Prospect Info: Grand Rapids Griffins, 2024 - 2025 Season

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Griffins vs Phantoms, 2/21
[Edit: messed up the date]

Good shootout win and nice to see 4 goals. need to get some more 5 v 5 goals but finally saw some PP goals. 3-1 lead gone but thankfully tied it with time to spare. Took some silly penalties again and again

Thank God Watson was down on line 3 lol. Top 2 lines looked very good and fast. Even Snively was flying around more since he wasn't stapled to Watson


Lines:

Snively - Lombardi - Mazur
Dries - Danielson - Shine
Doucet - Gettinger - Watson
Johannes - Becher - Seger

Wallinder - Tuomisto
Buium - Rafferty
Viro - Didier

Husso


Danielson: A+
• Absolutely SNIPE toe drag to change the angle and goes top corner far side. Perfect shot. Love how he cut into the middle to make that play and give himself a better chance

Threw the body on his man, took position, and kept Griffins possession on the PP. 2 seconds later generated a shot-pass attempt that Watson and Mazur tried to bang home on the doorstep. 20 seconds later the pressed and Becher scored right on the doorstep!

Early 2nd he hounded the Phantom on the boards, forced possession and took it, then his line spent over a minute after that dominating board play and possession, which unfortunately didn't amount to a shot on goal. He was a puck hound all game and forced turnovers all night

Won a faceoff right to Dries who ripped it right by the ear of Gahagan but he JUST caught it with the glove

Once again I cannot stress how good his anticipation is when in the defensive zone. The puck follows him - there he is, over and over with a controlled zone exit. My belief is that this skill will translate into a solid amount of underappreciated point when situated with NHL linemates


Mazur: A-
• Griffins 4th goal Lombardi got swarmed so the puck squirted to Mazur, give-and-go with Viro where Mazur opened space for his drop pass to Didier for the big one timer from the point. Didier was fired up from that one

Really good at creating space for himself along the boards, and shows capability of making effective plays from it

Defensive reads are good. Recovers puck, takes it out of danger

Puck on his stick lots, getting to scoring areas and had some looks

Drew a penalty after toe dragging and completely undressing the defenseman. Would've been in for a golden chance if not for getting hooked/slashed


Lombardi: B-
• The first goal against it was his man in front where Rafferty and Buium were taking care of their players down low that Lombardi overskated past the crease, did not have position, was weak on his stick, then the Phantom had time and space to bang home a goal on the doorstep

Does want to fly the zone on breakouts and hangs out on the weak side. Needs to take more controlled routes and work on his timing there. Getting winger vibes from players like this

Griffins 4th goal he was working hard on the puck, squirted to Mazur, give-and-go with Viro where Mazur fed Didier for the big one timer


Wallinder: C+
• LV 2nd goal he was whacking away with one hand on his stick 1 v 1 against the Phantom who just bangs away at the bouncing puck in his feet and fires it past Husso. Wallinder should be tying down the man's stick, who was right in his grill, until he regained full attention to where that bouncing puck landed. Bad 1 v 1 play. Getting beat out wide on the rush 1 v 1 as well a couple times

Had a couple key blocks on a period 2 PK

Walked in off the bench during a 4 on 4 and had a nice chance, right off the pad. That same shift, he did hustle back to negate the Phantom cutting to the net and avoided taking a penalty


Buium: B-
• Appreciate his activation, especially in the offensive zone doing little give-and-go plays. He cuts into his edges better than Wallinder does, covering less ice and thus closing down angles if players change directions on him better than when the player has more ice

Using his size fighting for pucks on the boards and getting position well, then making a quick play out of it

4th LV goal he just kind let the cross crease pass go between his legs, and then the player passed it back through his legs and back across for the tap in. Shai went controller disconnected there. Should've been aggressive and tying up that man who drifted behind him to the back post


Tuomisto: B+
• Crowd of players in the corner and still gets a little pass to Danielson behind the net and escapes for a zone exit

Griffs got it deep and he made a slow change from the far side away from the bench and left a wide open lane for LV to fire it up to a streaking winger and Husso had to shut down his shot chance. Changing D Buium couldn't get there in time as it was period 2 and they were on the long change...


