On the Griffins’ Roster Turnover

With the Grand Rapids Griffins bidding auf wiedersehen to Taro Hirose after five seasons earlier today, I got to thinking about how different the Griffins’ roster will look next season.

Grand Rapids will lose five of their top ten scorers and ten of their top twenty.

Top scorer Jonatan Berggren, seventh-leading scorer Simon Edvinsson, and fourteenth Albert Johansson are all expected to graduate to the Detroit Red Wings as they are no longer waiver exempt.  Hirose (third) is bound for Munich, Zach Aston-Reese (sixth) signed with the Vegas Golden Knights, Joel L’Esperance (tenth) remains unsigned, Austin Czarnik (eleventh) signed in Switzerland, Matt Luff (fifteenth, having played only 26 games due to injury) is in a PTO with the Florida Panthers, Radim Simek (seventeenth) signed back home in Czechia, and Tyler Spezia (nineteenth) is now on an ECHL-only deal with the Toledo Walleye.

The Griffins will, seemingly, be getting some help from some of Detroit’s summer free agent signings.  Joe Snively scored 59 for the Hershey Bears last season while Sheldon Dries put up 52 points for the Abbotsford Canucks.  That would have put them first and third in scoring for GR, on either side of Berggren.  Additionally, William Lagesson didn’t do much at the NHL level last year (and is on a one-way contract with Detroit, anyway) but he could end up with the Griffins and the 32 points he scored for AHL Chicago in 2023 would have made him the Griffins’ leading scorer on defense last year.

After those three, though, the scoring kind of dries up.  Tory Dello scored only 13 points for AHL Laval.  Chaz Reddekopp has mostly played at the ECHL level.  Carson Bantle and Gabriel Seger will be making their pro debuts.  The wild card is Jakub Rychlovsky, who will be making his North American debut after putting up 46 points in 51 games in Czechia last season.

With all of that in mind, it looks like the Griffins will be looking for a lot of growth from within the organization.

After joining the team in the playoffs last year, Nate Danielson will likely start this season in Grand Rapids.  Similarly, this will be Shai Buium’s first full pro season, as well as Emmitt Finnie’s.  They’ll be watched closely to see how they can contribute and fill some of the gaps in the Griffins’ lineup.

Additionally, the Red Wings organization will look for continued growth from Carter Mazur and Marco Kasper (assuming neither make the Detroit lineup out of training camp).  A rebound year by Elmer Soderblom would obviously be helpful as would further steps forward from Amadeus Lombardi and Cross Hanas.

However you look at it, the Griffins are facing a lot of turnover.  That means opportunity for some of Detroit’s top prospects but it also means the possibility of regression in Grand Rapids.