Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
The Grand Rapids Griffins are making history of their own as the AHL celebrates its 90th anniversary this season.
Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Toronto Marris at Coca-Cola Arena improved the Griffins’ record to 18-1-0-1. That’s the third-best 20-game start in league history, trailing only the 2004-05 Manchester Monarchs (19-0-0) and the 2005-06 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (18-0-2-0).
It’s not like these gryphons haven’t encountered rough waters early on. they lost their way Nate Danielson The Detroit Red Wings recalled him after he played just four games. Sometime last month, the goalkeeper Sebastian Cosa and Michal Postava Both were injured.
Kosar, the AHL Goaltender of the Month for November, won his fifth straight game on Saturday. He has allowed just three goals in his past three starts while posting a 10-1-0 goaltending record with a 1.56 goals-against average and 0.943 save percentage.
The most encouraging thing for the parent team, the Detroit Red Wings, is that their top prospects in Grand Rapids are getting a chance to develop in a winning environment and get ample leadership from their veteran core.
Red Wings executive vice president and general manager as Griffins miss 2023 Calder Cup playoffs Steve Yzerman publicly expressed his dissatisfaction. Yzerman, who was with the Tampa Bay Lightning when they built a championship organization, expects Grand Rapids to face high-pressure competition late in the season. he preaches Dan Watson Taking over as head coach from ECHL Toledo, the Griffins have made the playoffs each of the past two years.
free agent signings John LeonardLast year, he was named to the AHL All-Star second team and was a Calder Cup finalist with Charlotte, scoring 17 goals in 17 games with Grand Rapids. Edwards Tramack (11) and Dominic Shane (10) The number of goals scored has also reached double digits, and Sheldon Dries – The definition of a top two-way forward – 15 points in 16 games. On the backend, Eric Gustafson, Justin Hall, William Lageson and Ian Mitchell Has over 1,100 combined NHL games experience. Two-time Calder Cup Champion Dustin Tokarski Has been brought in to provide goalkeeping depth. It keeps going like this; it’s hard to find even the slightest weakness up and down the Grand Rapids roster.
Michael Brandsegg-NygaardThe 15th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, he has 14 points in 15 games with the Griffins to start the season in Detroit. Xhosa ranks 15th overall in the 2021 rankings. defensive player William Wallinder (32nd overall in 2020) and Anti Tomisto (No. 35 in 2019) was a second-round pick. In front, third-year professional player Amadeus Lombardi After scoring 19 goals in just 44 games last season, the 2022 fourth-rounder is averaging over a point per game so far in 2025-26. Still 21 years old Ondrej BecherThe third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft is coming off a solid rookie season in the AHL.
The Griffins have built an 11-point gap on the Central Division lead. But there are still more than four months left in the regular season, and for any team in the league, a lot of things can go right or wrong over that long period of time.
But what about the eternal battle for victory and development? The Griffins are proving they can do a lot of both.
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
