A quick look at the Grand Rapids Griffins
Detroit’s AHL affiliate had an awful season last year and looks to rebound and regain their position as one of the better franchises in the A. The big move was at the top when they let head coach Mike Stothers go after one season and replaced him with Curt Fraser. Fraser has tons of NHL playing experience in addition to a solid career thus far as a head coach.
Starting from the net out, Jimmy Howard is likely to return for a third and final season as the top netminder. In past seasons he hasn’t had competition that could really push him for playing time and that could be part of the reason he hasn’t been as consistent as the Red Wings expect him to be. This year 2006 draft pick Daniel Larsson should provide plenty of competition in net, as he won rookie of the year and goaltender of the year in the Swedish elite league last season. So if Howard struggles at any point there will probably be an opening for Larsson to try and move up the depth chart for Red Wings goalies.
On defense the Griffins will be young but have pretty solid talent to work with. Jakub Kindl is coming off a terrible season, but given his talent level there’s every reason to expect him to improve once he gets a better handle on the mental part of playing defense. Here’s a quote from Grand Rapids’ general manager [via Red Wings Central]:
“At times he wants to carry the puck and his decision-making sometimes is a little bit questionable and that’s why his plus-minus is where it is. He’s shown flashes. He’s better when he has less time with the puck because he does it on instinct — he just moves it quickly. The more time and space that he has, the more he wants to think it through, rather than just react.
Jonthan Ericsson will be the wildcard. Based on talent and preparation he’s clearly ready to play in the NHL. Both Ken Holland and Mike Babcock have said as much. But given the log-jam on the blueline and the fact he can be sent back to Grand Rapids without clearing waivers he could be SOL. That would be unfortunate so I hope Detroit can work out the trades that are necessary to get his NHL career started. If not he should be dominant in the AHL. He could potentially follow in Niklas Kronwall’s skates and win the Eddie Shore award for best defenseman in the AHL.
Rounding out the Red Wings prospects on the Griffins’ blueline, Logan Pyett and Sergei Kolosov will both play in Grand Rapids. Pyett is coming off a spectacular career in Regina playing for the Pats. He projects to be an offensive defenseman but this will be his first season in Grand Rapids. Kolosov is a big, physical defensive defenesman who will likely replace Kyle Quincey in the Grand Rapids lineup.
The team should be solid down the middle at forward as both Evan McGrath and Cory Emmerton should center the two scoring lines. McGrath seemed to finally find his game at the A-level over the later part of the season and could be a point-a-game player this season. Cory Emmerton has been compared to Jumbo Joe Thornton in terms of his vision and playmaking ability but will get his first taste of regular AHL action. Jan Mursak and Mattias Ritola will both play on the wings on scoring lines and Finnish free agent Ville Leino will likely start the season in Grand Rapids while he gets up to speed with the North American game. He’ll join AHL super sniper Darren Haydar and help round out the scoring lines for the Griffins.
Like Ericsson on defense, the big question is whether Darren Helm plays in Detroit or gets sent to Grand Rapids. A fixture centering the fourth line during the playoffs, does he make the Red Wings? He could benefit from getting stronger and more physically mature spending the season as a Griffin and getting some callups; but does he center a scoring line when you have McGrath and Emmerton, who are both high-end offensive players? If not it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to send him to Grand Rapids to center the third line. It could happen and if it does the Griffins will be stacked at center. Rounding out the final pivot spot Ryan Oulahen has re-upped with Detroit and would likely center the third line if Helm winds up in Detroit. If not he’ll probably center the fourth line.
That pretty much covers each Red Wings prospect who has a good chance at playing in Grand Rapids this season.
Cory Emmerton daniel larsson Darren Haydar Darren Helm evan mcgrath Grand Rapids Griffins Jakub Kindl Jan Mursak Jimmy Howard Jonathan Ericsson Logan Pyett Mattias Ritola Red Wings Ryan Oulahen sergei kolosov ville leinoNo Comments
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
