{"id":95752,"date":"2026-01-10T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/?p=95752"},"modified":"2026-01-10T15:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:42:30","slug":"ufko-continuing-admirals-tradition-of-developing-defensemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/news\/ufko-continuing-admirals-tradition-of-developing-defensemen","title":{"rendered":"Ufko continuing Admirals\u2019 tradition of developing defensemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" by Jason Karnosky <\/strong>| AHL On The Beat<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The Milwaukee Admirals have a knack for developing National Hockey League defensemen.<\/p>\n

Since becoming affiliated with Nashville shortly after the Predators\u2019 expansion, a steady stream of All-Star level defensemen \u2013 including Roman Josi<\/strong><\/a>, Shea Weber<\/strong><\/a>, Ryan Suter<\/strong><\/a> and Kimmo Timonen<\/strong> \u2013 started their careers in Milwaukee. Countless other defenders such as Mattias Ekholm<\/strong><\/a>, Dan Hamhuis<\/strong><\/a>, Cody Franson<\/strong><\/a>, Spencer Stastney<\/strong><\/a> and, most recently, Adam Wilsby<\/strong><\/a> enjoyed solid NHL careers after wearing an Admirals sweater.<\/p>\n

Ryan Ufko<\/strong><\/a> represents the next link in the Admirals\u2019 development chain. Now in his second full season with Milwaukee, the 22-year-old blueliner leads Milwaukee \u2013 as well as all AHL defensemen \u2013 in scoring with 33 points through 32 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan\u2019s getting lots of opportunities and ice time, and he\u2019s running with it.\u201d Admirals head coach Karl Taylor<\/strong> said. \u201cHe\u2019s been really good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ufko had a goal and an assist in Milwaukee\u2019s most important win of the season, a 3-0 victory over Rockford on Dec. 30 that ended his team\u2019s nine-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still believe in ourselves, and we believe in how we\u2019ve been playing even when we are behind or losing,\u201d said Ufko. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried not to dwell on getting down, but instead we\u2019ve stuck together because we know what we can pull off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like his team, Ufko got off to a fast start this season. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst product had goals in each of the last four games of October. During that time Milwaukee trailed only league leader Grand Rapids in the Central Division standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really good start to the year for me (personally),\u201d Ufko said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m a lot more comfortable this year, and I have a lot of confidence in myself and in how I\u2019m playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talented blueliner is emerging as a weapon on the power play. Four of his nine goals have come on the man advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur power play has really been clicking and capitalizing on those moments,\u201d said Ufko, who also scored his first career shorthanded goal this season. \u201cEspecially at the start of the year it seemed like we were scoring power-play goals in every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Milwaukee limped through December, falling back to fifth place in the Central Division, the Admirals\u2019 power play remained elite. They are scoring power-play goals at a stunning 29.8 percent clip, which is the best success rate in the AHL.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I appreciate) all of the opportunities I\u2019ve been getting this season,\u201d said Ufko, who also had a five-game point streak wrapped around the Thanksgiving holiday. \u201cIt shows the trust that the coaches have in me, and I\u2019ve tried to capitalize on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ufko is breaking out this season, his progression started in the spring of 2024, as the Smithtown, N.Y., native joined the Admirals about a month before his 21st birthday. Ufko signed an entry-level contract with Nashville on March 29 after playing three years of college hockey at UMass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [time] I\u2019ve been here since college has gone really quickly,\u201d Ufko said. \u201cYet I also feel like I\u2019ve been here for a while, especially after getting into all of those playoff games that first spring. That 2024 playoff run was really good for my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ufko played in nine regular-season games with the Admirals in 2023-24, contributing six points. The Predators\u2019 2021 fourth-round draft pick then helped Milwaukee advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight season.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan had 10 points in those 15 playoff games, but he\u2019s come a long way as a player since then,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of his development, and how he is playing now for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season as a rookie, Ufko was the only Admirals player to skate in all 72 regular-season games. He struggled a bit coming out of the gates but ended as Milwaukee\u2019s top scoring defenseman with 30 points. He added three assists in 10 playoff games last spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan battled through a bit of a slow start last year, coming back after all of that momentum he had from the previous postseason,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cBut by the end of the year he was one of our better players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The peak moment of Ufko\u2019s season came on April 14, 2025, when he made his NHL debut with Nashville.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan is yelling at Nashville to give him a chance,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cHe is demanding it with his play. He\u2019s learned a lot from his slow start last year, and that\u2019s been a teachable moment for all of our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season the 5-foot-10 defenseman found another level, and that has meant a lot to a Milwaukee squad trying to regain the tailwind they had behind them in the early going.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan\u2019s been a little more confident, and a little more secure with the puck, so he\u2019s been able to hold on to it a little longer to make those late plays,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cHe\u2019s been outstanding for us, and what a way to start the year, especially after how it started for him last year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Admirals have a knack for developing National Hockey League defensemen, and Ryan Ufko represents the next link in that chain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":95753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,54],"class_list":["post-95752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ahl-on-the-beat","tag-milwaukee-admirals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theahl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}