The Hockey News’s Jake Tye spoke with Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach Brian Lashoff regarding one Simon Edvinsson, and Lashoff’s sold on Edvinsson’s potential:
Before making the jump to an everyday player, Edvinsson played just 25 NHL games with a majority of his development coming at the AHL level with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He spent two seasons in Eastern Michigan, where he played 106 games and posted an impressive stat line with 57 points, including 44 assists as an elite puck distributor. During his time in the minors, he got to play alongside and learn from a Red Wings veteran in Brian Lashoff.
After playing the entirety of his 14-year professional playing career in the Red Wings organization, Lashoff decided to move behind the bench and now works as one of the team’s assistant coaches. Before swapping his skates for a clipboard, he got to play with Edvinsson and can speak to the talent of the player.
“I’m obviously really proud of him, I had played with him in my last year, and then I got the chance to coach him and work with him my first year coaching, so I had a good relationship with him and try to help him with as much as possible,” Lashoff explained “You could see the talent right away, the size of him and his ability to skate, the one thing that I think he took really seriously from when he got over here and us working with him as a staff, is just his defending.”
Lashoff would go on to explain that Edvinsson’s strides in his defensive game helped him transition to the NHL better than most young defenseman as he had the offensive talent but needed to better round out his game.
“I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Lashoff said “Just as a defender, for being that age and playing the minutes he did against tough competition, it’s impressive what he did, and now it’s on him to kind of pull himself to that standard as well and continue to grow and keep pushing the bar as high as he can, year after year, which he certainly has the potential to do.”
