Milwaukee, WI—Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has assigned forwards Taylor Beck, Ryan Flynn, Jani Lajunen, Michael Latta, Juuso Puustinen, Josh Shalla, Robert Slaney; defensemen Taylor Aronson, Victor Bartley and Charles-Olivier Roussel and goaltenders Atte Engren and Chet Pickard to Milwaukee.

Flynn is the only one of that group to have skated all of last season with the Admirals. Both Engren and Pickard saw time in net for Milwaukee in 2010-11, while Taylor Beck and Michael Latta each skated in the post-season for the team.

The Predators also released forwards Joel Champagne and Mark Van Guilder; and defensemen Jeff Foss, Scott Ford and Scott Valentine from Professional or Amateur Tryout Agreements (ATOs/PTOs). Champagne, Van Guilder, Foss and Ford are all signed to AHL contracts by the Admirals and all five will report to the team’s training camp.

This will be Ford’s fourth season in Milwaukee after establishing career highs last year with 80 games played, 164 penalty minutes and a+10 rating. Van Guilder joins the Admirals for his second full season with the team. Last year the Roseville, MN native tallied ten goals and seven assists for 17 points to go along with a +7 rating while playing in 62 games.

The Admirals will open their 2011 Training Camp on Tuesday, September 27 with a 3:45 pm practice on Tuesday, September 27 at the Kern Center on the campus of the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The team will have a pair of pre-season games, including one at home on Friday, September 30 at 7:00 pm at the Kern Center, before opening the regular season on Saturday, October 8th in Peoria at the Rivermen.