Goaltender Michal Postava is primed to embrace a larger role between the pipes with the Griffins in 2026-27.

Sixty-five years after The Marvelettes turned “Please Mr. Postman” into Motown’s first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, the Grand Rapids Griffins have a first-class, 24-year-old Czech goaltender who wants to deliver for his teammates — all puns intended — and do his absolute best to continue to build on the success that the Detroit Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate enjoyed in the 2025-26 season.

“Coming from Europe, last year was my first time being on a club outside of a Czech one,” said Michal Postava. “It was a little hard for me at first, but I think I fit in well with the team. We had a good team last season, but now there’s some change. I’m still trying to be a better goaltender and person, really just trying to get better in everything.”

The results suggest his adjustment to the North American game and style of play went smoothly, to say the least. In 25 regular-season contests for Grand Rapids last season, Postava recorded a 17-6-0 mark with a franchise rookie-record four shutouts, and his 1.71 goals-against average and .937 save percentage established Griffins single-season and career records. Remarkably, he never surrendered more than three goals in a game.

“I was happy with my year,” he said. “I just tried to enjoy every day and be the best version of myself.”

Had he logged just a few more minutes – he finished less than two periods shy of qualifying – his goals-against average and save percentage both would have ranked first in the AHL, and he tied for third on the circuit in shutouts. Put another way, the Griffins rarely had to wonder what they were getting from Postava when the 6-foot-1, 222-pound goaltender was stationed between the pipes.

“He played in some big moments and big games,” Griffins head coach Dan Watson said. “It doesn’t seem like anything fazes him. He just goes out there and if a goal is scored on him, he takes that mindset of, ‘It is what it is. I’m going to make the next save.’”

Postava and former teammate Sebastian Cossa, who was traded by Detroit to the Utah Mammoth in July, were named the winners of the AHL’s 2025-26 Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award, given to the netminders on the club that allowed the fewest goals per game in the regular season (2.21). That award reflected work done by the entire team, not just the goalies.

Postava also started all eight of the Griffins' 2026 Calder Cup Playoff games, posting a 2.09 GAA and a .921 save percentage. Eight games is admittedly a small sample size, but it was enough to show how he handles a louder building and a shorter leash, and Postava now knows exactly what to expect when the stakes rise again.

“Those playoff games were a lot different than the regular-season ones, for sure,” Postava said. “They were more emotional too. You can feel everyone, even the fans, trying to push you. There’s a big home-ice advantage. I just tried to enjoy every moment, but we were knocked out a little too early.”

That’s all built on a foundation he brought with him. Postava signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Red Wings last summer after backstopping HC Kometa Brno to the Czech Extraliga championship in 2024-25. There, he recorded a 2.39 GAA and a .921 save percentage along with three shutouts in 42 regular-season contests, then a 1.97 GAA and a .940 save percentage with three more shutouts in 17 postseason games. 

Still, there were many firsts last season, on the ice and off, and Postava had to experience a lot of them by himself – away from everything familiar. The distance from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Valasske Mezirici, Czechia, where Postava was born, is 4,500 miles, a long way to travel back and forth or host visitors during the season.

A goalie’s job is to stay steady while everything around him moves fast, but doing that with loved ones a six-hour time difference away adds another complicated layer. Fortunately, Postava did his best to stay connected with family and friends.

“I call my family when I have the time,” Postava said. “They like watching my games, but the time difference is six hours. So, they were watching some of my games at 2 or 3 a.m. They always support me and wish me luck. During the season, I had a few video calls with a lot of my family members, when I would talk to them about life and hockey.”

It can be difficult to be the new guy on any team. Postava said he certainly doesn’t feel that way anymore.

“I feel a lot better now,” Postava said. “This will be my second season, but I’m comfortable. I used to be shyer, but I feel like I’m not as shy anymore. I’m looking at things in a different way. It helps to know a lot of the guys already and what’s going on.”

Comfort like that rarely shows up on a stat sheet, but it often shows up in the crease. A player who is not second-guessing his surroundings has more room to simply read the play and react.

But getting used to the AHL can be a different experience for every prospect. For Postava, it meant learning how critical it is to take care of himself so he can perform at the high level he knows he can. 

