The Hockey News’s Jake Tye spoke with both Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson and Griffins forward Emmitt Finnie about the 20-year-old center’s aspirations.
Finnie was a 7th round pick (201st overall) in the 2023 draft, but the 6’1,” 190-pound forward has bucked the odds to earn an entry-level contract and play in the AHL, and he wants to accomplish much more:
“I think Emmitt Finnie is a guy, he’s a seventh round pick, but every time I see him, he continually gets better and better, he gets bigger, he gets stronger,” Watson explained “[Finnie] had a great Western Hockey League career, stepped in two years ago with us and played three games and wasn’t expected to play any games but did quite well during his playing time.”
The Hockey News recently got to speak with Finnie in an exclusive interview and asked him how the transition to pro hockey went last season and how he feels entering his first full season with the Griffins.
“With the Griffins, I’m hoping to have a pretty big role with them, I want to establish myself pretty early on as a key player on the team,” Finnie said ”The biggest thing I noticed was the speed and physicality of the players, coming to the AHL, you’re the youngest guy, so everyone’s just more developed, everyone’s in better positions, defensively and offensively.”
The Lethbridge native did quite well through his first taste of pro hockey last season with a goal and four assists through ten AHL games. When asked what NHLer he models his game after, Finnie noted that he likes to watch a lot of a certain LA Kings winger.
“I would consider myself a 200 foot player, I like comparing myself to Adrian Kempe,” Finnie noted “The way he plays, he’s a big center, he’s a 200 foot player, he works really hard, he’s not afraid to go to some dirty areas, so he’s a player I like watching and kind of try to model my game after.”
Continued; Finnie may be a 7th round pick, but he’s got significant skill, a strong work ethic, and a big heart.
And this is a pretty neat FYI:
It helps Finnie’s development that during the off-season, he gets to train alongside other notable prospects in the Red Wings organization like Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård as the four all live in the same house in Michigan during the later portion of the off-season as the prospects come back to Detroit to start early training.
