The Milwaukee Admirals opened their 2023-24 season on Saturday, defeating the rival Chicago Wolves two to one in overtime.

Contributions came from everyone: veteran scoring, playmaking from young talent, a solid performance in-net, and plenty of leadership from the blue line. That will be the recipe for success for an Admirals’ team that made it to the Western Conference final last year.

“Your team changes so much year to year that you’re starting fresh every season,” said Head Coach Karl Taylor. “Now we do have some players returning—more than the last couple of years, so that will assist us in setting the environment, the culture, and how we want the locker room to run.”

Taylor and his staff will be leaning heavily on those returning players to execute this year. “We have some guys back that have gone deep in playoffs; they’ve earned those experiences,” he added. “We have high hopes for a great season again. There’s one more step to be made to give us a chance to win the championship, and we’re hoping that’s going to happen this year.”

Those veterans, particularly at forward, will have big shoes to fill with the likes of Cole Schneider, Phil Tomasino, Luke Evangelista, and Kiefer Sherwood departing over the offseason.

Taylor unsurprisingly pointed to assistant captain Cal O’Reilly, Mark Jankowski, Denis Gurianov, and Anthony Angello as those he expects to step up. “Those are some of the older players that we have up front that we expect to mentor some of the younger players,” he said. “We do have a very young crop of highly talented forwards that we’re very excited to work with, but those older players are the ones we’ll rely on.”

Those four forwards—all of whom have NHL experience—have combined for more than 1,000 career points in the AHL; their mentorship, as Taylor noted, will be critical for a unique freshmen class in Milwaukee.

Up front, the Admirals’ infusion of talent is highlighted by four first-round picks: Joakim Kemell, Fedor Svechkov, Zach L’Heureux, and Reid Schaefer.

Despite their pedigree, Taylor knows there’s no guarantee of success for the first-year AHL players. “We met the other day with all the first-year pros, and we just let them know that they’re going to struggle at times,” added the head coach. “There’s going to be times where they have some failure in their game, and that’s okay. I want them to understand that when it does happen, it’s not the end of the world.”

Taylor stressed how important the mental side of the game is for these rookies: “We want them to understand that the American League is really hard. They’re going to be given opportunities, there will be times when they struggle… Are you going to dig in or are you going to worry about it and overthink things?”

After scoring 23 points in 28 regular-season and playoff games for the Admirals last year, Taylor was quick to brag about Joakim Kemell. “He had a great playoff run for us, a great end of the season… Obviously, he’s a weapon on the power play with his shot, but his energy and how hard he competes… I think that’s something that makes him a special player.” Taylor added his expectations for the phenom too. “He’s got to just get some water under the bridge… Just the experience of playing in a more relied-on position. I do really believe in him as a player and that he could be a top-six forward eventually.”

Taylor finished: “He just needs a lot of experience of being marked in the AHL… Having other teams circling his name… And then he’s going to have to find ways to fight through that and produce.”

The coaching staff has also seen plenty of positives from Svechkov, L’Heureux, and Schaefer. The Admirals’ sixth-year head coach touched on Svechkov’s poise and upside; with L’Heureux, he noted his speed and talent on the penalty kill, and about Schaefer, he highlighted his physicality and how hard he plays.

Despite all the potential there, the most interesting forward on this roster might be third-year pro Egor Afanasyev.

“When Egor got called up, he did great, he managed his game and found a way to stay in Nashville and produce,” said Taylor. “When he returned to us, he played a third-line role and on the second power play. But he was killing penalties and was on the ice in the last minutes of huge playoff games, so I think Egor has found a good role.” But the head coach was clear he’s not satisfied: “I would like to see him grow his offensive game and allow himself to get more balance at both ends of the ice.” After 0.44 and 0.45 points per game in his first two seasons, Afanasyev will be given every opportunity to increase his offensive production this year.

While Karl Taylor will have new tools to experiment with in his forward group, his blue line will look very similar.

“Lots of returning defenders will give us a lot of stability,” he said. “We know what to expect from them. In the hardest times of the year, when you’re in the conference finals, when you’re really challenged playing against the best teams in the league, we learned a lot about Stastney, Wlisby, Del Gaizo, and even our older guys, Gross, Gravel, and McKeown.”

Complementing that group, which was Milwaukee’s six-most regular defenders last year, is newcomer Jake Livingstone. The 6’3″ defender matriculated in the spring from Minnesota State University at Mankato where he totaled 80 points in 111 games. “He’s coming in as a heralded free agent, and he’ll add an element for us,” said Taylor.

While the defensive stability will be helpful for Milwaukee’s coaching staff, having nine defenders on the roster will make for some tough decisions; Adam Wilsby—who played every game for the Admirals last year—was the odd man out on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of players on the blue line, and there will be a lot of challenges for roster decisions and how we deploy guys,” noted Taylor before he spoke to his relationship with the staff in Nashville. “Scott Nichol and I work very closely together on that decision-making process. He’s obviously speaking to people in Nashville, and I do talk with the coaching staff, but they don’t direct us in that area. We’ll stay in communication so that if there are changes made during the season, we’re aware of what they’re doing and can make adjustments if we feel that’s the way to go.”

Due to the numbers game, there won’t just be some defenders in the press box this season but in the ECHL too; Luke Prokop and Jack Matier were both assigned to the Atlanta Gladiators last week.

“They played great through camp and probably deserve to start the year here, but numbers and different things…they’re going to start in the East Coast League with Atlanta,” noted Taylor. “Things change very quickly as we know; injuries and different things happen. They’re two young guys who are really good prospects that we’re very excited to work with here in Milwaukee,” he added, giving them clear advice on how to handle the ECHL: “Don’t fight it, don’t dip your toe in the water… The message is to go down, relish it, dig in, and be a huge part of what they’re doing. Get to know everyone there, and do the things that you did well here in Milwaukee.”

Taylor finished: “Those guys are in a perfect spot in my opinion. I want them to hold onto the pace that they had in Nashville and Milwaukee and not let it slip in the East Coast League.”

In-goal, 2020 first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov will once again lead the Admirals’ platoon, while veteran Troy Grosenick has returned after three years with Ontario, Providence, and Lehigh Valley to replace Devin Cooley.

Askarov was good in his first AHL regular season, posting a 0.911 save percentage and stopping 10.904 goals above average in 48 appearances. But he stumbled at times in the playoffs, getting pulled for Cooley in the final four games of the Western Conference Final. Overall though, Karl Taylor was pleased with Askarov’s AHL debut.

“He had a great season last year,” said Taylor. “He grew in a lot of areas, off-ice and on-ice, and let’s be honest, he moved across the world to a new country, a new culture, and a new league. He had a lot of reasons and excuses to have more challenges than he did, but he had a great season.”

For this year, Taylor wouldn’t divulge Askarov’s expected workload, but he added: “He’s just got to keep digging in, working on his game, and making sure he’s trying to hold the net as long as he can. We want him to earn it and push to keep Grosenick out of the net.”

Karl Taylor’s expectations for this club in the standings table are clear. But the 2023-24 campaign will also be a unique opportunity for him and his staff to develop Nashville’s exciting pipeline. As players audition for NHL call-ups and roster spots next year, keep a close watch on Taylor’s lineup decisions and deployments with this interesting blend of talent.