If the road to Nashville runs through Milwaukee, the 2023-24 Admirals proved the ride is still smooth as ever.
First capturing the attention of the hockey world during a franchise record 19-game winning streak, the Predators’ American Hockey League affiliate would power themselves to a Central Division title and their 18th Calder Cup Playoffs berth.
There, the Admirals would win three straight against the Texas Stars to keep their postseason alive and advance to the Central Division Finals, where they’d ultimately prevail in another five-game battle against the Grand Rapids Griffins and punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row.
Though the Admirals finally saw their electrifying campaign come to an end in a stinging Game 5 defeat to the Coachella Valley Firebirds last week, no one in Milwaukee - or in Nashville - had their heads hung too low looking back on the year as a whole.
“Just seeing the growth of our team from the start of the year, where we just kind of hovered around .500 and then we went on that 19-game winning streak - I think everybody grew a lot and learned a lot through it.” Admirals General Manager and Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol said. “And it hardened them up a little bit, being down 2-0 to Texas, and then all the elimination games that they played in. We asked a lot for our young group to produce and it's hard to do at that level and they were really good. Usually you don't have that many rookies come in and be a core part of your team, and they were… We believed in these guys, and they showed it on the ice.”
The historic winning streak and the deep run to the Western Conference Finals were of course all the more impressive given the age and experience level making up much of the Admirals 2023-24 roster.
In total, 10 Predators prospects - Jeremy Hanzel, Jake Livingstone, Jack Matier, Luke Prokop, Nolan Burke, Alex Campbell, Reid Schaefer, Fedor Svechkov, Ryan Ufko and Zach L’Heureux - made their American Hockey League debuts with the Admirals this season, with the last four on the roster all the way through the Western Conference Finals.
“Now they kind of know how much harder it is and the steps they need to take in the summer. So, I'm excited for them to come to camp and they should have lots of confidence and lots of strut to them,” Nichol said. “They had a fantastic year, but when training camp comes again it's a clean slate. So, that’ll be our discussion with them - keep building off your end result, rather than starting all the way from start again.”
While all will be intriguing prospects to follow next season, below are just a few reasons Predators fans should focus on Milwaukee’s final four postseason rookies as they continue their development in 2024-25.