Becher: A+
• PP goal, right on the doorstep! That whole shift he was slithering around letting his man lose him, just for him to jump right in at the perfect time and finish off that rebound, even with a Phantom right on him. That shift, the PP virtually had everyone rotating around, moving the puck, and recovering it when loose, shooting, and crashing the crease. MUCH better than the first PP of the game

ANOTHER PP GOAL this time as the bumper and got a perfect lean on his shot in the slot and goes low glove just over the pad. No mistake! Great feed by Watson and great puck movement by the PP unit as a whole

Forecheck as F1, then as F2 pressured he curled back, read the play to cut off a breakout along the boards, generated more zone time and pressure where he got another puck touch and pass to Viro for a shot chance

Aaaaaand a great goal in the Shootout that holds up as the winner!
 
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3-2 OT loss, ugh. Special teams is killing them and has been for quite some time. Getting quite annoying having to report virtually every game how bad the PP is. So brutal once again, 0/6. Wallstedt was excellent for the Wild

Lines:

Snively - Lombardi - Mazur
Dries - Danielson - Shine
Doucet - Gettinger - Watson
Seger - Becher - Johannes

Wallinder - Tuomisto
Buium - Rafferty
Viro - Didier

Cossa


Danielson
: B
• Coming through the neutral zone with a bigger head of steam this game, and boy he's fast when he does. Type of speed that a defense backs off against. However there wasn't really much offense to report other than a few shots from the right circle with some good velocity on them. His line was quiet, Shine was having a tough time with the puck


Cossa: B+
• Got beat by a pretty good shot under his glove but over the pad, inside the post

2nd goal he got beat by a pretty soft tip by the hashmarks. Should've had that one

OT goal he read it well but the shot deflected off Viro's stick and changed direction. Viro had time to read the play but was late to his man and let Jones walk in for the shot

Today he eventually settled in and made the saves he needed to. Some games he appears to need to settle in. For this reason, I want him to spend the rest of the season in GR dialing things in. He will be used heavily for the playoffs too, which should be the last of which we'll be seeing him in a Griffins sweater regularly


Mazur: A
• Hard crisp passes, nice vision. Shooter's mentality proving how dangerous he is when he gets the puck. Takes intelligent routes. Did a lot during that shift of the Lombardi goal

His stick imploded and the puck bounced to Dries who finished a nice backhand past Wallstedt

Spinning shot right in front Wallstedt got a late kick pad save on it

Spinning shot next shift from the point, got tipped and Wallstedt made another reaction save to keep it out

OT he made a beautiful backhand saucer pass with a Wild player draped over him, to a streaking Lombardi and he was stopped on the breakaway trying to go 5-hole


Lombardi: A
• He really was flying out there, loves to use his speed, agility, and hands

Threw it on net past a Mazur screen and it deflects off someone and in

First PP he made a crazy looking one handed move to almost beat the D and get a scoring chance on Iowa

Had a spin move off a player on the boards and then sifted a backhand pass to Snively who was point blank and Wallstedt had his number

Fanned on a net front chance. Then got stoned on the OT breakaway. Can't say he didn't have multiple chances

He shows fancy 1 v 1 flashes each game, may need to simplify some plays if he wants to make them work in the NHL. Needs to pace himself a bit slower too as NHL defenders will close down his space fast. Work on changing gears and he will be tougher to contain


Wallinder: A-
• This was probably the most physical I've seen of him and was using his size more effectively. More aggressive and quicker beating his man and getting body position along the boards. Excellent on the PK at getting to loose pucks and clearing cleanly. Also better making plays in tight space on the boards. I want to see more of this Wallinder

Defended a partial 2 on 1 really well by keeping his gap, then reaching and staying balanced to force the carrier around the net

Good shot attempt seeing Doucet in the slot for a tip opportunity. He has been better lately with seeing lanes to shoot at from the point


Buium: B+
• Wrap around attempt and then another Griffin almost banged it home. Was rushing the puck lots when he saw fit, good decision making there. He can also move the puck too, so his skillset has some versatility in that regard


Tuomisto: B
• Did have some issue containing Wild players in his zone but for the most part solid play as usual. I like his willingness to shoot, but I do wish he got it off quicker. It would be respected a lot more


Becher: B+
• Attempted some nasty one-on-one dangles, he was a hair away from the puck getting through the defender. Thought it was Lombardi making those fancy moves lol. Lost an edge and then got checked though. Next shift he batted a cross ice pass down as it hit the Wild player who he bumped into, he topspins around and tips the puck between his legs, enters the zone and impressively regains balance quickly to get off a shot on goal

Overall, a solid game. Not too much to report as the PP barely had zone time and special teams threw off Becher being out with the 4th line
 
2 pretty weak goals by Cossa last night. Not sure what to make of his season, handling has been a little poor IMO.

