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Last night's game was pretty damning for the Griffins' veteran leadership. Anybody who follows the AHL knows that the teams that generally make the playoffs are those with a lot of AHL veterans in key positions. For Grand Rapids that's guys like Hirose, L'Esperance, Spezia, Shine, Didier, Gettinger, etc. Those guys got absolutely exposed last night. The Griffs gave up 5 even strength goals and Hirose, Didier (the captain), and McIsaac were on the ice for three apiece. None of our young defenders (Edvinsson, Wallinder, Johansson) got scored on at all. Offensively the young guys led the way again, with Hanas, Berggren, and Lombardi each scoring to keep the game respectable. Spezia was the only vet that scored. L'Esperance was the Griffins leading goal scorer a year ago, he's got no goals and 2 assists through 11 games. Hirose and Gettinger are the only vets providing any real offense and they're getting caved defensively most nights. In a league where veteran leadership really matters, the Griffs are sorely lacking. But don't let that fool you into thinking the kids aren't playing well. They're the only bright spots on the team.

Hard to say who to target. Most teams aren't already out of the playoff picture so they'd generally be reluctant to part ways with a goalie I'd think. Vladar sucks. Markstrom has been good but he's old and has a bad contract (which should make him cheaper to acquire), but will he hold up? I've mentioned John Gibson elsewhere so I'll throw another name out there. Juuse Saros. He's young, really good, is on a bad team, and will be a UFA in a year (and there's no way he's staying in Nashville). He'd cost a lot but he's probably the best goalie that could reasonably be had. Nashville is about to start rebuilding so they'd want futures. I'd imagine you're looking at a 1st plus a good prospect and maybe a decent young roster player. Something like 1st, Berggren/Veleno, and Wallinder/Johansson/Mazur. Just a guess but I think that would be you in the ballpark.

We're scoring enough goals to win most nights (7th in the league in goals per game). Our defense and goaltending is absolute trash though. Chiarot and Petry were on the ice for 4 of the 5 goals scored by Ottawa on Thursday. Reimer and Husso look completely lost most nights. Lyon looked solid actually, but I don't think you'd want to bet your season on him. If the Wings brass wants to make the playoffs this year they need to do a few things: 1. Find a solid goalie. It's gonna have to be via trade and it's going to have to be soon before teams like the Oilers get in the mix. 2. Call up Edvinsson and keep him up and in the top four. Put him with any of Chiarot, Petry, or Holl based on the chemistry of the pair. Walman and Seider are fine and so are Maatta and Gostisbehere on the 3rd pair. 3. STOP. TAKING. STUPID. PENALTIES. Lalonde should use an actual gun and murder the next player that takes a stick penalty late in the 3rd period. Anything else we do beyond these three things is gravy. I'm not going to be mad if we get more scoring, or another offensive center (Tommy Novak anyone?) or whatever. But to make the playoffs the things I listed need to be dealt with immediately.

Coincidentally we have several defensemen who aren't good enough for the NHL.