All Purpose Grand Rapids Griffins Thread

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

Rule #1 Keep your stick on the ice
Rule #2 DONT f*** WITH THAT MCILRATH GUY

 

[Jonas Mahonas 1,872]

35 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Rule #1 Keep your stick on the ice
Rule #2 DONT f*** WITH THAT MCILRATH GUY

 

Last fight was good.  Still not better than florida iguana hunting, tho. 

[Gniwder 168]

Riley Barber: 12 pt (7 goals) in 8 games
Hirose: 8 pts in 5 games

How these two are not on the Wings roster amazes me.

Hirose has only 6 games with the Wings, but his scoring per icetime is one of the best on the team. Only thing holding him back is his small frame. Not sure he can withstand a full NHL season at that size, but he's one of the best playmakers we have.

Barber has been a dynamo in college and in the AHL, is a full 200 lbs and only 26, but has only ever been afforded 9 games in the NHL by the Caps and Habs. YZERMAN PUT THIS GUY ON THE TEAM GOOD LORD. Of all teams we are the one who can make it happen for this guy. His talents far exceed half the forward roster.

[kipwinger 8,533]

For the first couple of seasons he was with the organization I thought Hirose looked really slow, in addition to being small. But in his few stints so far this season I thought he looked a little quicker and a little bigger. He's a poor man's Hudler, but at least he has offensive skill.

[ely s 457]

Jared McIsaac to play for GR tonight. First game after shoulder surgery

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

On 7/23/2019 at 11:36 PM, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Oh god, Stutzle AND Seider?

The SS pairing?

Whatever happened to this guy?

[TLGTrico 628]

Albin Grewe scored his first goal in North America.

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

5 hours ago, BarkBurgerman said:

Not that Ryan Martin did a bad job as GM of the Griffs...

But Verbeek replacing him seems a lot better of a situation to me. I'd much rather have an actual hockey mind running that team than a capologist. I assume Yzerman will lean pretty heavily on Pat now to make decisions on who gets called up. He's basically the in house scout.

What sucks is, I don't see us holding on to verbeek very far past this rebuild. As soon as this party kicks off and we look good he should be at the top of lists for a GM position. Maybe NJD in a few years?

 

Anyone serving as an Assistant GM under Yzerman is bound to garner a lot of interest. I guess it would be fitting for Verbeek to end up managing the team he started with. But yeah, unless he bounces over Yzerman into Devellano's position, he can't really move up any higher without changing teams. And I think that could happen within the next couple of seasons.

[ely s 457]

20 hours ago, BarkBurgerman said:

I mean even Ryan Martin moved to the Rangers. One of the most desirable, prestigious, and rich organizations in hockey. I do think it's probably an upgrade for him. Especially since he's a Connecticut native, it's probably a homecoming.

I worry about the brain drain. As much crap that everyone's gives Holland, they ignore the brain drain that occurred from 2013 onward. Both Nill and Yzerman stripped the organization from its intelligent minds. We were left with Holland, Wright, and scouts who were effective in the 90s.

I guess that's Holland's fault. He should have reloaded the brain trust and didn't. I'm hoping Yzerman can do better than Holland cause I think he may certainly lose Verbeek in the coming years and possibly also Draper.

Draper is probably taking the assistent GM position once Verbeek is gone.

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

On 8/24/2021 at 6:34 PM, BarkBurgerman said:

I mean even Ryan Martin moved to the Rangers. One of the most desirable, prestigious, and rich organizations in hockey. I do think it's probably an upgrade for him. Especially since he's a Connecticut native, it's probably a homecoming.

I worry about the brain drain. As much crap that everyone's gives Holland, they ignore the brain drain that occurred from 2013 onward. Both Nill and Yzerman stripped the organization from its intelligent minds. We were left with Holland, Wright, and scouts who were effective in the 90s.

I guess that's Holland's fault. He should have reloaded the brain trust and didn't. I'm hoping Yzerman can do better than Holland cause I think he may certainly lose Verbeek in the coming years and possibly also Draper.

What exactly is Draper's job? What does it entail? Does it even translate to other teams?

[F.Michael 4,590]

2 hours ago, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

What exactly is Draper's job? What does it entail? Does it even translate to other teams?

He provides beer and Jägermeister to all the under age guys in both Detroit and GR.

[Akakabuto 1,757]

5 hours ago, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

What exactly is Draper's job? What does it entail? Does it even translate to other teams?

