Prospect Info: Grand Rapids Griffins, 2024 - 2025 Season

[HoweFan]

Maybe he's going to Buffalo?

Oh Gawd. I’m sorry I asked lol

 

[schuelma24]

Husso getting bombed. 6-0 in the 3rd.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Griffs have been quite out of sync for the past while, particularly with Lombardi gone. Him and Danielson 1/2Cs is a boon for them

Tonight they've been undisciplined and paying the price for it

Snively breaks the shutout though lol

 

[ShanahanMan]

Bruh what is happening over there.

 

[Frk It]

It's like anything else in life.... does a straight A student need much tutoring? I didn't. I received none.

I've taught ski lessons for years, some people can learn just by watching, others need in depth explanation. (A lot of instructors hate teaching adults for that very reason.) It's the ability to teach the lower end students that's a challenge. The Wings fail in that regards. I mean Raz still has skating issues, and Joey still doesn't grasp the game. Kasper is struggling offensively. It's much easier to coach naturally gifted athletes like Ray, Mo, and Ed. On top of that, a lot of their development was in the SHL outside of the organization.

I just think at the end of the day you are making gambles and you have to live with that.

Some kids will be able to add 25 lbs of muscle to their frame or add 25% to their skating and some won’t. What org they develop in wouldn’t change that. And you don’t know who can do what over the next 2-3 years when you are drafting 17 years old.

 

[Gniwder]

I just think at the end of the day you are making gambles and you have to live with that.

Some kids will be able to add 25 lbs of muscle to their frame or add 25% to their skating and some won’t. What org they develop in wouldn’t change that. And you don’t know who can do what over the next 2-3 years when you are drafting 17 years old.

I was thinking more along the way of skill development and not so much physical development. I think the Wings organization is on par with the rest of the league as far as being able to bulk up prospects. Ray, Joey, Burger, and even Mazur (this one surprised me) put on some weight.

In terms of skill, I'm talking about even simple stuff like stick handling, defending the puck, shooting, reading defensive coverage and finding soft spots, etc. The team couldn't fix Zadina's timing issue on his one timer, Raz' skating still isn't fixed, Kasper's shooting leaves a lot to be desired, and Joey hasn't learned a damn thing in the past 2 seasons. Zadina looks better in Switzerland because he's using the whole ice and not doing that one move where he tries to split the defender in the middle. So there's an issue with teaching hockey IQ as well.

Blash and Fester were both collegiate goalies, Watson was an ECHL defenseman. Not really the kind of guys you would want teaching offensive skills. Lashoff is Watson assistant along with a former DEL player. If the coaches can't get it done then Dan Cleary and Dwayne Blais
need to do more than what they're doing.

Anyways, I'm surprised at how much better Brandt Clarke's skating looks now, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have happened with the Wings.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I was thinking more along the way of skill development and not so much physical development. I think the Wings organization is on par with the rest of the league as far as being able to bulk up prospects. Ray, Joey, Burger, and even Mazur (this one surprised me) put on some weight.

In terms of skill, I'm talking about even simple stuff like stick handling, defending the puck, shooting, reading defensive coverage and finding soft spots, etc. The team couldn't fix Zadina's timing issue on his one timer, Raz' skating still isn't fixed, Kasper's shooting leaves a lot to be desired, and Joey hasn't learned a damn thing in the past 2 seasons. Zadina looks better in Switzerland because he's using the whole ice and not doing that one move where he tries to split the defender in the middle. So there's an issue with teaching hockey IQ as well.

Blash and Fester were both collegiate goalies, Watson was an ECHL defenseman. Not really the kind of guys you would want teaching offensive skills. Lashoff is Watson assistant along with a former DEL player. If the coaches can't get it done then Dan Cleary and Dwayne Blais
need to do more than what they're doing.

Anyways, I'm surprised at how much better Brandt Clarke's skating looks now, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have happened with the Wings.

Ras’ skating has come along substantially. The last two years he can actually play as an F1 a lot. My problem with Ras is they didn’t bulk him up enough. Maybe that is because of the trade off in skating, I do wish he played at closer to 240 and was a bully around the net.

Zadina looks better in Europe because there is more time and space. I think trying to teach that is incredibly challenging. NHL defenders are also substantially better at disrupting with their sticks in my opinion. With the skating and hockey IQ they take away a lot of time and space. They can show it in video but ultimately it is on the player. Zadina would recover himself in the zone a lot, I doubt it was because they weren’t showing him video on him doing it and trying to coach him out of it. Zadina is also a mediocre athlete in terms of explosion, a few of us actually said this in the euphoria of his draft night.

