Calder Cup Champions - 2013 & 2017
AHL Affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings
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Griffins NHL Alumni

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Pipeline to the NHL

Since the Griffins' inception in 1996, 211 different players - 29 goalies and 182 skaters - have gone on to play at least one game in the National Hockey League.

Some of the more accomplished members of the Griffins' alumni class include 20 Stanley Cup champions, two members of the Triple Gold Club -- Stanley Cup champ, Olympic gold, World Championship gold -- (Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula), one Calder Trophy winner (Moritz Seider), another Calder Trophy finalist (Jimmy Howard), and two Lady Byng winners (Pavol Demitra and Jiri Hudler).

A few facts of note:

  • A Griffins alumnus has had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup in each of the last five years, 11 times in the last 17 years, and 13 times in the last 20 seasons.
     
  • Fifteen former Griffins were on the playoff roster of the 2008 Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, nine of whom had their names engraved on the Cup: Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Brett Lebda, Derek Meech, Darren Helm, Tomas Kopecky, Darren McCarty and Chris Osgood.
     
  • Thirty-two Griffins alumni logged ice time with 16 NHL teams during the 2023-24 season.
     
  • With the exclusion of the new Utah Hockey Club, every NHL team has had a former Griffin play for it at some point.
     
  • One hundred nine players have made their NHL debuts after first playing for the Griffins, including 72 who made their debut during the same season they played in Grand Rapids.
     
  • On Oct. 4, 2018, defensemen Dennis Cholowski, Flip Hronek and Libor Sulak all made their NHL debuts with Detroit, marking the first time that three players joined the Griffins' NHL alumni ranks on the same day.
     
  • In addition, three Griffins head coaches - Guy Charron, Bruce Cassidy and Jeff Blashill - moved on to the NHL the season after winning Coach of the Year honors in Grand Rapids, while three assistant coaches eventually advanced to assistant positions in the NHL (Curtis Hunt, Kelly Miller and Todd Nelson). Cassidy also won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach in 2019-20 while with Boston.
Graduate #PlayerNHL Debut/Return2024-25 NHL Club
1Pavol Demitra3/17/97 STL at PHX-
2Kevyn Adams*10/1/97 TOR vs. WSH-
3Tyler Moss*10/28/97 CGY vs. PIT
 		-
 
