Prospect Info: Down On The Farm (Ads and Glads)

[Porter Stoutheart]

They are actually starting Matt Murray again, in the back-to-back. He was apparently amazing again last night, and today Texas seems to be significantly out-shooting the Ads again. (Not always a reliable indicator of the game balance, but the best we usually have as stats-watchers from afar).

Anyway, I'm glad we signed Magnus Chrona for another year in Milwaukee. He has been "ok". I don't think he has really elevated himself into making any kind of argument for an NHL career, however. Whereas Matt Murray... has been a big star, probably the Ads overall MVP this year? I really hope we can get Murray back next season.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Murray did it again. 35/36 in a 3-1 win.

 

[adsfan]

The Admirals did it! They won 3-1 at Texas.

Denisenko (14) scored in Period 1.

Texas scored early in Period 3.
Denisenko (15) scored in Period 3.

Weisblatt (15) scored an ENG with 12 seconds remaining.

Murray had 35 saves and was the #2 Star.
Denisenko was the #1 Star.
Poirier took the loss for the Stars.

Milwaukee has the same number of points as Texas, 83, and their Magic # is now 9. Before these two games, it was 17 to clinch the division. Brilliant strategy by Karl Taylor!!!

Texas can't afford to lose 2 points the rest of the season, unless the Admirals lose. The Ads record is now 4-3-0-1 versus Texas, so they have a tie breaker head-to-head, 9 points to 8 points.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I suppose there's not TOO much hanging on the line as the Ads close out the season... 4 games left for Milwaukee (3 home), and 5 for Texas. But both 1st and 2nd get a 'bye' into the 2nd round.

1st place gives you a series against the #4 or #5 seed who may be more tired out from their play-in round, though. Which should be some slight advantage vs. playing the rested #3 seed.

 

[adsfan]

I suppose there's not TOO much hanging on the line as the Ads close out the season... 4 games left for Milwaukee (3 home), and 5 for Texas. But both 1st and 2nd get a 'bye' into the 2nd round.

1st place gives you a series against the #4 or #5 seed who may be more tired out from their play-in round, though. Which should be some slight advantage vs. playing the rested #3 seed.


View attachment 1008816

Clinch the Central Division and HANG A BANNER! It is the Nashville way.
"This is the way!!!" - The Mandolorian.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I see the Preds re-signed Matt Murray for 2 more years. That really solidifies the goaltending for the Ads, he has been great.

He definitely deserves a big raise on the $175k he was making.

 

[adsfan]

I see the Preds re-signed Matt Murray for 2 more years. That really solidifies the goaltending for the Ads, he has been great.

He definitely deserves a big raise on the $175k he was making.

Murray is the AHL's #1 goalie for Save% at .930 AND wins with 25. He is 4th in GAA.

Last year, with Texas, he was a mid-pack goalie who was better in the playoffs.

 

[PredsV82]

Murray is the AHL's #1 goalie for Save% at .930 AND wins with 25. He is 4th in GAA.

Last year, with Texas, he was a mid-pack goalie who was better in the playoffs.

The Korn/Vanderklok effect continues

 

[adsfan]

Kalan Lind debuted for the Ads tonight.

I heard something second hand about "goodbye, Kevin Wall".

Does anybody know about what happened to Keifer Bellows?

 

[PredsV82]

Kemell with two goals tonight. That's encouraging.

 

[Scoresberg]

Kalan Lind debuted for the Ads tonight.

I heard something second hand about "goodbye, Kevin Wall".

Does anybody know about what happened to Keifer Bellows?

Bellows is with the Preds as of now.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Kalan Lind debuted for the Ads tonight.

I heard something second hand about "goodbye, Kevin Wall".

Does anybody know about what happened to Keifer Bellows?

Bellows and Stastney were sent back on Tuesday. But maybe they haven't made it to join the team on the road trip and are going to catch up at the last 3 games in Milwaukee instead?

'

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Murray is the AHL's #1 goalie for Save% at .930 AND wins with 25. He is 4th in GAA.

