RWC REPORT: Green Griffins as good as ever

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / March 16, 2009

The kids are getting it done for the Grand Rapids Griffins.

With 24 points still up for grabs, the Griffins are 38-18-6-6 with 88 points, fifth in the 29-team American Hockey League, despite icing one of the youngest rosters since affiliating with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002. They're on pace for more than 100 points, and that's only happened twice in six seasons.

In past years, the Red Wings loaded up the Griffins with minor-league veterans. But this season, with a huge crop of rookies in the first years of entry-level contracts, the Red Wings rolled the dice with youth, and it's working.

Even former Griffins forward Carl Corazzini, one of the veterans the Red Wings signed last season, came away impressed after visiting with the Peoria Rivermen this week.

"I'm kind of jealous that I'm not on this team," Corazzini, the Griffins' leading scorer last season, told the Grand Rapids Press. "It's definitely the fastest, most skilled team I've played against this year, even more so than (first-place) Manitoba. I think it's a team I would have liked to play for."

The Red Wings have placed 10 first- and second-year prospects on the Griffins, and that's not counting hot-shot Griffins signee Francis Pare. Former AHL MVP Darren Haydar was the only true veteran the Red Wings brought in.

The Griffins boast the league's best penalty-killing unit (86.8 per cent), the No. 3 power play (20.6 per cent), the third best offence (225 goals) and the ninth best goals against total (186). They also have a league-low penalty-minute total by a wide margin with 837. Only one other team has fewer than 1,037.

The late-season call-ups of Ville Leino, Darren Helm and Jonathan Ericsson haven't been without impact. The Griffins are 7-9-2 in 18 games since Feb. 7 and will need to learn to fly on their own if all three end up in Detroit for the playoffs.

* Jan Mursak and Jamie Tardif were not named to the Griffins' 22-man clear-day roster. That means they cannot dress for the Griffins the rest of this season or in the playoffs, barring emergency conditions (recall, injury, suspension).

* Forward Justin Abdelkader (Grand Rapids, AHL) is in contention to win the AHL rookie scoring race. With 12 games to go, he is third with 48 points in 64 games, five points behind Tim Kennedy (Portland) and four behind Brad Marchand (Providence). His 22 goals are second to Nate Gerbe's 24.

* Top Swedish Elite League prospects Dick Axelsson (Farjestad) and Joakim Andersson (Frolunda) have advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

* Forward Zack Torquato (Erie, Ontario Hockey League) is riding high into the playoffs as he pushes for a contract. Torquato posted 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in his final 23 games, including 15 points in the final 10 games. But he still wasn't able to surpass his draft-year high of 69 points.

* Forward Brent Raedeke (Edmonton, Western Hockey League) and defenseman Brian Lashoff (Kingston, OHL) both saw their seasons come to a close on the weekend, with their respective junior clubs missing the playoffs.

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters. Playoff statistics appear in red in the line following his regular-season stats.

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	64	22	26	48	88
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	60	16	28	44	20
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	50	13	28	41	16
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	60	15	24	39	30
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	60	7	25	32	18
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	43	11	20	31	20
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	67	5	26	31	70
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	18	12	30	31
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	9	9	18	43
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	2	13	15	48
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	53	3	11	14	8
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	60	4	6	10	32
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	41	2	6	8	21
K H L
Gennady Stolyarov	Astana Barys	KHL	44	12	9	21	28
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	KHL	54	4	10	14	14
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Farjestad	SEL	39	11	19	30	42
		PLAYOFFS	4	0	3	3	0
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	52	6	9	15	0
		PLAYOFFS	6	1	0	1	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	49	6	6	12	22
		PLAYOFFS	5	0	0	0	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	40	2	1	3	10
		PLAYOFFS	3	0	0	0	2
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	21	5	8	13	18
		PLAYOFFS	2	0	1	1	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Sundsvall	SWE-2	13	1	5	6	38
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	4	2	2	4	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SWE-J20	4	2	0	2	2
C H L
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	66	29	34	63	78
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	70	19	36	55	86
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	56	19	32	51	24
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	58	14	22	36	38
Brian Lashoff	Kingston	OHL	60	7	25	32	51
N C A A
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	38	13	19	32	28
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	29	8	13	21	69
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	34	9	10	19	32
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	WCHA	29	4	6	10	30
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	35	4	3	7	26
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	34	4	4	8	38
U S H L
Max Nicastro	Chicago	USHL	49	9	20	29	72

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for goaltenders:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Thomas McCollum	Brampton	OHL	54	34-16-4	2.11	.927
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	37	17-14-4	2.55	.914
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	37	21-10-2	2.58	.912

LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL — American Hockey League; KHL — Kontinental Hockey League; SEL — Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 — Swedish Allsvenskan (second level); OHL — Ontario Hockey League; WHL — Western Hockey League; QMJHL — Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; WCHA — Western Collegiate Hockey Association; ECAC — East Coast Athletic Conference; HE — Hockey East; USHL — United States Hockey League.