 

[Gniwder]

Ras’ skating has come along substantially. The last two years he can actually play as an F1 a lot. My problem with Ras is they didn’t bulk him up enough. Maybe that is because of the trade off in skating, I do wish he played at closer to 240 and was a bully around the net.

Zadina looks better in Europe because there is more time and space. I think trying to teach that is incredibly challenging. NHL defenders are also substantially better at disrupting with their sticks in my opinion. With the skating and hockey IQ they take away a lot of time and space. They can show it in video but ultimately it is on the player. Zadina would recover himself in the zone a lot, I doubt it was because they weren’t showing him video on him doing it and trying to coach him out of it. Zadina is also a mediocre athlete in terms of explosion, a few of us actually said this in the euphoria of his draft night.

Raz has improved significantly, but it plateaued right before his knee injury. He hasn't improved since, and I was hoping he'd take the next step. He can bulk up to 300 lbs, and he'll still get knocked over easily because he doesn't use his edges effectively. Some of that is is lower leg alignment, and some of that is ankle strength. Mo has remarkable ankle strength, he actually flexes his boot sideways.

Bigger ice definitely helps Zadina, but they're also playing him on the left side which is what I recommended before he left. He needed to rethink his game, that move where he enters the zone on the right, headfakes, then tries to split the defenders doesn't work in Europe any better than the NHL. They also don't have him camped out at the dot waiting to whiff on one timers.

He lack explosiveness, no doubt, but so does Tank, Kane, Perron or better yet Robertson. That kid is an absolute puck magnet. A collegiate goalie (or two) isn't gonna teach that. If you really want to defend Blash, Fester, and Watson, be my guest. They haven't impressed and neither has Cleary. I was hoping for more out of Blais because he did a lot for Tom Wilson.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Soderblom with an individual effort and picks the top corner with a laser wrist shot. I gotta say, his main drawbacks are his somewhat frequent tunnel vision and his game-by-game consistency. Needs to show up on the scoresheet some more

Kaser was saying how good of an influence Watson has been on Elmer. Hope that continues to grow into the new year and Elmer keeps hitting his stride. He's been playing well for the last while

Note: They're dressing 7D tonight, Watson is out so 3 C's are rotating

 

[Michael Brand Eggs]

Soderblom with an individual effort and picks the top corner with a laser wrist shot. I gotta say, his main drawbacks are his somewhat frequent tunnel vision and his game-by-game consistency. Needs to show up on the scoresheet some more

To say the least. 2 goals is just not enough from him.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Griffs lose 3-2 in OT. Stars scored the GTG with 90 seconds left and then Shine took a double minor penalty 6 seconds later. Paid for it in OT

Danielson: B
• defensively he's always great, but he's not flying around and being an offensive risk taker right now. Need more of that from him and to stop being so "safe" all the time. I think he needs Lombardi, Mazur, and Watson back ASAP as the rest are offensively inept for the most part

Cossa: A-
• stood tall all game, Griffs couldn't clear the crease well enough to stop Texas from being right on his doorstep

Wallinder: C
• up and down game. 2nd period was rough for him. He's not very strong for a 6'4 guy. He has limitations in his game currently that make him stick out like a sore thumb some games

Buium: B
• solid game. He's generally quiet, jumps into the play here and there

Soderblom: B-
• shift-by-shift you can see he scratches the surface of being what could be a complimentary bottom 6 NHLer, but he's not consistent enough. Ultimately, I don't think he possesses the IQ needed for the NHL. Still rooting for him though

 

[cjm502]

Buium doesn't get talked about enough around here, I think he has a much higher chance at having an NHL career than Wallinder. Its strange how he has managed to stay somewhat under the radar.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Buium doesn't get talked about enough around here, I think he has a much higher chance at having an NHL career than Wallinder. Its strange how he has managed to stay somewhat under the radar.

There's something about the poise of Buium that Wallinder just does not possess and ultimately might be one of the leading factors as to why Buium might be an NHL regular over Wallinder

For the record, I have ranked Wallinder higher on my prospect rankings, but that's banking on his boom and current chance of reaching it (#4D) versus Buium's (#5-6D)