We gonna call up axel holmstrom and turgeon before the season?

GrGriffins

Registered User
Jan 30, 2017
1,260
605
Grand Rapids, MI
You know some players actually play better in the nhl than ahl and last I checked the Grand Rapids lineup is full of 30 yr old ahl hacks, there’s hardly anyone for these kids to play with, probably the reason zadina struggled most of the year as well

Better check again as the Griffins only have 2 players 30 yrs old or older (Camper 30 & Ford 34). Sure you have players between 25-29 yrs old on the roster, but they are battling to impress (Wings or another NHL team) to take a look at them. See so many NHL scouts parading through Van Andel Arena checking players from their own AHL team as well as ours.

Zadina struggled most of the season because he found out (like others Mantha for example) that a player who dominated in juniors (playing against players his own age) comes up to the pro game and learned the hard way that playing in the pro game (playing against men not boys) is much harder and more difficult to adjust then people think. He had to learn that you have less time to make a decision here in the pro in creating space for yourself and the pace of the game is much faster. Plus you are playing against players fighting to get to the NHL like he was, playing against players who has been around the block for years (both in the NHL & AHL) to where an 18 yr old coming to his first pro season and these "30 yrs old hacks" as you call them, pretty much know what he is going to do on the ice. It was a learning process for Z and it was not easy to watch. After he came back from WJC, Z improved and now he has figured out what he can do and what he can not do as a player and his production shows it. His skating is much better as well as his defensive play, and his confidence is at the highest that I have seen.

You may laugh at Turner Elson, but last season he was injury prone. This season he is having his best season as a pro, can player any forward position, play in all types of situations, and he is above average skatingwise. Why would the Wings sign him to a 2 yr NHL deal about a month ago when he was only here in GR on a AHL only contract. Not too often that a NHL team would sign a player on a AHL only contract this late into the season. But the Wings like what they see in Elson and it would not surprise me if he gets a brief look in the NHL before the season end. What a difference a season makes. Same could be said about Hicketts, Turgeon, Holmstrom, and others here in GR.
 
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Hugh Mongusbig

Registered User
Mar 7, 2012
949
454
Abdelkader is making 4 million a year playing on a 4th line , your telling me he’s out playing other kids? If it wasn’t for his salary his ass would be shipped out of here , vanek would be gone as well if not for a ntc, these guys have like 20-30 pts so let’s not pretend they some great nhl players who are outclassing kids by far

Abby has been terrible all season, but Vanek still produces at a pretty good clip. Vanek has 33 points, in 58 games. Compare that to Abby's 18 pts in 69 games. It's not fair to Vanek to lump him into the same plug category as Abby.

So I can understand frustration that guys like Abby are getting $4M and locked into jobs, while these young kids never get a sniff of NHL ice, but don't throw Vanek into that group. None of these kids would produce what Vanek has this season.
 

ShelbyZ

Registered User
Apr 8, 2015
3,793
2,555
Realistically, Turgeon is probably in the Cory Emmerton/Darryl Laplante realm of NHL centers. Not your ideal 4C, but somebody that is serviceable if the team is short on cap space and/or C depth. Emmerton was passable when the team was slammed with injuries and didn't have an ideal 4C, but was expendable as soon as better options became available and passed him on the depth chart (Andersson, Glendening and Sheahan).
 

izlez

We need more toe-drags/60
Feb 28, 2012
4,575
3,462
I'm personally very angry that the Wings still haven't signed me to that contract and given me a look. How do they know that I can't come in and out-produce Helm if they never even give me a chance? What is this organization doing?????

Oh right, they have eyes. And they are allowed to use them. They probably made the right choice on me. And all the other borderline AHL players people love to whine about
 

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