They’re small habits for sure, but they add up over a schedule as demanding as the AHL’s.

“I use the cold and hot tubs a lot now,” Postava said. “Taking care of my body, thinking about that more than I might’ve been before, and really being prepared for the next day. Those are probably the most important things.”

This fall marked his second NHL training camp with the Red Wings, and Postava gleaned much information and made much progress during his time at BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena. He was also recalled by Detroit twice last season, gaining exposure to the NHL level and some life on the road.

“It’s been a great experience,” Postava said of his time around the Red Wings. “I know how people play. I know what the coaches want from us, especially as goalies, and all of that.” 

Speaking at Detroit’s camp, Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan discussed Postava's growth and where he fits in the organization's plans. Read between the lines a little bit and it’s a vote of confidence.

“In fairness to [Postava], we don’t want to reassign players sitting up here,” McLellan said. “But we’ll probably have our two goalies that are going to start, and not because we don’t think he can play here. Same thing with Trey [Augustine], but they need to be playing while [John Gibson] and [Daniil] Tarasov get their legs underneath them and we’ll see where it all goes. But the organization moved a very good goaltender [Cossa] at the [2026 NHL Entry] Draft, and they did that because of the other two that are still here. It was an area of strength and depth of ours, and that’s why we did it.”

Hoping to draw upon lessons from Gibson and Tarasov that he picked up during his time at the Red Wings’ training camp, Postava aims to bring that same poise and composure to his own game as he settles into a familiar environment but a new season.

“Gibson and Tarasov, you can see how much experience they have,” Postava said. “I just watched them. They are so calm and you can see that in their play. That helps me a lot, looking at them doing normal things and trying to do that in my game as well.”

Those who see Postava almost daily, like Watson, quickly notice his even keel. 

“Nothing seems to rattle him,” Watson said. “He works extremely hard in practice. He’s very competitive and calm. The best compliment a goaltender can get is in practice when the top goal scorers come back and say, ‘I can’t score on this guy. I can’t score on this guy.’ “When you hear that, you know that he’s working hard, and he’s going to make our players better by continuing to do that.”

That process runs both ways, as Watson believes the reps are paying off for Postava and helping him evolve into a more effective goalie.

“That’s a big part of him getting better, facing the quality of players that we have in Grand Rapids,” Watson said. “Also putting his head down and simply going to work, and listening to Roope Koistinen, our goaltending coach. Postava is really a student of the game. He likes to learn. I really just see him continuing that uphill trajectory.” 

Postava also appreciates Watson’s honest and open communication style. 

“I can’t say anything negative about him,” Postava said of Grand Rapids’ bench boss. “He tells us what we need to do and lets us just go out and do our work. He communicates with us about a lot of things. He’s a really good coach.” 

That relationship matters in a season when Grand Rapids’ dressing room is set to look different. For a goaltender who was the new guy just a year ago, Postava is now one of the players who already knows how things run, and Watson hopes he will continue to lean on the veterans.

“We got a lot of younger players this year,” Watson said. “We were an older team last year; sure, we had some young guys in there too, but this year we’re going to be really young. There’s always going to be learning curves throughout the year. Learning how to be a pro is going to be really important early on. Making sure that the guys, as crazy as it sounds, are on time. Making sure the guys are mentally dialed in for how hard our schedule is going to be early on. Making sure the young guys understand how we operate day to day with skills, skating coaches, and practices. We throw a lot at them every day. That’s a big learning curve for guys coming from college, from junior, from overseas, or wherever they might be coming from. We’re going to have to hammer all of that home early on.”

For a young netminder like Postava, the path from prospect to NHL regular is rarely a straight line. It’s built from days like the ones he’s stacking now: extra reps, focused practice sessions, and improvement that can be overlooked until it becomes impossible to miss.

Before heading home this past summer, Postava got a straightforward message from Watson and the rest of the Griffins’ coaching staff. Now, he’s fully determined to stay in tune with what he was told and hit all the right notes. 

That’s because if Postava has his way, the delivery will be right on time.

“They just told me to keep working,” Postava said. “They told me that I am a good goalie, but I just need to keep proving that. I need to prove it every day, work hard, be ready for the next opportunity and for this season.”

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins