Griffins vs. Stars
First of eight meetings overall, first of four at the H-E-B Center...Former Griffins head coach Todd Nelson, who led Grand Rapids for the last three seasons and won the 2017 Calder Cup, was hired by Texas’ NHL affiliate in Dallas to be an assistant under first-year head coach Jim Montgomery…As part of the league’s realignment this summer, Texas and San Antonio joined the Central Division, while Cleveland moved to the Eastern Conference’s North Division…The Griffins and Stars, who lost to Toronto in Game 7 of the 2018 Calder Cup Finals, will match up eight times this season…Givani Smith, the 46th overall selection in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit, is the younger brother of Gemel Smith, who has logged 63 career games with the Dallas Stars entering 2018-19 and skated in 186 contests with Texas from 2014-17…Grand Rapids has points in eight of the last 10 meetings at Texas (7-2-1-0)…Since the 2013-14 season, the Griffins are 15-5-1-1 in 22 games overall against the Stars.

23rd Season of Play Coming Your Way
The Griffins begin the franchise’s 23rd overall season of play, 18th as a member of the AHL and 17th as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. They open the 2018-19 campaign tonight when they travel to the defending Western Conference champion Texas Stars. Grand Rapids has competed in 1,742 games between the International Hockey League and AHL and has amassed a 927-629-27-51-108 regular season record (0.586), to go along with 16 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013).

WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM Returns as Flagship Station
Hear Bob Kaser call Labatt Griffins Hockey all season long on WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM, which begins its 23rd season as the team's flagship station.

On the Road
Including tomorrow’s contest at San Antonio, Grand Rapids begins the new season with two consecutive road games for the first time since 2015-16 when the Griffins started the schedule at Bakersfield and San Diego. Five of the Griffins’ eight games in the season-opening month will come on the road, including the team’s first-ever visit to Belleville on Oct. 26-27.

Season Openers
The Griffins own a 13-6-2-1 record (0.659) all time in season openers and a 14-6-2-0 (0.682) mark in road openers. When the season opener comes on foreign ice, the Griffins own a 6-2-2-0 record (0.700). Grand Rapids has opened the season on Oct. 5 twice previously, in 1996 at Indianapolis (1-0 W) and in 2001 vs. Utah (0-3 L).

Simon Says
Ben Simon begins his first season as Grand Rapids’ head coach after being named the 11th head coach in franchise history on June 5. Simon spent the previous three seasons as an assistant with the Griffins under Todd Nelson, who was hired by the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach in May. During Simon’s three seasons as a Grand Rapids assistant, the Griffins posted the third-most regular season victories in the AHL and won the franchise’s second Calder Cup in 2017. Appearing in 21 games and scoring nine points (4-5—9) with the Griffins in 2006-07 as part of an 11-year professional playing career, Simon is the third former Griffins player to serve as Grand Rapids’ head coach, joining Nelson and Danton Cole (2002-05).

Head Coaching Debuts
First-year head coach Ben Simon is bidding to become only the fifth Griffins coach to win his Grand Rapids debut and join Dave Allison (1-0 W on Oct. 5 at IND), Guy Charron (2-0 W on Oct. 9, 1998 vs. KC), Bruce Cassidy (4-3 SOW on Oct. 6, 2000 vs. CLE) and Mike Stothers (3-2 W on Oct. 6, 2007 at LE). Head coaches in their first game behind the Griffins’ bench show a 4-4-1-1 record. Curt Fraser (2008-12) owns the best start to a Griffins’ coaching career, beginning his tenure on a seven-game point streak (4-0-2-1).

Assistant to Head
Ben Simon is the fourth former Griffins assistant to then become the head coach. The previous three, Danton Cole, Greg Ireland and Todd Nelson, all qualified for the postseason in their first full campaign. After serving as an assistant from 1999-2001, Cole led Grand Rapids to a 48-22-8-2 record and a first-place division finish as the head coach in 2002-03. Ireland served as an assistant from 2003-05 before helping the club to a franchise-record 55 victories and the league’s best record in 2005-06. Nelson assisted the Griffins in 2002-03 and guided the team to a fourth-place finish in the Central Division in 2015-16.