4
 		Michel Picard
 		1/6/98 STL at SJ
 		-
 
5
 		Jeff Nelson
 		10/10/98 NSH vs. FLA
 		-
 
6
 		Patrick Traverse
 		10/10/98 OTT at COL
 		-
 
7
 		Mark Greig
 		1/7/99 PHI vs. NYI
 		-
 
8
 		Radim Bicanek
 		2/1/99 OTT at VAN
 		-
 
9
 		Robert Petrovicky
 		2/15/99 TB at NYI
 		-
 
10
 		Andrei Vasilyev
 		3/5/99 PHX vs. DET
 		-
 
11
 		Todd Hlushko
 		4/25/99 PIT vs. NJ
 		-
 
12
 		Patrick Lalime
 		10/2/99 OTT at PHI
 		-
 
13
 		Glen Metropolit*
 		10/2/99 WSH at FLA
 		-
 
14
 		Kevin Miller
 		10/31/99 OTT at ATL
 		-
 
15
 		Karel Rachunek*
 		10/31/99 OTT at ATL
 		-
 
16
 		Erich Goldmann*
 		11/11/99 OTT vs. NSH
 		-
 
17
 		Yves Sarault
 		11/20/99 OTT at NJ
 		-
 
18
 		John Gruden
 		11/30/99 OTT vs. CHI
 		-
 
19
 		Mike Fountain
 		12/3/99 OTT at NJ
 		-
 
20
 		Dave Van Drunen*
 		12/13/99 OTT at TOR
 		-
 
21
 		Petr Schastlivy*
 		1/3/00 OTT vs. NJ
 		-
 
22
 		John Emmons*
 		1/6/00 OTT vs. PHX
 		-
 
23
 		Slava Butsayev
 		1/28/00 OTT at BUF
 		-
 
24
 		Aris Brimanis
 		2/13/00 NYI at NYR
 		-
 
25
 		Dieter Kochan*
 		3/28/00 TB vs. DAL
 		-
 
26
 		Jani Hurme*
 		4/9/00 OTT vs. TB
 		-
 
27
 		Shane Hnidy*
 		10/5/00 OTT at BOS
 		-
 
28
 		Donald MacLean
 		10/14/00 TOR vs. OTT
 		-
 
29
 		David Oliver
 		11/4/00 OTT vs. CBJ
 		-
 
30
 		Jamie Rivers
 		11/12/00 OTT at CAR
 		-
 
31
 		Sean Gagnon
 		11/26/00 OTT at NYR
 		-
 
32
 		Joel Bouchard
 		11/29/00 PHX at COL
 		-
 
33
 		Mike Crowley
 		12/8/00 ANA at MIN
 		-
 
34
 		Ivan Ciernik
 		1/23/01 OTT at NYI
 		-
 
35
 		Darren Rumble
 		2/6/01 STL at COL
 		-
 
36
 		Joel Kwiatkowski*
 		2/19/01 OTT at BUF
 		-
 
37
 		Todd White
 		2/19/01 OTT at BUF
 		-
 
38
 		Chris Neil*
 		10/3/01 OTT at TOR
 		-
 
39
 		Toni Dahlman*
 		1/3/02 OTT vs. WSH
 		-
 
40
 		Steve Martins
 		1/11/02 OTT at FLA
 		-
 
41
 		Kip Miller
 		1/17/02 NYI at SJ
 		-
 
42
 		Jody Hull (cs)
 		2/4/02 OTT at TB
 		-
 
43
 		Dmitry Afanasenkov
 		2/6/02 TB at FLA
 		-
 
44
 		Simon Lajeunesse*
 		3/7/02 OTT at SJ
 		-
 
45
 		Martin Prusek*
 		3/23/02 OTT vs. ATL
 		-
 
46
 		Chris Bala*
 		3/27/02 OTT at NYI
 		-
 
47
 		Neil Little*
 		3/28/02 PHI at CAR
 		-
 
48
 		Josh Langfeld*
 		3/30/02 OTT vs. TB
 		-
 
49
 		Gaetan Royer*
 		4/1/02 TB vs. NYR
 		-
 
50
 		Jason Spezza*
 		10/24/02 OTT at BOS
 		-
51
 		Sean Avery
 		10/29/02 DET vs. SJ
 		-
 
52
 		Jason Doig
 		12/3/02 WSH at PIT
 		-
 
53
 		Jason Williams
 		12/5/02 DET at PHX
 		-
 
54
 		Patrick Boileau
 		12/19/02 DET vs. DAL
 		-
 
55
 		Stacy Roest
 		2/20/03 DET vs. EDM
 		-
 
56
 		Wade Brookbank*
 		10/9/03 NSH vs. ANA
 		-
 
57
 		Julien Vauclair*
 		10/25/03 OTT at MTL
 		-
 
58
 		Jiri Hudler
 		10/29/03 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
59
 		Curtis Joseph (cs)
 		10/30/03 DET at NSH
 		-
 
60
 		Darryl Bootland*
 		11/8/03 DET vs. NSH
 		-
 
61
 		Mark Mowers
 		11/19/03 DET vs. CBJ
 		-
 
62
 		Nathan Robinson*
 		11/28/03 DET vs. NYI
 		-
 
63
 		Blake Sloan
 		12/4/03 DAL at LA
 		-
 
64
 		Niklas Kronwall*
 		12/10/03 DET at BUF
 		-
65
 		Ryan Barnes*
 		12/15/03 DET vs. FLA
 		-
 
66
 		Chris Kelly*
 		2/5/04 OTT vs. TOR
 		-
 
67
 		Marc Lamothe
 		2/23/04 DET at EDM
 		-
 
68
 		Anders Myrvold
 		2/26/04 DET at CGY
 		-
 
69
 		Mathieu Chouinard*
 		2/29/04 LA at ANA
 		-
 
70
 		Brett Lebda*
 		10/5/05 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
71
 		Mark Eaton
 		10/5/05 NSH vs. SJ
 		-
 