Last year, with Texas, he was a mid-pack goalie who was better in the playoffs.

38-save shutout last night to celebrate!

His raise is from $175k to $350k and $450k apparently. Well-deserved. I'm glad he sees a potential path and is sticking around. And why not. If Annunen gets better, then he could be an Expansion Draft casualty for the Preds. If Annunen doesn't get better, then he's probably about as unseatable in the backup job as anybody around the league is.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Bellows and Stastney were sent back on Tuesday. But maybe they haven't made it to join the team on the road trip and are going to catch up at the last 3 games in Milwaukee instead?

View attachment 1010544'

Makes sense. We clinched 3rd. Their work here is done.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I wonder what the Milwaukee roster looks like for next season? This is actually a little more interesting to me than projecting the Nashville roster! - since most of the big team spots seem to be filled already. There are a fair number of prospects graduating from junior/college. I guess we'll find out soon if Fink is going to join the crowd. But already we can expect a fairly high level of "influx" from our draft list?

In terms of veteran incumbents sticking around, it's really tough to project. We picked up a ton of guys down the stretch in Milwaukee - Rolston, Pavel, Denisenko, Ylonen, De Leo, Bjork, Friedman, Reedy... Rolston still has a year on his deal, so he'll be back. Who knows if other guys in this group impress enough to get qualified/re-signed?

So it's a bit murky. I think Svechkov and L'Heureux up front and Stastney and Wilsby on D can be marked as "graduated"? And that Blankenburg won't be sent back down. The organization seems to like Wiesblatt, but I'm not sure he'll ever really be NHL-caliber. So even while he's eligible for waivers, I'll pencil him back to the Ads. O'Reilly has certainly been good enough to keep around even at his age. If they want to qualify RFAs like Pavel or Ylonen, they can certainly ice a full lineup on incumbents up front...

Reid Schaeffer - David Edstrom - Joakim Kemell
Ryder Rolston - Jake Lucchini - Matthew Wood
??? - ??? - Ozzy Weisblatt
Kalan Lind - ?Cal O'Reilly? - Austin Roest
Kyle Marino - Navrin Mutter
?Joey Willis/Aiden Fink?

On D... assuming Friedman and Del Gaizo aren't retained. I don't think Matier or Prokop are going to pan out. No point in qualifying Prokop. Matier and Hanzel will still be under contract, but aren't real prospects at this point. Maybe they'll hold onto Livingstone? I still think MacKinnon will be signed before the deadline, even though he's not tracking all that well. They seem to like Ottenbreit ahead of some of the other fill-in types.

Gravel - Ufko
Molendyk - Gibson
Oesterle - ?MacKinnon?
Matier/Hanzel

Goaltending is at least locked up!

Matt Murray
Magnus Chrona

Maybe there are other European picks who could be signed and come over (Nilsson, Kulonummi, I don't know).

 

[adsfan]

I wonder what the Milwaukee roster looks like for next season? This is actually a little more interesting to me than projecting the Nashville roster! - since most of the big team spots seem to be filled already. There are a fair number of prospects graduating from junior/college. I guess we'll find out soon if Fink is going to join the crowd. But already we can expect a fairly high level of "influx" from our draft list?

In terms of veteran incumbents sticking around, it's really tough to project. We picked up a ton of guys down the stretch in Milwaukee - Rolston, Pavel, Denisenko, Ylonen, De Leo, Bjork, Friedman, Reedy... Rolston still has a year on his deal, so he'll be back. Who knows if other guys in this group impress enough to get qualified/re-signed?

So it's a bit murky. I think Svechkov and L'Heureux up front and Stastney and Wilsby on D can be marked as "graduated"? And that Blankenburg won't be sent back down. The organization seems to like Wiesblatt, but I'm not sure he'll ever really be NHL-caliber. So even while he's eligible for waivers, I'll pencil him back to the Ads. O'Reilly has certainly been good enough to keep around even at his age. If they want to qualify RFAs like Pavel or Ylonen, they can certainly ice a full lineup on incumbents up front...

