to their teammates. That’s fine, we’ll move forward. Matt Halischuk is going to have to play center for now until we can sort things out with Chris Mueller being up in Nashville, and Steve Begin being hurt. When it all plays out and when it’s all said and done, I think it’s a good thing for our team because it just gives us a chance to reiterate the level of commitment that you have to have to be able to play on this hockey team.”
Lundmark had 6 goals and 12 assists in 34 games the season, and had recently been having success skating with linemates Matt Halischuk and Ryan Thang. While he hadn’t scored since December 17th, Lundmark had tallied five assists in his last four games.
I know public opinion on Lundmark varied amongst the Roundtable readers from very positive (SLake) to very negative (Maninthebox). For awhile, it seemed he was the only guy who would crash the net, knowing he’d get some punishment there, and then cash in on some dirty hard-working goals.
Whenever someone is injured, called up, or departs the team, we have to go with this spin: this opens the door for a younger guy to step up and be a difference maker. I’m hopeful somebody will.
Dan Gendur has been recalled to take Lundmark’s place on the roster.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Geez, if he had known that all he had to do was score one goal and get a callup, he would have done it 30 games ago!
Baffled. Absolutely baffled. But he’s reportedly in San Jose already, so he may get some icetime tonight.
If it’s at the expense of Chris Mueller, that’ll be very disappointing.
You work hard, you do all the right things, you say all the right things, you practice, you produce, and it’s great. And then someone else who doesn’t produce gets the promotion. That’s got to be rough for a guy like Matt Halischuk who has been pretty good lately.
I’m happy for Andreas because I like the guy, but I refuse to believe that he was the most deserving of a callup.
I’m sure there’s a reason why they chose him. Maybe his previous NHL experience. Maybe he fits tonight’s gameplan better than others. Maybe they were tired of dressing Wade Belak and wanted someone who could play some D. Maybe it’s just for depth. Maybe it’s blackmail. Maybe they’re going to try to showcase him for a possible trade. Maybe Lane just said that he had enough.
Lots of maybees. Feel free to add your best theory in the comments section.
This weekend the Admirals will continue their stretch of playing 5-straight games against teams from the North division. Teams we don’t get to see that often. But that doesn’t make the importance of the games any less.
“We talk about ‘division games’ and ‘four point games’,” Coach Lambert says. “They’re all four pointers. Doesn’t matter if it’s the North division or our division because there is a crossover in the playoff race.”
Yes, back again this year in the Western Conference, is the crossover rule. There are eight teams in the West Division, and just seven in the North. So if the fifth place team in the West Division has a better record than the 4th place team in the North Division, the West Division team would play in the North playoff bracket as the 4th place team.
Would that have been great for the NFL playoffs this year?
If the season ended today, the 5th place Wolves (45 points) would crossover because their record is better than the 4th place Abbotsford Heat (39 points). Hell, they’d be tied for 1st place if they played in the North (although, they’ve played more games than everyone).
So it’s more than just a novelty playing Toronto tonight and Hamilton tomorrow afternoon. The Admirals will look to build on their 10-3 record against teams from the North this weekend, and strengthen their position in the conference.
Looks like more tough love from the Nashville Predators for Linus Klasen.
Just an hour after I ranted about how Klasen should have played in southern California instead of Wade Belak, the Admirals goal scoring spark plug got a return trip to Wisconsin.
When I interviewed Klasen after the Predators morning skate on Wednesday, he seemed to know this move was inevitable. More seasoning in the AHL is what Barry Trotz and Nashville are calling for as the Predators top scorers slowly return to the line up.
Klasen did get an average of nearly 13 minutes of ice time in the three games he appeared in for the Predators, though he registered no points.
On the bright side, this is a nice perk for those of us making the trek to the Bradley Center this weekend, getting to see Klasen again lace up for the Admirals. If he dresses Saturday night, there will be an awesome match up of highly skilled, developing players, with Nazem Kadri playing for the Toronto Marlies and Klasen skating for Milwaukee.
So Roundtable, Are you excited or disappointed to see Linus Klasen back in Milwaukee?
Admirals Roundtable 