The Grand Rapids Griffins didn’t make the AHL’s playoff cut last season, and that’s a rare occurrence for one of the AHL’s best teams.
That being said, between injuries, call-ups and COVID issues, the Griffins’ roster was depleted and often patched together with ECHL call-ups.
As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests, next year’s Griffins team should be stacked with some of the best and brightest Red Wings prospects, which should, in turn, make the team more competitive:
Elmer Soderblom. Jonatan Berggren. Pontus Andreasson. Taro Hirose. Kyle Criscuolo. Albert Johansson. Tyler Spezia. Cross Hanas. Steven Kampfer. Brian Lashoff. Maybe even Joe Veleno. Those are some of the players who could play for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season.
The Griffins should be much improved this season. The Detroit Red Wings will be sending several key prospects to their American Hockey League affiliate over the next few seasons. The Red Wings want to make sure young players are in a competitive environment. The mix of AHL veterans and skilled young players should accomplish that this season.
“It should be an exciting year with lots of great prospects ready to make their mark with the Griffins,” Griffins president Tom Gortsema said. “We are eagerly looking forward to developing the next Moritz Seider.”
This week the Red Wings re-signed Chase Pearson, but he possibly could be claimed on waivers by another NHL team if the Red Wings send him down.
Grand Rapids’ goaltending would be handled by Jussi Olkinuora, Victor Brattstrom and former Michigan State player John Lethemon unless the Red Wings decide not to send 2021 first-round pick Sebastian Cossa back to the Western Hockey League.
Continued; it’s just my gut feeling, but between Olkinuora and Brattstrom needing to jump-start and re-start their North American careers, respectively, I don’t see there being a place for Cossa unless he “steals a job.”
In any case, the Red Wings want the Griffins to be as competitive as possible, and this should be a better season for them.
They have two young goalies to work with now. Cossa may similarly need to be overripe to come up to Detroit, and that isn’t necessarily bad.
Nope, it’s not bad at all. Another season in Major Junior with a slightly less-stacked Edmonton Oil Kings team might be good for Cossa’s development.