Reid Schaeffer - David Edstrom - Joakim Kemell
Ryder Rolston - Jake Lucchini - Matthew Wood
??? - ??? - Ozzy Weisblatt
Kalan Lind - ?Cal O'Reilly? - Austin Roest
Kyle Marino - Navrin Mutter
?Joey Willis/Aiden Fink?

On D... assuming Friedman and Del Gaizo aren't retained. I don't think Matier or Prokop are going to pan out. No point in qualifying Prokop. Matier and Hanzel will still be under contract, but aren't real prospects at this point. Maybe they'll hold onto Livingstone? I still think MacKinnon will be signed before the deadline, even though he's not tracking all that well. They seem to like Ottenbreit ahead of some of the other fill-in types.

Gravel - Ufko
Molendyk - Gibson
??? - ?MacKinnon?
Matier/Hanzel

Goaltending is at least locked up!

Matt Murray
Magnus Chrona

Maybe there are other European picks who could be signed and come over (Nilsson, Kulonummi, I don't know).

Hanzel is the only Dman that I would drop. I still have hope for Matier. Prokop has size, but he does not use it much.

If Del Gaizo is let go, the Admirals will need Friedman to be the PP QB. That is an important job on a hockey team. Don't tell Trotz and Bruno!

Don't forget about Ratcliffe! He has an injury like Schaeffer. I am not sure about Reedy. He just disappears some games. I am not certain of the why for that.

I will take Ozzy anytime. His AAAA hockey gets the fans in Milwaukee jumping out of their seats, a la Pavel Bure! He and L'Heureux were dynamic on this team.


Cal O'Reilly at 38, leads the team in points.
Hinostroza is still 5th in points fir the Ads!

Nashville could use an older player who can score and a player that piles up points, like Vinnie did. It must be why they are in 30th place in the NHL! They can't find those kinds of players!!!

 

[wmupreds]

Hanzel is the only Dman that I would drop. I still have hope for Matier. Prokop has size, but he does not use it much.

If Del Gaizo is let go, the Admirals will need Friedman to be the PP QB. That is an important job on a hockey team. Don't tell Trotz and Bruno!

Don't forget about Ratcliffe! He has an injury like Schaeffer. I am not sure about Reedy. He just disappears some games. I am not certain of the why for that.

I will take Ozzy anytime. His AAAA hockey gets the fans in Milwaukee jumping out of their seats, a la Pavel Bure! He and L'Heureux were dynamic on this team.


Cal O'Reilly at 38, leads the team in points.
Hinostroza is still 5th in points fir the Ads!

Nashville could use an older player who can score and a player that piles up points, like Vinnie did. It must be why they are in 30th place in the NHL! They can't find those kinds of players!!!

Hinostroza is 31 and has played in plenty of NHL games, he’s a known quantity at that level. It’s great he succeeds so much at the AHL level but he was never going to move the needle in Nashville, even when the team is this bad.

 

[adsfan]

Hinostroza is 31 and has played in plenty of NHL games, he’s a known quantity at that level. It’s great he succeeds so much at the AHL level but he was never going to move the needle in Nashville, even when the team is this bad.

You missed my meaning. I don't think that Nashville should play Cal or Vinnie. They just need to find players like them at the NHL level. Something that Trotz seems incapable of doing so far!

I give Trotz another year without improvement before he gets fired. The new GM will find a new coach for the Preds, since Trotz seems stuck on Bruno. I think that Karl Taylor will be better as HC.

 

[PredsV82]

I wonder what the Milwaukee roster looks like for next season? This is actually a little more interesting to me than projecting the Nashville roster! - since most of the big team spots seem to be filled already. There are a fair number of prospects graduating from junior/college. I guess we'll find out soon if Fink is going to join the crowd. But already we can expect a fairly high level of "influx" from our draft list?

