Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff conducted an enlightening interview with Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach and former Red Wing Mike Knuble. Knuble spoke bluntly regarding the nature of minor league hockey in his conversation with Duff:
Watching players like Chase Pearson and Turner Elson get a shot in Detroit last season is the reward for the work the Griffins coaching staff puts in every day.
“We’d love to send them up and never see them again,” Knuble said. “Guys come up and back, guys are wondering why they never get called up. You try to make them aware of points and things. This is how you’re gonna get there. The faster you can adjust to that in the American League and display those traits, then you’re gonna have a better chance to get up there.”
Playing in the minor leagues is literally and up an down experience for some players. Others feel like they’re getting the mushroom treatment – stuck off in the dark, having crap dumped on them every day.
Keeping players focused on the task at hand can be the most daunting task facing an AHL coach who is dealing with players at all levels of the pro hockey experience.
“There is kind of a career hierarchy a little bit,” Knuble acknowledges. “There are guys who are at a crossroads in their career, for sure. They have decisions to make about which direction they want to go. Do they want to keep trying in the American League? Do they want to go to Europe?
Duff continues, and it’s a really solid interview…
