Prospect Info: Grand Rapids Griffins 2019-20

[redwings8831]

Rasmussen out tonight

 

[NickH8]

Rasmussen out tonight

Any news on why?

 

[Christien]

Veleno first AHL goal! What a moment

 

[deca guard]

Any news on why?

do the griffs ever punch out any info within less than a week ? terrible the way they leave their fans in the dark = amature conduct

 

[Christien]

 

[GrGriffins]

Larsson starting in goal for Griffins tonight.

 

[redwings8831]

Rasmussen out again.

 

[NickH8]

Rasmussen out again.

Again, have we heard any reason why?

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Rasmussen out again.

His Halloween costume isn't a Teletubby, right?

 

[TCNorthstars]

Larsson giving up a few easy ones but made a good save on the penalty shot.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Kaski just got his first from Zadina!

Guess it was his second. Zadina went and got the puck so I thought it was his first. Great play by Zadina either way.

 

[Christien]

Beauty of a setup by Zadina on that one

 

[Christien]

Griffins were down 3-0 and ended up winning the game

 

[MBH]

Good to see Veleno with 4 shots.
But 0-0-0 -2

 

[NotLeddy]

I'm more worried about Veleno now than I am about Zadina..

 

[Christien]

There's no reason to be worried about Veleno. He's creating plays out there and shaking off players to get open, but it's just to early in the season to get worried about Veleno. As for Zadina, he looks much improved from last season.

 

[TheMule93]

I'm more worried about Veleno now than I am about Zadina..

Being worried about any prospect less than 10 games into a season in a new league is an extreme overreaction

 

[TCNorthstars]

Good to see Veleno with 4 shots.
But 0-0-0 -2

He was bad on the dot too.

 

[GrGriffins]

Again, have we heard any reason why?

My guess is that Ras is under Concussion protocol. He took 2 shots (one in the 2nd period and one in the 3rd period) of Wed night game towards the head area as he had his head down at center ice both times.

 

[deca guard]

 

[avssuc]

Says the Griffins are off to their best start in 11 years. As someone that doesn't follow them at all, can someone tell me what the stats don't?

-Who is playing better than their +/-, points, and role?

-How is the goaltending?

-Can we recall the entire team?

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Says the Griffins are off to their best start in 11 years. As someone that doesn't follow them at all, can someone tell me what the stats don't?

-Who is playing better than their +/-, points, and role?

-How is the goaltending?

-Can we recall the entire team?

Their best start in 11 years is 5-2-0-1? That's like 8th in points percentage in that league. Has GR just never been very good in the regular season?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Their best start in 11 years is 5-2-0-1? That's like 8th in points percentage in that league. Has GR just never been very good in the regular season?

5-2-1 is pretty good for a team that often comes out of the gate slow.

 

[Henkka]

5-2-1 is pretty good for a team that often comes out of the gate slow.

Will they always start with a road trip? That would be a big factor.

 

[griffs]

The team is notorious for slow starts. There are several theories on why. but most relate to how the Red Wings structure their preseason. I am not bashing the Wings as I think their methods are best for the players/team in the long run but it does contribute to slow starts.

- Detroit generally keeps more players up longer than most of the other AHL teams in preseason. I think this is related to how many back to backs the Wings generally play in the preseason.

- Detroit also does not run practices for AHL/NHL separately as they generally split the teams into who is playing that night in one group and those that are not in another. Basically guys practicing with the Wings are often not with who they will be playing with in GR.

- Most of the other AHL teams have their own preseason camp a week or two regular season while most of the Griffins arrive in town the weekend before the season starts.

- Most AHL teams play preseason games with some playing 3 or 4 while GR has not played any preseason games for several years.
- The schedule plays a part as they generally get 1 California trip early or before California they would go out Charlotte.

- Another quirk of the schedule is that most teams do not want early home games so the schedule is very light early in the season which makes it difficult to get momentum. High School football and other fall activities contribute to smaller crowds early season which may also impact the home record.

- GR themselves tend to keep a larger than normal roster the first couple weeks with several skaters ticketed for ECHL that they will sometimes mix in so that if they are needed for call-up later in the year they are familiar with the team/system.

The team starts out really slow but generally winds up with 90-100 points in a 76 game season which is enough to make the playoffs. Last year was probably the worst (87 points) because in addition to the slow start their were tons of injuries/call-ups the last month of the season that resulted in the team that was in 1st place slipping into 4th and needing to back into the playoffs on the last weekend.