72
 		Chris Osgood (cs)
 		10/29/05 DET at CHI
 		-
 
73
 		Kyle Quincey*
 		11/25/05 DET at ANA
 		-
 
74
 		Jimmy Howard*
 		11/28/05 DET at LA
 		-
75
 		Valtteri Filppula*
 		12/15/05 DET at FLA
 		-
76
 		Rob Collins*
 		12/17/05 NYI vs. COL
 		-
 
77
 		Manny Legace (cs)
 		1/5/06 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
78
 		David Gove*
 		1/31/06 CAR at MTL
 		-
 
79
 		Tomas Kopecky*
 		2/28/06 DET at SJ
 		-
 
80
 		Alexandre Giroux*
 		3/25/06 NYR at TB
 		-
 
81
 		Joey MacDonald*
 		10/19/06 DET at SJ
 		-
 
82
 		Derek Meech*
 		12/7/06 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
83
 		Matt Ellis*
 		12/18/06 DET at CBJ
 		-
 
84
 		Matt Hussey
 		1/26/07 DET at STL
 		-
 
85
 		Sheldon Brookbank*
 		2/6/07 NSH at PIT
 		-
 
86
 		Danny Syvret
 		2/27/07 EDM vs. PHX
 		-
 
87
 		Mark Hartigan
 		11/29/07 DET vs. TB
 		-
 
88
 		Drew MacIntyre*
 		12/13/07 VAN at SJ
 		-
 
89
 		Peter Vandermeer*
 		2/10/08 PHX vs. NSH
 		-
 
90
 		Jonathan Ericsson*
 		2/22/08 DET at CGY
 		-
91
 		Garrett Stafford*
 		2/23/08 DET at VAN
 		-
 
92
 		Darren Helm*
 		3/13/08 DET vs. DAL
 		-
93
 		Mattias Ritola*
 		3/15/08 DET vs. NSH
 		-
 
94
 		Clay Wilson*
 		3/25/08 CBJ at NSH
 		-
 
95
 		Darren McCarty
 		3/28/08 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
96
 		Krys Kolanos
 		11/4/08 MIN at SJ
 		-
 
97
 		Landon Wilson
 		11/22/08 DAL vs. ANA
 		-
 
98
 		Bryan Helmer
 		11/28/08 WSH vs. MTL
 		-
 
99
 		Chris Chelios (cs)
 		12/13/08 DET at PHX
 		-
 
100
 		Aaron Downey
 		1/29/09 DET vs. DAL
 		-
 
101
 		Justin Abdelkader
 		1/31/09 DET at WSH
 		-
102
 		Ville Leino*
 		1/31/09 DET at WSH
 		-
 
103
 		Aaron Gagnon*
 		10/16/09 DAL vs. BOS
 		-
 
104
 		Scott Parse*
 		10/24/09 LA at PHX
 		-
 
105
 		Doug Janik
 		11/3/09 DET vs. BOS
 		-
 
106
 		Ryan Keller*
 		11/25/09 OTT at NJ
 		-
 
107
 		Jakub Kindl*
 		12/3/09 DET vs. EDM
 		-
 
108
 		Kris Newbury
 		12/14/09 DET vs. PHX
 		-
 
109
 		Darren Haydar
 		2/10/10 COL vs. ATL
 		-
 
110
 		Andreas Lilja (cs)
 		3/1/10 DET at COL
 		-
 
111
 		Jeremy Williams
 		10/24/10 NYR vs. NJ
 		-
 
112
 		Jan Mursak*
 		12/27/10 DET at COL
 		-
 
113
 		Chris Mueller*
 		12/28/10 NSH vs. DAL
 		-
 
114
 		Tomas Tatar*
 		12/31/10 DET vs. NYI
 		New Jersey
115
 		Cory Emmerton*
 		1/22/11 DET vs. CHI
 		-
 
116
 		Patrick Rissmiller
 		2/23/11 ATL at BUF
 		-
 
117
 		Tom McCollum*
 		3/30/11 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
118
 		Gustav Nyquist*
 		11/1/11 DET vs. MIN
 		Nashville
119
 		Fabian Brunnstrom
 		11/5/11 DET vs. ANA
 		-
 
