Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
The Nashville Predators and Milwaukee Admirals know that they have a good thing going.
That is why the two sides celebrated their long-standing relationship Monday by announcing a new four-year affiliation extension that will carry the partnership through the 2028-29 campaign.
The teams’ affiliation extends back to 1998, when Nashville entered the NHL as an expansion franchise and Milwaukee was still a member of the International Hockey League. When the AHL absorbed six IHL teams in June 2001, Milwaukee included, the Predators-Admirals affiliation carried over.
Only the Providence Bruins (with the Boston Bruins since 1992) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (with the New York Rangers since 1997) have longer-running affiliations.
“This is what we know,” Admirals owner and CEO Harris Turer said in a media session Monday. “We’re very fortunate to have this relationship and look forward to the next four years and see what comes of all of this great young talent that Nashville has drafted.”
In their time together, the two sides have done what every top affiliation aims to do – develop and win.
The list of Milwaukee alumni who later moved onward to Nashville to contribute is a who’s-who of top stars, including the likes of Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros in net, blueliners Shea Weber and current captain Roman Josi, as well as forward Filip Forsberg. Milwaukee coaches have gone on to NHL work, too. In the last two years alone, 21 players have skated with both Nashville and Milwaukee.
The Admirals win, too, having captured the 2004 Calder Cup championship. They made another trip to the Calder Cup Finals in 2006, and have reached the conference finals in each of the last two seasons. They also have racked up seven regular-season division titles. The Predators, meanwhile, have made the postseason 16 times in their last 20 tries, highlighted by a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.
“The culture and tradition we have there is exceptional,” Nashville general manager Barry Trotz said of working with Milwaukee. “Our players are taken care of first-class.”
When several recalls to Nashville impacted the Milwaukee roster earlier this season, the organization quickly pivoted to rework Admirals head coach Karl Taylor’s available personnel. Milwaukee general manager Scott Nichol has brought in forwards Anders Bjork, Grigori Denisenko, Chase De Leo, Scott Reedy, Ryder Rolston and Jesse Ylonen along with defenseman Mark Friedman to re-fortify the Admirals. And so once again they are in contention for first place in the Central Division, having clinched a playoff berth Sunday and sitting just two points out of first place going into their home match-up against Manitoba tonight.
“We’ve taken it deep the last two years,” Trotz said of the Admirals’ extended Calder Cup Playoff runs, “and we want to take it to the next step and hopefully bring a championship back to Milwaukee.”
In any strong, enduring relationship, there are two sets of needs. Ideally they can be blended to a significant degree, but there are always individual needs as well. In the hockey business, the NHL team needs a reliable, well-run and well-supported AHL location to develop players, ideally in a winning environment.
For an independently owned team like the Admirals, they need a partner that understands their on-the-ground needs at the local level. They are a business that needs to fill seats and pay its bills. So an NHL front office that will work to put together a competitive roster for its AHL roster each year is crucial. In 22 of the 25 seasons that there has been a postseason, the Admirals have qualified. Milwaukee fans each year can expect a quality, competitive, and entertaining product.
“[Winning] really helps us to sell what we’re doing,” Admirals president Jon Greenberg said.
That set-up makes the organization attractive when pursuing high-end AHL veterans to surround a cache of high-round draft picks. Nichol, who also serves as an assistant GM and director of player development for Nashville, is given latitude to build a quality roster in Milwaukee.
“It’s turned into a destination,” Nichol said of Milwaukee. “You can see the last few years, we got some older guys to surround our young guys with and they want to come to Milwaukee. They want to be a part of our organization, and that’s what helps grow our young guys.
It also gives these guys [older players] a chance to play in the NHL. You look at (Kieffer) Bellows and (Vinnie) Hinostroza and these types of players where they come here for a second opportunity, and Trotzie and the Nashville Predators give them a chance to go up, play in the NHL and make an impact.”
Said Greenberg, “You hear that from our players that come here for the first time, that they came here because they talked to other guys and they find out that this is a great place to play.”
“Nashville has always done an amazing job of bringing in high-quality individuals,” added Turer. “That, in my book, has probably been one of the great assets that they’ve made sure of. They bring in the kind of players that are great not only on the ice but off the ice. It allows us to do the things in our community. You have high-quality individuals, they’re willing to participate and be a part of that. That’s a big part of what we do here.”
Logistics work in this relationship as well. The two cities have multiple non-stop flights daily, and Milwaukee is easily accessible from other NHL markets in case the Predators need to make a player move on short notice. Milwaukee is also centrally located within their division, making for relatively easy travel and enabling ample practice time.
Next up for the Admirals, Turer says, is working out an extension for their lease at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The facility, which opened in 1950, has undergone significant renovations and while the Ads have two years to go on their current lease, Turer said that he plans to have talks with the building’s owner, Wisconsin Center District, on a new extension soon.
“We would like to ultimately get a longer-term deal,” Turer said, adding that an extension would make it viable to put arena upgrades into place as well. “We think we can get that done, and we’re going to be working on that. We love this building.”
The relationship between the Admirals and Predators is coming up on 30 years. Trotz served as Nashville’s first head coach following seven seasons coaching the AHL in Baltimore and Portland. Nichol, a Calder Cup winner as a player in Rochester, skated for both Nashville and Milwaukee before his move into management. It’s a group, along with the extended Nashville and Milwaukee front offices, that has familiarity.
“I like what I know,” Turer said, “and I know the people. I know Barry. I know Scott. I know (Nashville assistant GM and director of hockey operations) Brian Poile. We’ve always had such a good relationship that it allows us to talk… We trust them. We’ve seen the success on the ice.”
Said Trotz, “We value our relationship through good times and even bad times. We have that communication. We can fix each other’s problems in some ways. I think that’s invaluable. I don’t think you can have success unless everybody is in sync.
“More than anything, it’s the people you work with, and Harris and the people in Milwaukee are nothing but the best.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
