Dave Kallmann

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Were it not for time spent together in Nashville, the Milwaukee Admirals who stepped onto the ice Tuesday for the start of training camp would have needed name tags.

With a new coach and more new players than usual, they comprise a hockey team that bears little resemblance to the one that missed the American Hockey League playoffs in April.

But that's OK.

“It’s a fresh start,” said defenseman Alex Carrier, who with two seasons behind him is one of the Milwaukee's more established players.

“Last year we didn’t have the result that we wanted, so to have a fresh start this year with a new staff, new guys in the locker room, I think it’s good. New era. New people. New energy.”

Team-building – and rebuilding – is a way of life in a development league. Players shuttle to Milwaukee from the parent Nashville Predators and back all season.

Still, the only exhibition game is scheduled for Saturday at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the opener for Oct. 6 at Texas, where new coach Karl Taylor spent the past four seasons as an assistant.

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Just 10 of the 28 players on the roster at the start of camp Tuesday could call Milwaukee their primary team last season.

“You know a lot of these guys that were up in training camp in Nashville,” defenseman Jarred Tinordi, one of the newcomers, said after practice Tuesday. “For a lot of guys … hockey’s a weird world in that you know a guy from some obscure reason or you know a buddy who knows this guy. You connect pretty quickly.”

Gone are two-year captain Trevor Smith and alternate captains Bobby Butler and Harry Zolnierczyk, all of whom start this season elsewhere in the league. Veteran Frederick Gaudreau, a two-way player last season, is in Nashville. They were four of the team’s top five scorers.

Popular starting goaltender Anders Lindback is back in his native Sweden. Brandon Bollig, a late-season acquisition, remains a free agent.

Replacing them are the typical mix of newcomers who were in college or juniors, or played overseas, as well as veterans with AHL and NHL experience. This group of first-year Admirals is just about 50% larger than last year's.

Left wing Connor Brickley played 44 NHL games with the Florida Panthers last season. Tinordi, who signed as a free agent, is with his fifth team since his 2012-’13 AHL debut, and he also has played in 63 NHL games. Goaltender Tom McCollum, acquired in a trade, has been in the league for nine seasons, mostly with Grand Rapids.

Taylor, 47, was hired in June to be the Admirals’ 21st head coach after Dean Evason left to become an assistant with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

Since his arrival, Taylor has stressed the importance of a strong leadership group in the locker room, which may be particularly important with all the turnover. There’s no formula to establishing one.

“If you can just be patient it usually is evident who rises up in different situations,” he said. “So as a staff, we’re watching everything they’re doing, we’re evaluating everyone.

“We’re watching everything they do and how they act, how they order food, how they treat a waitress, how they treat anyone in the normal day-to-day business. Also how they play.

“Are they willing to confront a teammate who needs help? Can they challenge someone? Are they comfortable getting out of their own comfort zone? And will they deliver the message the staff wants when it’s needed, even if it’s uncomfortable for them? Those are the things you’re looking for.”

Carrier pointed to center Tyler Gaudet, who arrived from Tucson during the second half of last season, as one player likely to emerge as a leader and Tinordi as another. They had been teammates with the Roadrunners, and Tinordi was an alternate captain there in 2016-’17.

“It’s just kind of natural,” Tinordi said. “You’ll see guys kind of gravitate into that role, guys who’ve done it on other teams or guys who’ve done that in the past whether it’s juniors or college or wherever it was. Those roles kind of evolve in the room.

“That’s what kind of brings a team together, sooner rather than later. You have some older guys that kind of take charge and help move the young guys along or guys that haven’t really been in this situation or it’s new for them, it kind of helps move things along a little quicker.”

Training camp roster

(No., name, 2017-’18 team)

FORWARDS

16 Connor Brickley, Florida (NHL)

10 Tyler Gaudet, Milwaukee (AHL), Tucson (AHL)

23 Jeremy Gregoire, Laval (AHL)

18 Tanner Jeannot, Moose Jaw (WHL)

19 Justin Kirkland, Milwaukee (AHL)

21 Matt Lane, Worchester (ECHL)

- Darby Llewellyn, Atlanta (ECHL)

82 Zach Magwood, Barrie (OHL)

2 Tyler Moy, Milwaukee (AHL)

24 Mathieu Olivier, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)

17 Alex Overhardt, Portland (WHL)

95 Carl Persson, Karlskona (SweE)

41 Emil Pettersson, Milwaukee (AHL)

90 Anthony Richard, Milwaukee (AHL)

13 Yakov Trenin, Milwaukee (AHL)

- Branden Troock, Hartford (AHL)

DEFENSEMEN

58 Frederic Allard, Milwaukee (AHL), Norfolk (ECHL)

55 Alex Carrier, Milwaukee (AHL)

6 Brian Cooper, San Diego (AHL)

46 Matt Donovan, V. Frolunda (SweE)

5 Jack Dougherty, Milwaukee (AHL)

57 Joonas Lyytinen Milwaukee (AHL), Norfolk (ECHL), Atlanta (ECHL)

78 Filip Pyrochta, Liberec (CzeE), Benatky (CzeD)

- Jack Stander, Canisius (NCAA)

28 Jarred Tinordi, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)

GOALTENDERS

1 Troy Grosenick, Milwaukee (AHL), San Jose (AHL)

33 Thomas McCollum, Grand Rapids (AHL)

34 Miroslav Svoboda, Plzen (CzeE)