Doesn't other teams have Directors of Amateur scouting?

[ely s 457]

we don´t have an Director of Amateur scouting...

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/staff/redwings

whereas the Lightning do...

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/staff/lightning

 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

7 hours ago, Akakabuto said:

Doesn't other teams have Directors of Amateur scouting?

Yes, of course. I remember his original position was Special Assistant to the General Manager, which sounds like one of those made up office positions they give retired players. I forgot he was promoted in 2019.

[Akakabuto 1,757]

1 minute ago, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

Yes, of course. I remember his original position was Special Assistant to the General Manager, which sounds like one of those made up office positions they give retired players. I forgot he was promoted in 2019.

Yeah, Special Assistant sounds… special. 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

1 minute ago, Akakabuto said:

Yeah, Special Assistant sounds… special. 

Kronwall is currently "Senior Advisor to the General Manager" which sounds just as bad.

Draper is basically the Boss of all the amateur scouts. On some teams, that might be considered an Assistant General Manager position, as some teams give that title to anyone who is a department head and reports directly to the GM. But with the Red Wings, I think he is considered below that since Verbeek is the only one with Assistant GM in his title.

Regardless, I dont know that Draper would replace Verbeek necessarily, since Mark Howe has seniority and is basically the same rank as he is the Director of Pro Scouting.

I could see Draper going to Dallas as an Asst GM (they have multiple AGMs) under Jim Nill in the near future.

[ely s 457]

1 hour ago, BarkBurgerman said:

The Red Wings indeed list Draper as "Director of Amateur Scouting" https://www.nhl.com/redwings/team/hockey-operations

I know, I was surprised to not see him on capfriendly, that´s why I posted it.

[F.Michael 4,590]

The hilarity of it all is that what has Jimmy Devellano been doing for his paycheck other than hitting the nail on the head when it comes to Mantha?

[kipwinger 8,533]

48 minutes ago, F.Michael said:

The hilarity of it all is that what has Jimmy Devellano been doing for his paycheck other than hitting the nail on the head when it comes to Mantha?

I think we should pause for a minute to appreciate the absolute outrage his Mantha comments caused around here. So good. The indignation was palpable. How dare he criticize a 20th overall pick?  Lol

[F.Michael 4,590]

1 hour ago, kipwinger said:

I think we should pause for a minute to appreciate the absolute outrage his Mantha comments caused around here. So good. The indignation was palpable. How dare he criticize a 20th overall pick?  Lol

I thought he was joking…I mean he talks like Gilbert Godfried after all.

[F.Michael 4,590]

10 minutes ago, BarkBurgerman said:

I don't think Jimmy D gets enough love. He's a legendary hockey figure, has impacted the sport on a profound level, and is truly the man behind the curtain and the backbone of this franchise.

Imagine all the dumb crap Holland would have done over the years without Jimmy D there to reach around and slap his peepee  when he gets dumb naughty ideas? Sometimes I watch other teams do seemingly retarded stuff and I think it's probably because some of these GM's don't have a Senior VP with 55 years in the NHL to check them when they're doing a stupid.

Jimmy basically transcended into the next plane of existence and became the guy who doesn't build hockey teams... he builds guys who build hockey teams. Ken Holland, Steve Yzerman, Jim Nill, Don Waddell. Those are all Jimmy D proteges who he mentored. And each one is in the upper echelon of GMs in terms of quality.

Now let's talk about his actual role with the team. He's alternate governor, which means he's basically governor. Chris Illitch is the true governor in name, but do you think he actually serves on the board of governors? No. He's not a hockey brain, and he has a $4 billion dollar empire to run, plus the tigers, and the family real estate holdings. He doesn't have time for this. And that's why he has an alternate gov. Devellano is his proxy and the true governor. Which is exactly why Jimmy is credited with a lot of improvements to the game, like the moving of the draft to the USA, moving it out of hotel ball rooms and into stadiums, 4v4 overtime, and the loser point. The guy is influencing hockey at a meta level.

Then the gritty level is... everything I've personally ever heard about the guy is that he sits in his office all day watching tape of hockey and baseball. He's said to have an obsessive level work ethic and is an extremely good judge of talent. Probably why he's basically one of the most successful scouts of all time. He called out Mantha's lazy BS before anyone else. Never doubt Jimmy D. Not only that, but he's also the guy who lobbied hard for Al Arbour in NYI and Scotty Bowman in Detroit. So not only does he know on ice talent, he knows other brains as well.

