The 2014 Grand Rapids Griffins Offseason Gameplan

[Prashanth Iyer 3]

The Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins have a lot of big decisions ahead of them this summer. Here are my thoughts on who will be retained by the Griffins and who will join the club from the CHL.

http://thehockeywriters.com/the-2014-grand-rapids-griffins-offseason-gameplan/

[nawein 324]

The only thing I disagree with is which dman gets promoted. I have my money on Marchenko.

[wingedominance13 112]

I agree with Marchenko. He will have the easiest transition because of his style of play, look at Lashoff. Marchenko played with men in the KHL and plays a steady stay at home game. Sproul will project more on the Smith time frame. Oullete is the wild card. He is steady enough to make the jump soon but plays a better two way game then Marchenko. Either way hard to not be excited about these three. I just don't see Almquist making the jump, I hope I am wrong.

and then Mattias in a couple years. ahhhh

Edited April 9, 2014 by wingedominance13

[NYC Wings Fanatic 23]

Has Max Nicastro fallen off the face of the earth? I am in New York, and haven't seen any talk of him on these boards or anywhere for awhile. Wasn't he thought of as a skilled, physical prospect once upon a time?

Edited April 9, 2014 by NYC Wings Fanatic

[ogreslayer 1,069]

Has Max Nicastro fallen off the face of the earth? I am in New York, and haven't seen any talk of him on these boards or anywhere for awhile. Wasn't he thought of as a skilled, physical prospect once upon a time?

If by that you mean that Toledo is off the face of the earth, yes. He's managed all of 0 goals, 16 assists, and a -18 +/- for the Walleye this season. I would be surprised if he got a qualifying offer from the Wings in the offseason.

Edited April 9, 2014 by ogreslayer

[NYC Wings Fanatic 23]

If by that you mean that Toledo is off the face of the earth, yes. He's managed all of 0 goals, 16 assists, and a -18 +/- for the Walleye this season. I would be surprised if he got a qualifying offer from the Wings in the offseason.

Ouch! Thank you for the update. 3rd round picks with promise do not always pan out, as we all know.

[DSM 114]

Good write up.

I am however going to have to disagree with the part about a young Dman replacing Quincey. Coming off a season with lackluster performances from Kindl and Lashoff, and the continued growing pains from Smith, I doubt the team wants to add another question mark on the blue line and potentially have the #4 spot be a revolving door (again). If Quincey doesn't re-sign, they'll have the cap space to sign a UFA dman that is an experienced and established top 4 dman. The team is certainly in a youth movement, but I can't see Ken Holland leaving the #4 spot on the blueline open for a young player, especially if he has cap space to burn...

That being said strong play from one of them could cause a rostered dman to become expendable during the season.

Quincey's improved play and Kindl struggles this season is what has brought them to this juncture. You've got to think that the headscratching contract that Kindl got last summer was in the hope that his "emergence" last season meant they could allow quietly let Quincey finish the last year of his contract battling for 3rd pair action with Lashoff and Smith and then become a UFA. Then they could give the open spot to a no longer waiver exempt Almquist. Now, Quincey is playing great, while they're stuck with Kindl for the next three years at a hefty $2.4m/year, who couldn't hold down the #4 spot and up until the Ericsson injury, lost his regular spot to Lashoff. If Kindl continues to struggle next season, that hefty extension is going to look real bad.

Edited April 9, 2014 by DSM

[Buppy 1,720]

I kind of doubt Almquist comes back. Red Wings (or another NHL team) or Sweden would be my guess for him. And I doubt any of the other defensemen make the Wings, so I'd say they'd all be back in GR, and probably at least one of Paetch or Evans.

I think Emmerton could be back, since we look pretty thin at center after trading Jarnkrok. Sheahan is not waiver exempt so he will be on the Wings. Ferraro would probably pass waivers, but you never know. Wings might also like him enough they won't want to risk it. McIntyre, Aubry, Janmark (if he comes over)... not sure if any of the tryouts they've recently added are centers, but even so it's a weak group.

Wingers look a bit better with AA and Mantha joining Pulu and probably Jurco. Frk should be back and will hopefully improve. Tvrdon maybe gets another shot. Hoggan probably back. Maybe Callahan if he clears. You mention Nastasiuk in the comments, but I didn't think he was eligible. If I'm wrong I'm sure he'd be in the mix.

[DickieDunn 2,571]

If I was Almquist I'd go back to Sweden for a year or two.

[nawein 324]

C group is pretty weak in gr, but we're incredibly deep in Detroit. I believe Janmark came over a few days ago after his team lost in the playoffs. Backman on his way over soon too. Don't quote me on that, but I thought I heard it somewhere. With Backman coming over gr's D is absolutely loaded next year if we don't call anyone up.

[canadian wings fan 305]

So I just checked Griffins stats and Frk did nothing. I never watch the games, does he have any sort of future here?

[ogreslayer 1,069]

So I just checked Griffins stats and Frk did nothing. I never watch the games, does he have any sort of future here?

He's going through a pretty rough adjustment period now that he doesn't have MacKinnon & Drouin feeding him for one-timers any more. It's his first year as a pro though so he still has time to figure it out.

[nawein 324]

So I just checked Griffins stats and Frk did nothing. I never watch the games, does he have any sort of future here?

Might. It was his first year pro and (based on the stats anyway, I can never watch the games either) he had a rough transition. Didn't register a point in his first 10 games or so, I don't remember the exact number, and spent some time in Toledo. He seems to have been putting up better numbers lately so magbe he's adjusting. I'll give him another year pro before I pass any sort of judgement on his future here.