NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -The Nashville Predators assigned forward Alexander Radulov to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL on Tuesday and named defenseman Kimmo Timonen as their third captain.

Timonen replaces Greg Johnson, who was not re-signed during the offseason. Timonen has played in 493 games, second most in franchise history. He is a point shy of tying Scott Walker, now in Carolina, as the team's career scoring leader.

Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan were named assistants.

Sending Radulov to Milwaukee leaves the Predators with 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. Defenseman Alex Harvey is starting the season on injured reserve.

The top three lines for the Predators are loaded with veterans, leaving no room for Radulov right now. But coach Barry Trotz said Radulov may be back in Nashville soon.

"He may be eating Thanksgiving dinner here," Trotz said.

"It does Rad no justice to play on the fourth line here. He needs to be one of our top nine forwards. Having him go to Milwaukee is the right thing to do."