In terms of veteran incumbents sticking around, it's really tough to project. We picked up a ton of guys down the stretch in Milwaukee - Rolston, Pavel, Denisenko, Ylonen, De Leo, Bjork, Friedman, Reedy... Rolston still has a year on his deal, so he'll be back. Who knows if other guys in this group impress enough to get qualified/re-signed?

So it's a bit murky. I think Svechkov and L'Heureux up front and Stastney and Wilsby on D can be marked as "graduated"? And that Blankenburg won't be sent back down. The organization seems to like Wiesblatt, but I'm not sure he'll ever really be NHL-caliber. So even while he's eligible for waivers, I'll pencil him back to the Ads. O'Reilly has certainly been good enough to keep around even at his age. If they want to qualify RFAs like Pavel or Ylonen, they can certainly ice a full lineup on incumbents up front...

Reid Schaeffer - David Edstrom - Joakim Kemell
Ryder Rolston - Jake Lucchini - Matthew Wood
??? - ??? - Ozzy Weisblatt
Kalan Lind - ?Cal O'Reilly? - Austin Roest
Kyle Marino - Navrin Mutter
?Joey Willis/Aiden Fink?

On D... assuming Friedman and Del Gaizo aren't retained. I don't think Matier or Prokop are going to pan out. No point in qualifying Prokop. Matier and Hanzel will still be under contract, but aren't real prospects at this point. Maybe they'll hold onto Livingstone? I still think MacKinnon will be signed before the deadline, even though he's not tracking all that well. They seem to like Ottenbreit ahead of some of the other fill-in types.

Gravel - Ufko
Molendyk - Gibson
??? - ?MacKinnon?
Matier/Hanzel

Goaltending is at least locked up!

Matt Murray
Magnus Chrona

Maybe there are other European picks who could be signed and come over (Nilsson, Kulonummi, I don't know).

The only reason Molendyk will be in Milwaukee is Trotzs idiot philosophy of making all prospects play there. We heard that Molendyk almost made the roster out of camp each of the last two seasons. He's bound to be better than the hodgepodge of ass that our defense will be, especially if Josi is out

 

[Armourboy]

You missed my meaning. I don't think that Nashville should play Cal or Vinnie. They just need to find players like them at the NHL level. Something that Trotz seems incapable of doing so far!

I give Trotz another year without improvement before he gets fired. The new GM will find a new coach for the Preds, since Trotz seems stuck on Bruno. I think that Karl Taylor will be better as HC.

Only way Trotz gets fired that fast is if Haslam decides next season that Brunette needs to go and Trotz refuses to fire him. I don't see Trotz that in love with the idea of Brunette to throw his GM gig away.

 

[adsfan]

The 1st place Admirals host the 4th place Chicago Wolves at 6 PM on Summerfest Night. All fans get a free General Admission ticket to the world's largest music festival

The Ads control their own destiny. Their Magic # is 7 and the Texas Stars' is 9. The Ads hold the first tie breaker with 4 regulation wins to the Stars' 3. Texas has lost their last 5 games, 2 of those to the Admirals.

 

[adsfan]

I see Bellows and Stastney during the warm up session. Mutter is on the ice too. He was playing some of the road games.

Two unfamiliar names on the roster are Hiroki Gojsic (Kelowna Rockets, drafted 2024) and Cole O'Hara, #77 (U Mass-Amherst, drafted 2022.) I have probably seen O'Hara at the Badger Kwik Trip tourney. They were here in December 2023(?) at Fiserv Forum.

The starters are Murray in goal. At LD is Statsney, with Livingstone. At LW Rolston with C Lucchini and Denisenko.

O'Hara is playing Center for DeLeo and Kemell. Livingstone was boarded and no call. Mutter did not like that! He said something to a ref after the whistle. Bellows pulled down by #24. It was called and Friedman skated across the ice to say something to Ty Smith about the cross check! Ads goal in 12 seconds on the PP. Cal (12) with assists to Lucchini and Friedman. Chicago comes right back with a SHG 14 seconds later. That was the Ads' 2nd SOG.