120
 		Brendan Smith*
 		11/17/11 DET at SJ
 		Dallas
121
 		Mark Cullen
 		11/29/11 FLA at CAR
 		-
 
122
 		Chris Conner
 		12/2/11 DET at BUF
 		-
 
123
 		Joakim Andersson*
 		12/27/11 DET vs. STL
 		-
 
124
 		Ty Conklin
 		3/21/12 DET at NYR
 		-
 
125
 		Riley Sheahan*
 		4/7/12 DET vs. CHI
 		-
126
 		Brian Lashoff*
 		1/21/13 DET at CBJ
 		-
127
 		Mike Knuble
 		1/26/13 PHI at FLA
 		-
 
128
 		Jamie Tardif*
 		2/2/13 BOS at TOR
 		-
 
129
 		Petr Mrazek*
 		2/7/13 DET at STL
 		Chicago
130
 		Jonas Gustavsson (cs)
 		2/19/13 DET at NSH
 		-
 
131
 		Carlo Colaiacovo (cs)
 		4/1/13 DET vs. COL
 		-
 
132
 		Danny DeKeyser
 		10/2/13 DET vs. BUF
 		-
 
133
 		Luke Glendening*
 		10/12/13 DET vs. PHI
 		Tampa Bay
 
134
 		Xavier Ouellet*
 		10/21/13 DET vs. SJ
 		-
135
 		Adam Almquist*
 		11/4/13 DET at WPG
 		-
 
136
 		Chad Billins*
 		11/5/13 CGY at MIN
 		-
 
137
 		Patrick Eaves
 		12/14/13 DET vs. PIT
 		-
138
 		Tomas Jurco*
 		12/15/13 DET vs. TB
 		-
139
 		Jordin Tootoo
 		12/19/13 DET vs. CGY
 		-
 
140
 		Alexey Marchenko*
 		1/4/14 DET at DAL
 		-
 
141
 		Teemu Pulkkinen*
 		3/14/14 DET vs. EDM
 		-
 
142
 		Landon Ferraro*
 		3/18/14 DET vs. TOR
 		-
 
143
 		Calle Jarnkrok*
 		3/21/14 NSH at CGY
 		-
144
 		Mitch Callahan*
 		3/25/14 DET at CBJ
 		-
 
145
 		Ryan Sproul*
 		4/13/14 DET at STL
 		-
 
146
 		Andrej Nestrasil*
 		10/9/14 DET vs. BOS
 		-
 
147
 		Stephen Weiss (cs)
 		11/24/14 DET vs. OTT
 		-
 
148
 		Mattias Janmark*
 		10/8/15 DAL vs. PIT
 		Edmonton
149
 		Dylan Larkin*
 		10/9/15 DET vs. TOR
 		Detroit
 
150
 		Kevin Porter
 		10/10/15 PIT at ARI
 		-
 
151
 		Andreas Athanasiou*
 		11/8/15 DET vs. DAL
 		Chicago
152
 		Tomas Nosek*
 		12/26/15 DET at NSH
 		Florida
 
153
 		Eric Tangradi
 		1/25/16 DET at NYI
 		-
154
 		Anthony Mantha*
 		3/15/16 DET at PHI
 		Calgary
 
155
 		Alan Quine*
 		4/9/16 NYI vs. PHI
 		-
156
 		Martin Frk*
 		10/18/16 CAR at EDM
 		-
157
 		Tyler Bertuzzi*
 		11/8/16 DET at PHI
 		Chicago
158
 		Jared Coreau*
 		12/3/16 DET at PIT
 		-
 
159
 		Nick Jensen*
 		12/20/16 DET at TB
 		Ottawa
160
 		Drew Miller
 		2/28/17 DET at VAN
 		-
 
161
 		Robbie Russo*
 		3/7/17 DET at TOR
 		-
 
162
 		Dan Renouf*
 		3/27/17 DET at CAR
 		-
163
 		Ben Street
 		3/28/17 DET at CAR
 		-
164
 		Evgeny Svechnikov*
 		4/3/17 DET vs. OTT
 		-
165
 		Matt Lorito*
 		4/8/17 DET vs. MTL
 		-
 
