Prospect Info: Grand Rapids Griffins Discussion

[Our Lady Peace]

C+ but you’re glowing about Anjo. Is it cause he’s a shiny new toy? I’m messing with you but the way you wrote about him makes it seem not C+ worthy lol. Great write up as always.

Haha I expected little from him (from the little that I knew about him) but versus what I've seen with other GR defensemen this year, you can see how this guy "just plays hockey" and knows what to do out there. First game and he made an error where his read and committment resulted in a goal against, so I do also want to grade him fairly versus other GR regulars that I've graded all year

It's kind of hard to explain when you're watching every nuanced detail of their game. You can see certain players make heads up plays and seem to be play at the pace of play. Others seem to struggle with the consistency of that

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Griffins vs Ice Hogs, 3/22

Relentless exciting pressure during the last 2 minutes with the goalie pulled and came damn close to tying it including Snively hitting the post...

Lines:

Snively - Danielson - Hanas
Lombardi - Dries - Doucet
Gettinger - Becher
Bantle - Seger - Johannes

Wallinder - Tuomisto
Knyzhov - Johansson
Buium - Didier
Viro

Bednar


Danielson: A
• Creating space for himself in the offensive zone, with some sick, deceptive handles. Man he looks good

Complete defensive stud, as usual


Lombardi: A
• Goal! What a shot on the PP from the high left circle

Next PP a few mins later he gets the puck and makes a quick pass to Dries low in the circle and he backhands a quick one off the crossbar. Puck went right the other way for a Hogs 2 on 1 and he was hustling his ass back too help out


Wallinder: A-
• Good puck moving out of pressure

Reliable game for him overall


Buium: B
• Assist on the Lombardi goal

Big one-timer blast on the PP and a few more at ES. Shooting mentality lately which is great to see

Unfortunately he made an errant move at the blueline and then has to chase down a Hogs player who steals and breaks in. Somehow disrupted the player enough, but Bednar bailed him out with a save. Again, relying on his hands to make extremely risky plays at the OZ blueline


Tuomisto: A-
• Shooting mentality getting pucks to the net

Good puck moving out of pressure


Becher: B
• Physical play was prominent today. Quiet game. One chaotic net front scramble resulted in his man getting missed and having a high danger chance on net that Bednar made a big save on


Johansson: C+
• Got crossed up while Savoie cuts across and burns up ice on the PK, AnJo stumbles and Savoie buries a nice backhand goal on Bednar. I believe I did not see him the rest of the 2nd period. That was about 12 mins of the game he appeared to have been sat on to the bench? There were 2 Griffin PKs in that time but I think coach said sit for a bit kid. Came out in the 3rd looking decent, but you can tell the defensive mishaps were affecting his mental game at times in the 3rd

They put him on PP2

Closing gaps well against the rush

Clearing crease well when rebounds are there

Showing physical play

Escapability from pressure deep in the DZ, showing off some nice puck skills

3 good hard long point shots, one was from walking the line well

Good positioning at the blueline led to him getting the puck on his backhand, quickly stops up and switches to forehand firing a hard pass at the low circle to Hanas who had a good chance in tight

Nice end to end rush late 3rd carrying in gets the puck deep and results in a sustained GR OZ shift where Buium got a big shot off on net

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

Griffins vs Ice Hogs, 3/22

Relentless exciting pressure during the last 2 minutes with the goalie pulled and came damn close to tying it including Snively hitting the post...

Lines:

Snively - Danielson - Hanas
Lombardi - Dries - Doucet
Gettinger - Becher
Bantle - Seger - Johannes

Wallinder - Tuomisto
Knyzhov - Johansson
Buium - Didier
Viro

Bednar


Danielson: A
• Creating space for himself in the offensive zone, with some sick, deceptive handles. Man he looks good

Complete defensive stud, as usual


Lombardi: A
• Goal! What a shot on the PP from the high left circle

Next PP a few mins later he gets the puck and makes a quick pass to Dries low in the circle and he backhands a quick one off the crossbar. Puck went right the other way for a Hogs 2 on 1 and he was hustling his ass back too help out


Wallinder: A-
• Good puck moving out of pressure

Reliable game for him overall


Buium: B
• Assist on the Lombardi goal

Big one-timer blast on the PP and a few more at ES. Shooting mentality lately which is great to see

Unfortunately he made an errant move at the blueline and then has to chase down a Hogs player who steals and breaks in. Somehow disrupted the player enough, but Bednar bailed him out with a save. Again, relying on his hands to make extremely risky plays at the OZ blueline


Tuomisto: A-
• Shooting mentality getting pucks to the net

Good puck moving out of pressure


Becher: B
• Physical play was prominent today. Quiet game. One chaotic net front scramble resulted in his man getting missed and having a high danger chance on net that Bednar made a big save on


Johansson: C+
• Got crossed up while Savoie cuts across and burns up ice on the PK, AnJo stumbles and Savoie buries a nice backhand goal on Bednar. I believe I did not see him the rest of the 2nd period. That was about 12 mins of the game he appeared to have been sat on to the bench? There were 2 Griffin PKs in that time but I think coach said sit for a bit kid. Came out in the 3rd looking decent, but you can tell the defensive mishaps were affecting his mental game at times in the 3rd

They put him on PP2

Closing gaps well against the rush

Clearing crease well when rebounds are there

Showing physical play

Escapability from pressure deep in the DZ, showing off some nice puck skills

3 good hard long point shots, one was from walking the line well

Good positioning at the blueline led to him getting the puck on his backhand, quickly stops up and switches to forehand firing a hard pass at the low circle to Hanas who had a good chance in tight

Nice end to end rush late 3rd carrying in gets the puck deep and results in a sustained GR OZ shift where Buium got a big shot off on net

I haven't heard yet, but if they are short a forward, Finnie should be on the way...if nothing else, at least he would be a warm body to help fill the bench.

 

[lilidk]

Griffins vs Ice Hogs, 3/22

I haven't heard yet, but if they are short a forward, Finnie should be on the way...if nothing else, at least he would be a warm body to help fill the bench.

He missed couple of games right at the end , probably not 100%

 

[wingsfannnn9191]

Just checked griffins have 9 games in April so hopefully we’ll see finnie play all 9 and have talented linemates . Any idea what line he’ll be on?

Like to see him with a Lombardi or danielson

 

[DangerMouse]

Bought tickets for my son and I to see them here in Cleveland on April 9. Hoping we might see Finnie and maybe even ASP or MBN by then.

 

[newfy]

Griffs take the L tonight. Stat sheet says Cossa not so good, but that is just box score watching from me.

I was at the game, Cossa got hung out to dry on all of the goals except for one he should've probably had (the 4th one).

Last year in person I thought watching the griffslive that Kasper looked like an NHLer despite the score sheet. In the game Friday night, Lombardi by far stood out the most on that team. Thats not a knock on others, he just looked incredible, almost Datsyuk like at times playing relentless both ways. I do wonder about how his size could effect him at the next level.... but hes really really good

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Just checked griffins have 9 games in April so hopefully we’ll see finnie play all 9 and have talented linemates . Any idea what line he’ll be on?

Like to see him with a Lombardi or danielson

Most likely line 3 or 4. My guess is start on line 4 as he's been injured recently and will be getting adjusted to the pace again. He will have two big guys like Johannes and Bantle there to clean up any mucking that goes on

 

[EXTRAS]

Emmitt Finnie coming in to play with grand rapids.

 

[SirloinUB]

I’m looking forward to seeing what Finnie can do