Edit: Cal's goal was credited to Lucchini. Cal did not deflect the puck.

The Wolves have 5 SOG with 8 minutes remaining. At 5 minutes remaining, Pavel hits the inside of the post and the puck did not go in the net!

Bellows and Kemell with some physical play. Mutter called for Charging on a stride and a half by Shaun Davis! On the replay, Mutter kept both skates on the ice. Yet another Phantom Penalty this season! It did NOT HAPPEN about 75 feet from my seat, so I got a good look. Maybe that was pay back for Mutter complaining about the no call when Livingstone was clearly boarded at the north end? The SOG were 9-6 Chicago and the score is 1-1.

Period 2 begins with 1:30 left on the PK. Gravel and Friedman were out. Then Statsney and Livingstone on D. The Wolves had 2 SOG. Chicago is gitting away with a lot of penalties! The fans are booing the refs! Mutter was hit high. Later, Mutter was held in Ads zone for 10 seconds. Then Ufko was held long enough for Stastney to skate down the ice and score. KARMA!!! Assists to Denisenko and? Gravel was yelling at a ref after he went back to the bench! That is very un-Gravel like. Next shift, Gravel goes after a Wolves player in front of the Chicago bench. Gravel is ANGRY about something in this game. O'Hara (1) scores with 2 minutes remaining to make it 3-1. Assists to O'Reilly and Ufko. O'Hara gets his stick knocked away on the next play.

Marino (9) scores with 56 seconds left. Assists to Pavel and Mutter. The 4th line says "up yours"! Now the 4 officials are discussing something. The glass is popped out at the north end of the Chicago bench How did that happen?

The Ads just missed another goal at 30 seconds! It is 4-1 Ads. SOG 11-10 Wolves and 21-16 overall. The numbers for Chicago's SOG don't add up.


Period 3 begins with "The Great Big Sieve" chant for goalie Spencer Martin. He has a 75% Save Average in this game. Now it is "Chicago Sucks!".

The Ads get a penalty for Holding, of all things. Another weak call. Pavel touched the guys hip for maybe 2 seconds. He did not reach around him. The Wolves get a PPG at 3:52 out of it. Now Chicago scores again at 4:17. Time Out Milwaukee. I never saw the red light come on. My daughter said it came on 20 seconds after the goal. It is now 4-3 Admirals.

Chicago ices the puck and has 7 skaters on the ice. In Period 2, they did that with 8 skaters after icing. I call that "The Chicago Stall". They should get a Delay call for that.

Friedman is slashed 2 or 3 times by a Wolves player across the ice from the puck and after the whistle! Friedman went after the guy! There is 13:50 remaining. Both called for Roughing? #93, Justin Robidas, was HIDING on the Chicago bench instead of going to the Box. He should have 4 minutes for the 2-handed baseball slashes plus 2 for not going to the Box. That is TRASH OFFICIATING!!!

Murray was just taken out in his crease! NO CALL! THAT WAS HORRENDOUS!!! There are 9 minutes remaining. Martin better not put a toe outside his crease! Marino took a stick to the face and NO CALL.

Martin takes a swipe with his stick at Kemell on a Offside call. The crowd booed then started the "Ref You Suck" chant. That was DIRTY! We have 8,000 angry fans in Milwaukee.

Chicago scores on a rebound. No goal. The puck was batted in with a hand. Martin is off with 2 minutes to go. Rolston ENG with 44 seconds to go! Kemell and Stastney with assists. 5-3 Admirals win. They may be playing Chicago after the play in round.

I felt that the Wolves were out to injure Livingstone from the beginning of the game and the refs let them get away with it!

The Magic # should be 5 to clinch the Central Division title. Texas beat GR tonight, so they should be at 7.


Tomorrow at 4 PM, the Ads host Rockford. The Admirals are 6-1-0-2 against the IceHogs this season.

Edit: It is going to be a sell out! You heard it here first.