Z To Debut
The sixth overall selection in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit, Filip Zadina is expected to make his professional debut with the Griffins this weekend. Zadina will be the highest Red Wings draft pick ever to suit up for the Griffins. Only three players in Griffins history were drafted higher than No. 6: Jason Spezza (No. 2 by Ottawa in 2001), Darrin Shannon (No. 4 by Pittsburgh in 1988) and Stephen Weiss (No. 4 by Florida in 2001). Dylan Larkin (selected 15th overall in the 2014 Draft) was the previous highest Red Wings draft selection to play for Grand Rapids.

Adding to the List
Former Griffins Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak all made their NHL and Red Wings debut in last night’s 3-2 overtime loss to Columbus. With those three added to the list, the number of Griffins alumni to play in the NHL has increased to 171. Last night marked the first time that three former Griffins made their NHL debuts on the same night.

Roster Turnover
With free agents Tom McCollum (Milwaukee Admirals) and Jared Coreau (Anaheim Ducks) joining different organizations in the offseason, the Griffins begin a season without their top two goaltenders (in terms of games played) from the previous season for only the third time in franchise history. The other instances came in 2002-03 during the club’s first affiliation year with Detroit, and in 1999-00, the team’s first campaign affiliated with Ottawa. Grand Rapids is also starting the season without three of its top four scorers from 2017-18. Matt Puempel, who scored 54 points in 57 games with Grand Rapids, is the lone returner out of Ben Street (Anaheim Ducks), Matt Lorito (New York Islanders) and Eric Tangradi (New Jersey Devils). The last time Grand Rapids started a season without three of its top four scorers from the previous campaign came at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, when only Andy Miele returned out of a group of Teemu Pulkkinen, Landon Ferraro and Kevin Porter.

Reinforcements
Grand Rapids bolsters its lineup with a trio of new veterans who have been league leaders or are coming off career highs in recent years. Chris Terry took home the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s leading scorer last season with a career-high 71 points in 62 games with the Laval Rocket. Wade Megan won the Willie Marshall Award as the circuit’s top goal scorer in 2016-17 with 33 in 73 appearances with the Chicago Wolves. Carter Camper posted a career-best 61 points in 68 games between Cleveland and Tucson last season.

More Reinforcements
The Griffins solidified the back end of their defense with a pair of free-agent newcomers in net, Harri Sateri and Patrik Rybar. Sateri placed third and sixth in the AHL last season in save percentage (0.927) and goals against average (2.30), respectively, while appearing in 29 games with Springfield. In his first NHL action last season with Florida, Sateri finished with a 4-4 record, a 2.92 GAA and a 0.911 save percentage in nine games. Rybar led the Czech Extraliga in both GAA (1.73) and shutouts (7), while ranking second in save percentage (0.932) in 36 games with Hradec Kralove last season. This season marks Rybar’s first in North America.

Rookies
The Griffins have six players who are in their first full professional season including defensemen Marcus Crawford and Trevor Hamilton, and forwards David Pope, Givani Smith, Trevor Yates and Filip Zadina.

GRG → DRW
Eighteen former Griffins players begin the season on the Red Wings’ active roster, including: Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dennis Cholowski, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Martin Frk, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Joe Hicketts, Jimmy Howard, Filip Hronek, Nick Jensen, Niklas Kronwall, Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Gustav Nyquist and Libor Sulak.

Puemped Up
Sixth-year pro Matt Puempel is set for his first full season in the Red Wings organization. Acquired last Oct. 21 via trade, Puempel produced 54 points (22-32—54) in 57 games with the Griffins last season as part of a career-high campaign of 57 points (23-34—57) in 62 contests.

Model Year
Re-signed to a two-year contract in June, 11th-year pro Matthew Ford returns for his third season with the Griffins. Ford is Grand Rapids’ active leader in goals scored with 36. He’s notched 18 power play goals in a Griffins uniform, including a team-high 12 in 2017-18 that tied for seventh most in franchise history in a single season.