166
 		Kyle Criscuolo*
 		11/17/17 BUF at DET
 		-
167
 		Dominic Turgeon*
 		1/14/18 DET at CHI
 		-
168
 		Joe Hicketts*
 		1/22/18 DET at NJ
 		-
169
 		Dennis Cholowski*
 		10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ
 		NY Islanders
170
 		Libor Sulak*
 		10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ
 		-
 
171
 		Filip Hronek*
 		10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ
 		Vancouver
 
172
 		Wade Megan
 		11/1/18 DET vs. NJ
 		-
173
 		Christoffer Ehn
 		11/6/18 DET vs. VAN
 		-
 
174
 		Eddie Pasquale*
 		12/4/18 TB at DET
 		-
175
 		Michael Rasmussen (cs)
 		2/7/19 DET vs. VGK
 		Detroit
176
 		Filip Zadina*
 		2/24/19 DET vs. SJ
 		-
177
 		Matt Puempel
 		3/23/19 DET at VGK
 		-
178
 		Dylan McIlrath
 		3/25/19 DET at SJ
 		Washington
179
 		Jake Chelios*
 		3/29/19 DET vs. NJ
 		-
180
 		Givani Smith*
 		10/25/19 DET vs. BUF
 		San Jose
181
 		Calvin Pickard
 		11/29/19 DET at PHI
 		Edmonton
182
 		Madison Bowey
 		12/14/19 DET at MTL
 		-
183
 		Taro Hirose2/6/20 DET at BUF
 		-
184
 		Gustav Lindstrom*
 		2/6/20 DET at BUF
 		-
185
 		Joe Veleno*
 		4/27/21 DET at CBJ
 		Detroit
186
 		Mathias Brome
 		5/7/21 DET at CBJ
 		-
187
 		Moritz Seider*
 		10/14/21 DET vs. TB
 		Detroit
 
188
 		Riley Barber
 		12/18/21 DET vs. NJ
 		-
189
 		Gemel Smith (cs)
 		2/2/22 DET vs. LA
 		-
190
 		Luke Witkowski
 		3/12/22 DET at CGY
 		-
191
 		Chase Pearson*
 		3/24/22 DET at NYI
 		-
192
 		Harri Sateri
 		4/7/22 ARI vs. VAN
 		-
193
 		Turner Elson
 		4/26/22 DET at TOR
 		-
194
 		Matt Luff
 		10/27/22 DET at BOS
 		-
195
 		Austin Czarnik
 		11/6/22 DET at NYR
 		-
196
 		Jonatan Berggren*
 		11/10/22 DET vs. NYR
 		Detroit
197
 		Magnus Hellberg (cs)
 		12/14/22 DET at MIN
 		-
198
 		Elmer Soderblom
 		12/14/22 DET at MIN
 		-
199
 		Jakub Vrana
 		2/21/23 DET at WSH
 		Washington
200
 		Adam Erne
 		3/2/23 DET vs. SEA
 		-
201
 		Alex Chiasson
 		3/4/23 DET at NYI
 		-
202
 		Simon Edvinsson*
 		3/18/23 DET vs. COL
 		Detroit
203
 		Alex Nedeljkovic
 		3/23/23 DET vs. STL
 		Pittsburgh
 
204Zach Aston-Reese12/11/23 DET at DALColumbus
205Michael Hutchinson12/23/23 DET at NJ-
206Ville Husso (cs)2/13/24 DET at EDMDetroit
207Albert Johansson*10/12/24 DET vs. NSHDetroit
208Austin Watson10/14/24 DET at NYRDetroit
209Marco Kasper10/19/24 DET at NSHDetroit
210Sebastian Cossa*12/9/24 DET at BUFDetroit
211William Lagesson12/21/24 DET at MTLDetroit
Bold = Has played in the NHL this season (through games of Dec. 22) 
Italics = Had named engraved on the Stanley Cup after playing for Grand Rapids
* = Made NHL debut after playing for the Griffins
(cs) = Joined Griffins on conditioning stint from NHL club