So good having Lombardi back. 2+2 in 4 games.
 
Kept battling and walked out with a win. Back at it tomorrow in the same barn against Texas. Watson late scratch due to sickness, we'll see if he draws back in or not


Lines:

Snively - Lombardi - Mazur
Gettinger - Danielson - Shine
Doucet - Seger - Hanas
Rychlovsky - Becher - Johannes

Wallinder - Tuomisto
Buium - Rafferty
Viro - Didier

Cossa


Danielson: A-
• Nice quick release on a shot near the point found its way off the post then off the goalie and in, just as the PP expired

Big puck hound energy in every zone. He's using his body more it appears. Empty net he tried to send one up the middle but it bounced to the Texas defender for a keep in, thankfully Cossa saw the ensuing shot and swallowed it up


Cossa: C+
• Overall, struggling with consistency lately. Letting in some real bad softies. He does look poised most of the time, but needs to clean up the bad stuff. I'm finding that his glove side is a weakness if targeted

Excellent job on the two PKs to start the game which includes the 5 on 3. Made big saves on the PP start of the 2nd period too

No chance on the first goal. Not only did Buium get beat to the boards, but Rafferty was just lollygagging back and the Stars forward had the space to tap home a one-timer pass Cossa's glove side

2nd goal off the faceoff came loose to Blumel and it went off Cossa's glove and in. Should have had that one

3rd goal Rafferty just gifted the Stars player the puck off a beer league pass and he went all alone and beat Cossa. No chance again

4th goal was from a kind of sharp angle which looked like a pass under his pad. Very bad goal


Mazur: A-
• Got loose down the wing catching Texas on a bad change, tried to go 5-hole but no dice. Point blank PP chance once again tried to slide 5-hole, stopped by the goalie

Shorthanded chance off Danielson's shot it bounced to him and a spinning backhand attempt in front was stopped

Great screen on the Snively goal, and finally got one himself on the empty net


Lombardi: A
• Hounded down Petrovic in his zone, circled behind the net and threw a deflected centering pass that went in

Nice feed on the PP to Doucet who hit the iron. Later in the 1st period he got a great feed from Buium who Lombardi made a move to his backhand and somehow the defenseman nicked it away otherwise that was an empty net gimme for Ammo

Nice drop pass to Snively who let the rocket go on the PP for the 4-3 goal

Needs to simplify some of his plays with the puck when trying to get past defenders. But too much dipsy doodling. Even if the defender is flat footed, he must diversify his arsenal of moves


Wallinder: B+
• More physical play on the boards, though not quite as much as last game. Racing to the puck to get position there first over his man. Also showed a few times in the 3rd nice puck movement off the boards, turning play the other way. Solid game again


Buium: B-
• Started a breakout and ended up streaking in to get off a backhand on a partial breakaway

Missed a bouncing puck on the PP at the point and Blumel was beating him, but he timed an excellent stick check to stop him at the blueline before he got cleanly beat. However his foot speed does need to keep improving because that type of play will favour a fast, strong puck handling NHL player in the future

1st goal against - got beat to the boards behind his net which is fine because the player had a step in on him anyway, but he tried to throw the body leaving his stick lane completely open for the net front pass and then Rafferty was just coasting back where he had all the time to eliminate his man from the play


Tuomisto: B+
• A few times he was fighting the puck in terms of passing and handling. Still very solid defensively using his size and IQ. Cutting down lanes and closing down on his man giving them no time. Primary assist on Danielson goal


Becher: A
• 2 assists and another very solid game. Once again no fluke with him on the scoresheet. Defensively solid too, takes good, efficient routes. Patience with the puck has been allowing him to create offense and on PP he walked in, fed Danielson in the slot and Petrovic in front was lost in space, yet somehow the puck hit his ankle and stayed out

He took a breakout pass and was 1 on 1 vs the defenseman so he tried to put the puck in his skates, beat him partially, stayed with the puck and turned around and fed Rafferty who walked in and scored
 
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Becher has been real nifty. Confidence to pull off these moves. Even if they don't work out, he's a step ahead each time, already planning his next moves

 

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