This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Colorado Eagles // Fri., Oct. 13 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS vs. Colorado Eagles // Sat., Oct. 14 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV (Free view for opening weekend)

Season Series: First and second of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 0-0-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home

NHL Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Noteworthy: Friday’s contest will be the first-ever matchup between the Eagles and Griffins. Grand Rapids will make its first-ever trip to Colorado next weekend on Oct. 20 and will conclude the season series the following night on Oct. 21. Eagles’ first-year head coach Aaron Schneekloth competed for Grand Rapids as a defenseman from 2002-04 and showed eight points (1-7—8) in 58 games.

28th Season of Hockey: The Grand Rapids Griffins begin the franchise’s 28th overall season of play, 23rd as a member of the American Hockey League, and 22nd as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Friday evening when they host the Colorado Eagles. This year will mark just the 10th time since the 2004-05 campaign that Grand Rapids will open its season at home. The Griffins have competed in 2,061 games between the IHL and AHL and have amassed a 1,071-766-27-74-123 regular-season record (.581), to go along with 17 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013).

New Coach, Who Dis: Dan Watson was named the 12th head coach in franchise history this past offseason after serving six seasons as head coach of the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. A season ago, Watson guided Toledo to a 45-19-5-3 (.681) record before going 9-4 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs to reach the Western Conference Finals. The 44-year-old has been with the Red Wings organization for the past 14 seasons, holding multiple roles with the Walleye since the team’s inception. Watson has never missed the playoffs as head coach, reaching the Kelly Cup Finals twice (2019, 2022) and leading Toledo to three division titles (2016-17, 2017-18, 2021-22), three 100-point seasons (2016-17, 2017-18, 2021-22), two regular-season championships (2016-17, 2021-22), and four Western Conference Finals berths (2017, 2019, 2022, 2023). In 2016-17, he garnered the John Brophy Award as the ECHL’s Coach of the Year in his first year as head coach, when the Walleye won the Central Division behind a franchise-record 51 wins (51-17-2-2, .736) and reached the Western Conference Finals. As a head coach, the Glencoe, Ontario, native possesses a 272-112-22-13 (.691) ledger during the regular season and a 51-34 (.600) mark over only five playoff campaigns. Watson leaves Toledo as the franchise’s winningest head coach and the fastest coach in ECHL history to reach 100 wins.

New Faces in the Crowd: In addition to new head coach Dan Watson, assistant coaches Brian Lashoff and Steph Julien, and goaltending development coach Roope Koistinen (ROH-peh KOI-stih-NIHN) each begin his first year on the staff. Lashoff starts his first season as a coach after spending all or part of 14 seasons on the Griffins’ blue line, including the last three as the team’s captain. Lashoff ranks second on the Griffins’ all-time games played list with 629, behind only Travis Richards’ 655 and his games played rank third in league history among one-team players. Julien was the head coach of the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the past eight seasons. In 2022-23, Julien was named the QMJHL Coach of the Year as well as the QMJHL General Manager of the Year. Koistinen comes to North America for the first time after being with Karpat’s youth programs in Finland since the 2014-15 campaign. The Griffins’ support staff also features many new faces. Austin Frank was named the head athletic trainer, Katie Berglund as the assistant athletic trainer, Zack Harvey as the team’s physical therapist, and Kyle Hornkohl as the assistant equipment manager.

Roster Breakdown: Nineteen players (forwards Zach Aston-Reese, Jonatan Berggren, Austin Czarnik, Tim Gettinger, Cross Hanas, Taro Hirose, Marco Kasper, Amadeus Lombardi, Elmer Soderblom and Nolan Stevens; defensemen Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Jared McIsaac, Wyatt Newpower, Brogan Rafferty, Antti Tuomisto, Eemil Viro and William Wallinder; goaltender Sebastian Cossa) on the roster are under contract with the Red Wings, while five players (forwards Joel L’Esperance, Riley Sawchuk, Dominik Shine and Tyler Spezia; defenseman Josiah Didier) are playing on a Griffins contract. Twelve players are Red Wings draft picks (Berggren, Cossa, Edvinsson, Hanas, Johansson, Kasper, Lombardi, McIsaac, Soderblom, Tuomisto, Viro and Wallinder). Click here to view the full roster breakdown.

Rookies: The Griffins have six players who are considered rookies this season including forwards Marco Kasper, Amadeus Lombardi, and Riley Sawchuk, defensemen Antti Tuomisto and William Wallinder, and goaltender Sebastian Cossa.

GRG → DRW: Four former Griffins players begin the season on the Red Wings’ active roster, including Dylan Larkin, Michael Rasmussen, Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno.

West to East: Since the Grand Rapids-Detroit affiliation began in 2002-03, 122 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings. In fact, 20 Griffins alumni wore the Winged Wheel during the 2022-23 season.

Home Sweet Home: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the Griffins will begin a 72-game schedule when they host the Colorado Eagles for the very first time during Opening Night presented by Huntington Bank. Since 2004, the Griffins are 5-3-0-1 (.611) in season openers at Van Andel Arena and have outscored their opponents 29-25. Also since 2004, Grand Rapids is 9-7-2-1 (.553) in season openers at any venue. The Griffins have won five of the last seven home openers.

The Climb: Dominik Shine will become just the third player in franchise history to reach eight seasons, while Tyler Spezia will be the eighth player to compete in their sixth campaign. Shine ranks seventh with 357 career games played for the Griffins and 10^th with 404 penalty minutes. Taro Hirose also continues to climb the Griffins’ all-time leaderboard, as he enters the season ranked 10^th in points (165) and sixth in assists (124).

