The Milwaukee Admirals after a game last season.
The big leadership decision of 2012 is upon us. Not the presidential decision, but a much more local one. It falls to Dean Evason, new head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals for American Hockey League’s 2012-2013 season.
Evason’s decision: Who would be Milwaukee’s new captain for the fourth time in as many seasons? He picked Mike Moore, but it wasn’t a decision Evason was willing to rush. “I’m new,” he says, “and you’re not going to rush into it because we want to put it on the right person.”
Moore signed with the Nashville Predators, the Admirals’ NHL parent team, in the offseason, and the defensemen had hoped to be on the Predators’ opening-day roster. But the NHL season has been delayed by a bitter labor dispute, and after that league’s owners locked out its players, Moore ended up with the Admirals. He’s captained other teams before, and Evason says players and staff unanimously wanted him to assume that role for the Ads.
Evason, who has spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals, says he wasn’t looking for a guy who’ll just give motivational speeches every night or grab teammates and shake them up. “We want a guy that leads by example, a person that hopefully works hard in practice, in the gym, and ultimately in the games.” Moore, he says, does just that. “He practices hard, he plays hard and he is a veteran guy who has experience in the NHL”
The Admirals’ youngest player, 20-year-old Austin Watson, echoed the coach’s sentiment. “Good leaders are guys that everybody’s going to cling to and wants to follow,” says Watson. “But no matter who is wearing a letter, we’re going to all try and be the best leaders we can be.”
The NHL lockout may have affected the Admirals’ roster, but it won’t be changing Evason’s coaching approach. “We’re coaching our hockey club as if this is our team,” he says. “We’re not expecting anyone to go up. If it happens, it happens.” However, he notes that the lockout can serve as a motivation for his players. “They realize that there’s going to be a little bit more media,” he says. “Maybe we’re going to be on TV a little bit more and on the radio, which is exciting for the players. Hopefully it doesn’t matter where or when or what league they play in. They should play the same way.”
Even with a roster of players all under 30, Evason has no shortage of experience on the Admirals. That includes guys who might have been wearing an NHL uniform when that season was scheduled to begin last Thursday.
Gabriel Bourque is one of these players. He made a huge impact with the Nashville Predators in last year’s playoffs. But he’s staying optimistic in spite the lockout. “I think we can wait it out and play some hockey,” he says.
Watson agreed that while everyone hopes to make it to the Predators and skate with “the big guys,” the Admirals at least know they have a place to play. “We get a chance to play in the best hockey league going right now.”
For now, though, much of the United States will get its hockey fix from the AHL. Moore and his alternate captains, Chris Mueller and Mark Van Guilder, will lead the Admirals into their first game on Friday at the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Milwaukee’s first home game is Oct. 19 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center against the Charlotte Checkers.
