Griffins bow out in second round

[yave1964]

  Well that is that.

 

First the Wings in the first round and then last night their AHL affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins bow out in six games to the Lake Erie Monsters 4-3 in overtime last night. The Griffs had been down 3 games to 0 but won the next two and fought hard last  night. The Monsters were just a bit too strong.

  A quick look at the Griffins and the state of the Wings kids going into next year.

 

Start at forward, lots of old grizzled vets on the wrong side of 30, Dan Cleary believe it or not took a regular shift, Jeff Hoggan, the Captain is closer to 40, Tristan Grant gets the odd shift. None wil ever see the inside of an NHL arena on game night without a ticket. Our two best players were diminutive Andy Miele and Eric Tangradi who washed out with several organizations, non prospects who are damn good AHL stars who help the kids.

 The next bunch is a bunch of AHLers who could be called up as injury replacements if needed but have clear big holes in their games and you hope you dont have too. Mitch Callahan is Abdelkader lite, Martin Frk led the Griffs in regular season goals and works his tail off but has no hockey IQ, Tomas Nosek is a Corey Emmerton clone.

The real players are:

Anthony Mantha who had a fine postseason and will be in the middle six or higher in Detroit next year.

Tyler Bertuzzi who once again was the best player on the ice most of the postseason for either team night in and night out. An energy guy who can score a bit and hits everything that moves. Think Cleary in his prime. He will be a bottom six forward next year for the Wings or at the least he should be.

Andreas Athanasiou was sent back down after the Wings season ended. A lock to make the Wings.

Evgeney Schevnikov our first from this year turned pro before the second round and did not embarrass himself. He is a power forward and from what I understand will score in bunches and has a nasty streak. He will likely be in GR all year next year.

 

DEFENSE

Ryan Sproul did more in the postseason to make his case as an NHL defenseman than anyone. He has a heavy accurate shot, is a big body, and has grown leaps and bounds in confidence. If Quincey is not resigned, Sproul will step into the rotation and will not embarrass.

Xavier Oullet, IMHO Sproul passed him up but it is close. Oullet has little in the way of offense but is a good shut down guy.

Robbie Russo had an insane plus/minus of plus 40, over double his closest teammate. And he has a great first pass. He is the sleeper in the bunch.

We also have our share of bodies such as Lashoff who just fills a hole and veteran leaders such as Nathan Paetsch who mentor the kids.

 

GOALTENDING

Thomas McCollum had a fine year, and huge Jared Coreau came from nowhere to perform brilliantly most of the season but neither is much thought of. One will be shown the door to make room for the real goalie prize of the organization, Jake Patterson who spent most of the year in Toledo this season but will start the bulk of Griffin games next season. I believe that the first two are just bodies but Patterson may very well have a future in the NHL, at the least as a good solid backup and possibly more but he needs a year of maturation

 

 So if I were to rank the Wings prospects in terms of 'who will be starting and doing well for the Wings next year' it would be:

1)Athanasiou

2)Mantha

3)Sproul

4)Bertuzzi

 

From there the drop off is noticable, but all of a group of Russo, Oulet and Coreau may and likely will see some time next year.

 

[hf101]

Nice write-up @yave1964 

 

Who do you think will have the edge next year to make the Redwings roster Sproul or Marchenko?  I can easily see one of these guys getting top 6 minutes with Quincey on deck as a 7th d-man.

[yave1964]

15 minutes ago, hf101 said:

Nice write-up @yave1964 

 

Who do you think will have the edge next year to make the Redwings roster Sproul or Marchenko?  I can easily see one of these guys getting top 6 minutes with Quincey on deck as a 7th d-man.

Quincey is an UFA and the odds are he is gone in spite of the fact that he has expressed interest in returning to the team. Cap issues and age have caught up.

  Marchenko established himself last season as a bottom six regular and is here to stay.

 Overall the Wings defense is in trouble.

Kronwall is literally playing on one knee

Ericsson was bad last year and is aging

Green brought a spark but not as much as hoped for

Brendan Smith was perhaps our best d-man which says less about him and more about the ordinary defense

Marchenko does nothing particularly impressive

Dekeyser showed flashes but gets pushed around

 

That leaves three guys in the AHL to consider when the inevitable wear and tear kick in:

Robbie Russo who was plus 40 and led the Griffins blueline in scoring but is still a relative unknown

Xavier Oullet who has little offense but good defense

Ryan Sproul who has a low, heavy shot and size.

  Of the three, personally I would rahter see Sproul make the team, we need someone to run the point on the second power play and I believe that Sproul is best equipped to play that role. We need to see if he is anything soon, Kronner, Big E and Green are aging and all broke down last year and are in the inevitable decline phase.

[hf101]

Gottcha, not enough coffee yet this morning, ha I read the depth chart wrong and missed that Quincey was a UFA this summer vs next summer.

 

You do have to figure that Kronwall, Green, Ericsson, Smith, Marchenko, and Dekeyser are next years top 6 d-men. I doubt Holland will bring up Sproul to sit in the press box to be the 7th d-man.  So who routinely sits next season if all are healthy?  I can see adding a FA d-man to that group too allowing for a call-up of Sproul as needed for injuries.

[yave1964]

7 hours ago, hf101 said:

Gottcha, not enough coffee yet this morning, ha I read the depth chart wrong and missed that Quincey was a UFA this summer vs next summer.

 

You do have to figure that Kronwall, Green, Ericsson, Smith, Marchenko, and Dekeyser are next years top 6 d-men. I doubt Holland will bring up Sproul to sit in the press box to be the 7th d-man.  So who routinely sits next season if all are healthy?  I can see adding a FA d-man to that group too allowing for a call-up of Sproul as needed for injuries.

I dont see all six being healthy much at the same time, sadly.

A big deal with wing fans is everyone was more or less healthy in the postseason and Ericsson who was simply God Awful most of the year and he played over Brendan Smith who was solid. That and the playing of Joakim Andersson for 3 minutes a night in lieu of Anthony Mantha is what spurred the rumor of a 'Swedish Mafia' in the Wings organization.

  I would love to see us go all in on Yandle and Frans Neilson, one of the most underrated players in the game at center, but unfortunately that is not the Wings way. Oh well. In the mean time, if we go into camp with these 7 on defense I would sit Sproul with the understnading that healthy or not, whoever is playing poorly watches from the press box.