Oldies but Goodies: The Griffins’ roster features five veterans including forwards Zach Aston-Reese, Austin Czarnik, Joel L’Esperance and Dominik Shine, and defenseman Josiah Didier. A player receives veteran status if he has competed in at least 260 games in the NHL, AHL or European elite leagues. Czarnik leads all veterans with 441 professional games played, while Didier (394) ranks second and Shine (357) places third.

You Must Be This Tall to Ride the Rollercoaster: Ten players on the Griffins’ roster are listed at 6-foot-3 or taller, with five players at least 6-foot-5. Elmer Soderblom, standing at 6-foot-8, became the tallest player to play for the Griffins when he made his AHL debut on Dec. 9, 2022 at Springfield. Soderblom edged out former 6-foot-6 players in Jared Coreau, Francois Leroux, Brad Norton, Michael Rasmussen, Dan Turple, and teammate Simon Edvinsson, and 6-foot-7 teammate Sebastian Cossa. In addition to Cossa and Edvinsson, newcomer Tim Gettinger also stands at 6-foot-6 while rookie Antti Tuomisto comes in at 6-foot-5. Both of the Griffins’ goaltenders are at least 6-foot-3.

Pour Me A Draft: The Griffins’ roster is littered with high-end draft picks from previous years. The roster features three former first rounders in Sebastian Cossa (15th overall in 2021), Simon Edvinsson (6th overall in 2021), and Marco Kasper (8th overall in 2022). In addition, Grand Rapids is highlighted by six former second-round picks from the Red Wings, including Jonatan Berggren (33rd in 2018), Cross Hanas (55th in 2020), Albert Johansson (60th in 2019), Jared McIsaac (36th in 2018), Antti Tuomisto (35th in 2019), and William Wallinder (32nd in 2020).

Take Me to Your Leader: Forwards Taro Hirose and Joel L’Esperance return to the Griffins following stellar 2022-23 seasons. Hirose paced the team in points (16-41—57) and assists (41) last year while L’Esperance led the squad in goals with 25. Last season, Hirose set new career highs in games played (71), goals (16), assists (41) and points (57), and L’Esperance’s 72 games played and 44 penalty minutes were both career bests. Hirose begins the 2023-24 campaign ranked sixth on the franchise’s all-time regular-season leaderboard for assists with 124. L’Esperance ranked third in the AHL a year ago with 14 power-play goals and second with 247 shots.

How Swede It Is: The Detroit Red Wings have a rich tradition of possessing some of the top talent to come out of Sweden, such as Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom, and more recently Lucas Raymond. This year is no different, as the NHL franchise has sent down a handful of Swedes to the Griffins. In fact, five players hail from Sweden, including Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Elmer Soderblom and William Wallinder. Grand Rapids also features its first-ever Austrian, Marco Kasper, and two Finnish players in Antti Tuomisto and Eemil Viro. Austria becomes the 19^th country to produce a Griffin.

Colorado Notes: First and second of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Van Andel Arena…This is the first-ever matchup between the Colorado Eagles and Griffins...Eagles joined the AHL in 2018 and are the primary affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche...The Eagles have qualified for each of the three AHL postseasons since joining the league...During the 2022-23 campaign, Colorado finished with a 40-22-7-3 overall record, which ranked seventh in the AHL...Eagles’ first-year head coach Aaron Schneekloth competed for Grand Rapids as a defenseman from 2002-04 and showed eight points (1-7—8) in 58 games...The Griffins are 15-18-2-1 (.458) all-time against current Pacific-Division foes in the regular season, including 8-9-0-0 (.471) at home...Goaltender Justus Annunen returns to the Eagles after ranking among the 2022-23 AHL goaltending leaders in wins (22, T8th), goals against average (2.55, 11th) and save percentage (.916, T6th)...Grand Rapids will make its first-ever trip to Colorado next weekend on Oct. 20 and will conclude the season series the following night on Oct. 21.

Griffins in the NHL: Twenty-one former Griffins can be found on the season-opening rosters of 13 NHL teams, along with one player currently designated as injured reserve. The group includes four members of the Griffins’ 2013 Calder Cup team and three players from their 2017 championship squad, including each year’s playoff MVP. In addition, seven teams feature former Griffins on their coaching staffs, including two head coaches and five assistants.

Familiar Faces in Different Places: A number of key contributors to last season’s 28-win team now find themselves with new clubs for the upcoming season.

• Victor Brattstrom: Appeared in the second-most games (18) by a goaltender for the Griffins in 2022-23; Signed a one-year contract with HV71 (SHL/Sweden) on June 13;
• Alex Nedeljkovic: Paced the team in wins (13), goals against average (2.71) and save percentage (.912); Signed a one-year contract with Pittsburgh (NHL) on July 1;
• Danny O’Regan: After joining the team via trade in December, went on to post 31 points (14-17—31) in 39 games with Grand Rapids; Signed a one-year contract with Modo Hockey (SHL/Sweden) on Sept. 20;
• Chase Pearson: Became just the 38^th player to reach at least five seasons with the Griffins; Logged 14 points (4-10—14) in 47 games to go along with a career-high 35 penalty minutes; Signed a one-year contract with Michalovce (Tipos Extraliga/Slovakia).