Now on to accomplishments. Jimmy has 7 Stanley cup rings. No one north of 1990 can hold a flame to that.

This is exactly the kind of guy you put in place to oversee operations. He's an executives wet dream.

 

Well - he was a key figure in getting the Russian 5 to Detroit…Guess that’s sumthin.

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

Don Waddell only served under Jimmy D as Asst GM for the 97-98 season. He had already had about 10 years of management experience in the minors before that. I doubt Jimmy D had much at all to do with grooming Waddell in the business side of hockey.

Don Waddell was also the GM, and later the Team President, of the Atlanta Thrashers. A team that failed miserably, despite being the 7th biggest US sports market. And a team that had more success moving to the smallest NHL market without him.

[Akakabuto 1,757]

Would like to add that Boustedt also was the head of the Swedish National development program for a long time starting in 2002. And if you look at the prospects coming out of Sweden for the last 10-15 years I would say he was fairly succesfull in that role. A good hire!

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

1 hour ago, BarkBurgerman said:

Related to the organizational stuff...

Yzerman cleared out the last remnants of Holland's old boys club in the scouting staff. Bruce Haralson and Marty Stein gone (not counting the Euro scouts or Mark Howe and Kirk Maltby).

 New hires are:

• Tommy Boustedt - Euro Pro Scout - Former GM and HC in the SHL
• Eric Soltys - Pro Scout - Long time amateur scout for CGY
• Greg Hawgood - Amateur Scout - Two year history as a pro scout for CHI
• Corey Crocker - Amateur Scout - No staff history

The interesting part is Yzerman had x3 guys leave, and x4 guys come in. So he added another position in the scouting staff. I assume that new position is Euro Pro Scout with Tommy Boustedt. I can't remember ever having a specifically Euro Pro Scout on the staff.

It's too bad Brome didn't work out, but I would think this at least signals that Yzerman is committed to bringing over more euro overagers to fill holes. I'm not sure this pays dividends now, but maybe it does later?

Consider if we're in a Tampa situation down the road where we are loaded with high salary super stars and hurting for cap, but we have a pipeline of mature Euro vets who can come in and fill bottom roster spots on a championship team for 750K, but perhaps play like they're worth double that price? IDK

Detroit has not had good luck with scouting Euro pros, that's for sure.

[Scott R Lucidi 462]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:36 PM, BarkBurgerman said:

I don't think Jimmy D gets enough love. He's a legendary hockey figure, has impacted the sport on a profound level, and is truly the man behind the curtain and the backbone of this franchise.

Imagine all the dumb crap Holland would have done over the years without Jimmy D there to reach around and slap his peepee  when he gets dumb naughty ideas? Sometimes I watch other teams do seemingly retarded stuff and I think it's probably because some of these GM's don't have a Senior VP with 55 years in the NHL to check them when they're doing a stupid.

Jimmy basically transcended into the next plane of existence and became the guy who doesn't build hockey teams... he builds guys who build hockey teams. Ken Holland, Steve Yzerman, Jim Nill, Don Waddell. Those are all Jimmy D proteges who he mentored. And each one is in the upper echelon of GMs in terms of quality.

Now let's talk about his actual role with the team. He's alternate governor, which means he's basically governor. Chris Illitch is the true governor in name, but do you think he actually serves on the board of governors? No. He's not a hockey brain, and he has a $4 billion dollar empire to run, plus the tigers, and the family real estate holdings. He doesn't have time for this. And that's why he has an alternate gov. Devellano is his proxy and the true governor. Which is exactly why Jimmy is credited with a lot of improvements to the game, like the moving of the draft to the USA, moving it out of hotel ball rooms and into stadiums, 4v4 overtime, and the loser point. The guy is influencing hockey at a meta level.

Then the gritty level is... everything I've personally ever heard about the guy is that he sits in his office all day watching tape of hockey and baseball. He's said to have an obsessive level work ethic and is an extremely good judge of talent. Probably why he's basically one of the most successful scouts of all time. He called out Mantha's lazy BS before anyone else. Never doubt Jimmy D. Not only that, but he's also the guy who lobbied hard for Al Arbour in NYI and Scotty Bowman in Detroit. So not only does he know on ice talent, he knows other brains as well.

Now on to accomplishments. Jimmy has 7 Stanley cup rings. No one north of 1990 can hold a flame to that.

This is exactly the kind of guy you put in place to oversee operations. He's an executives wet dream.

 

great post