RWC REPORT: Griffins' job well done

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / May 11, 2009

The Grand Rapids Griffins’ 2008-09 season can only be categorized as a success.

Sure, the Griffins lost in four straight to the Manitoba Moose this week in the second round of the American Hockey League playoffs, but it was a meaningful year on the farm for a relatively young group of Griffins.

The Griffins essentially churned out four NHL-ready players in Jonathan Ericsson, Darren Helm, Ville Leino and Justin Abdelkader. You can probably add the name of goaltender Jimmy Howard to that group, too, and it's possible all five will be on the Detroit Red Wings' opening-day roster next fall.

Not only that, but forward Evan McGrath, defenseman Jakub Kindl and goalie Daniel Larsson made fantastic strides. Throw forwards Cory Emmerton and Francis Pare and defensemen Brian Lashoff and Sergei Kolosov into the mix, and there were no shortage of bright spots in Grand Rapids.

Although the second-round setback was a sweep, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Three of the games were one-goal contests (2-1, 2-1 and 3-2) and the other was a one-goal game until the Moose scored an empty-netter (3-1). If Helm and Ericsson weren’t playing critical roles with the Red Wings in the NHL playoffs, the series might have played out differently for the Griffins.

* Leino had 13 points in 10 playoff games and Abdelkader had six goals in 10 games. Neither had a point against Manitoba, but Leino was still leading the AHL playoffs in scoring after his final game.

* McGrath didn’t play in the post-season with a shoulder injury. Lashoff’s remarkable run with the Griffins ended on the sidelines with a concussion. Mattias Ritola reportedly ended up out as a healthy scratch down the stretch, a disappointing development after a terrific start to the season.

* The Red Wings have called up five prospects among their seven Black Aces: Abdelkader, Leino, Kindl, Howard and Kolosov. Kolosov’s name jumps out slightly, but he had a solid year and is developing nicely in the Andreas Lilja-mold after the Red Wings almost let him go last season.

Abdelkader stepped right in for Sunday's Game 5 against the Anaheim Ducks in the wake of Tomas Kopecky's injury and was credited with an assist and a whopping nine hits in 6:32 of ice time. That's a sign of things to come.

* Goaltender Thomas McCollum (Brampton, Ontario Hockey League) saw his team fall short of an OHL title this week, losing 4-1 to the Windsor Spitfires in the best-of-seven final. But McCollum made 32 saves to help Brampton earn a surprising 4-2 win in Game 3 and made 34 stops in an overtime loss in Game 5. The talented first-round draft pick will likely play in the AHL next season.

* The season has ended for everybody in the Red Wings’ system except for Rimouski Oceanic defenseman Sebastien Piche and those on the NHL roster. Red Wings Central will publish at least one more RWC Report after the Memorial Cup and/or after the NHL playoffs come to a close.

Also stay posted for the end-of-season prospect ranking.

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

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
N H L
Ville Leino	Detroit	NHL	13	5	4	9	6
Jonathan Ericsson	Detroit	NHL	19	1	3	4	15
		PLAYOFFS	9	1	2	3	15
Darren Helm	Detroit	NHL	16	0	1	1	4
		PLAYOFFS	9	1	0	1	4
Justin Abdelkader	Detroit	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
		PLAYOFFS	1	0	1	1	0
A H L
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	76	24	28	52	102
		PLAYOFFS	10	6	2	8	23
Francis Pare	Grand Rapids	AHL	63	24	24	48	14
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	2	4	2
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	68	17	30	47	24
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	57	15	31	46	18
		PLAYOFFS	10	3	10	13	10
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	66	15	27	42	32
		PLAYOFFS	8	0	2	2	0
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	13	24	37	24
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	69	10	25	35	18
		PLAYOFFS	9	1	0	1	2
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	78	6	27	33	76
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	1	3	2
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	73	19	12	31	31
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	55	9	9	18	43
		PLAYOFFS	10	2	0	2	8
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	2	13	15	48
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	61	3	11	14	12
		PLAYOFFS	1	0	0	0	0
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	70	4	7	11	36
		PLAYOFFS	10	0	0	0	9
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	51	2	7	9	25
		PLAYOFFS	6	0	1	1	0
Brian Lashoff	Grand Rapids	AHL	6	1	4	5	0
		PLAYOFFS	8	1	4	5	2
Joakim Andersson	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	1	1	2
		PLAYOFFS	10	1	2	3	4
Brent Raedeke	Grand Rapids	AHL	2	0	0	0	0
Zack Torquato	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0	0	0	0
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	9	1	3	4	2
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	52	6	9	15	0
		PLAYOFFS	7	1	0	1	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	49	6	6	12	22
		PLAYOFFS	11	0	0	0	4
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	9	3	5	8	4
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
Sebastien Piche	Rimouski	QMJHL	62	23	49	72	69
		PLAYOFFS	12	2	4	6	14
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	66	29	34	63	78
		PLAYOFFS	5	2	4	6	11
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	70	19	36	55	86
		PLAYOFFS	4	1	1	2	6
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	56	19	32	51	24
		PLAYOFFS	10	3	5	8	14
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	58	14	22	36	38
		PLAYOFFS	8	0	2	2	13
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	57	9	22	31	84

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
		PLAYOFFS	21	13-8	2.90	.898
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	45	21-18-4	2.54	.916
		PLAYOFFS	10	4-6	2.41	.900
	Detroit	NHL	1	0-1	4.10	.857
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	40	22-12-2	2.76	.907
Jordan Pearce	Notre Dame	NCAA	39	30-6-3	1.68	.931
	Grand Rapids	AHL	1	0-1-0	5.11	.868

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.