AHL Shap Shots bowl: On Taylor in Texas, Danielson, Lombardi, Blumel, Buium, Cossa, and more

Took an AHL road trip on Saturday, here is what I've got.

I drove out to Grand Rapids on Saturday night to watch the Grand Rapids Griffins game against the Texas Stars, the AHL version of the Shap Shots bowl.

Texas won 4-1, it wasn’t a very aesthetically pleasing game. Texas had 38-18 edge in shots, but the teams probably combined for seven or eight total Grade-A scoring chances. If anything, it was a perfect encapsulation of what AHL hockey can be at its best, and worst, semi-organized chaos.

After the game I caught up with Texas defenseman Trey Taylor, who signed a two-year NHL entry-level contract this spring out of Clarkson University.

This was my first live viewing of Taylor’s game, I’d seen some of his work on video, and I was really impressed in how he managed the puck and managed the chaos of the AHL. Since he left Clarkson, he’s been giving some power play opportunities with Texas, and while the minutes have been semi-sheltered — he played 16:57 last night — he’s added a puck-moving element Texas missing on it’s blue line.

He was also really kind with his time after the game for Robert Tiffin and I, who flew up from Texas to cover both the AHL and NHL games between the Stars and Red Wings organizations in a span of 72 hours.

Side note, if you don’t already subscribe and follow Robert and you care about the Stars, you should. No one on the Stars beat is putting in the work like he is. On Saturday, he landed in Detroit around 2:30 ET, hopped in the car with me and we drove four hours round trip to watch AHL hockey. Again, no one else on the Stars beat is putting in that type of work.

Anywho, back to Taylor and his story, which has very similar vibes to me, on how the Stars landed Justin Hryckowian last spring.

Taylor, like Hryckowian the year before, had talks with the Stars after his sophomore season about potentially turning pro. But Dallas never pressed nor forced the issue, and after his junior season, where Taylor was one of the ECAC’s best blue liners, he went back to those conversations with Dallas and signed with the Stars.

Now, I knew the Stars had been keen on Taylor for a while. Dallas draft pick Ayrton Martino also played at Clarkson, so the Stars watched all of his games this season and Stars director of player personnel Rich Peverley had visited campus several times during the season.

In fact the Stars had invited Taylor to development camp last summer, but he had already committed to going to development camp with the Philadelphia Flyers at the time.

One of the things I didn’t know before Taylor told me, was how well the Stars handled the nature of those visits.

NHL teams reach out to college players all the time, let them know they are stopping by campus, that they might be watching.

The Stars, Taylor said, never made a big deal about being in the building. It wasn’t a “the Stars are here, I need to impress them,” it was always a friendly meeting after after the game, something where there was no added pressure before the game of playing in front of a potential future employer.

Taylor also talked about Stars assistant GM Scott White’s honest approach, how both sides were pretty open about Taylor’s potential timeline. He also, interestingly, mentioned the taxes situation and the fact the NHL — and AHL team — for the Stars are both in tax-free states.

I personally think the tax-free state thing gets overplayed as a point of contention, particularly by Toronto media. But I supposed I should give it some more merit when it comes to signing college free agents, where with entry-level contracts there’s not much wiggle room for what teams can do financially.

But in the end, like Hryckowian, the Stars landed a potential prospect “for free” from the college free agent pool because of their long-term relationship work.

That, to me, is notable.

Why long-term relationship building defines undrafted free agent signings

Ok, let’s get to some of the other notes and observations from the game, where a hat trick by Kole Lind was the difference in the Texas victory.

Matěj Blümel, Texas Stars, RW — Blümel scored his team-leading 39th goal of the season into the empty net and earlier setup Lind’s hat trick with a nice play along the boards in the neutral zone — puck protection in transition is one Blümel’s strengths.

He’s a UFA this summer, he also should play in the NHL next season and should be able to help a team as a fourth liner with some offensive pop. His point totals will get him an NHL deal, maybe with Dallas, but his play defensively will win him an NHL job in training camp.

Justin Hryckowian, Texas Stars, C and Artu Hyry, Texas Stars, C — Hryckowian was mentioned earlier, but I think his game is worth noting in the Stars long-term build, especially after Dallas’ put some long-term salary cap capital into Mikko Rantanen — the Stars will need depth forwards that can play on the cheap.

Both Hryckowian and Hyry play a strong two-way game down the middle, both can play the wing if needed. Amongst AHL chaos, there are moments of impressive calm for both Hryckowian and Hyry, which is why I think there hockey sense can convert well to the NHL.

While Lind, for example, will be more notable in AHL games, I think Hryckowian and Hyry will be more notable in NHL games.

Nate Danielson, Grand Rapids Griffins, C — It was a quiet game for Danielson, he had a neutral zone turnover I didn’t like, but there are lots of the foundations in place to be an NHL contributor. I’m still not sold on him being a reliable point producer at the NHL level, and I might be wrong, but he has a game I’d like to see deployed with better players — not AHL veterans like Tim Gettinger or Joe Snively.

Amadeus Lombardi, Grand Rapids Griffins, C — Lombardi grew with the game and there are some really exciting elements to his game. The puck protection and skills are pretty notable, and I like how his hands can match his feet. These are not observations, but rather noting something I’ve seen all year with Lombardi. I spoke to someone from with in the Red Wings recently, who noted that Lombardi probably would have played NHL games this season if had been better dialed in defensively. And, honestly, with Detroit out of the playoffs I wouldn’t mind seeing him play for the Red Wings later this week.

Emmitt Finnie, Grand Rapids Griffins, LW — Finnie played on the wing in this game and he setup the Griffins only goal, a play down the wing on the rush where he teed up Gabriel Seger for a goal. Finnie kind of grew with the game, which seems reflective of his career arc. Finnie is fascinating to me because I’m not sure whether he’s actually improving or he’s simply getting older and matching up to his age. Again, I don’t know, but I’m curios to watch it.

Anton Johansson, Grand Rapids Griffins, D — My first in-person viewing of Johansson and he can be a pretty smooth operator with the puck on his stick. There are a couple plays where he skated himself out of trouble, delayed, and created space for others. There was some messiness in his game defensively, which might be part of the North American transition learning curve.

Shai Buium, Grand Rapids Griffins, D — Buium is nothing like his brother. While Zeev Buium dominates the puck and the attention of the game, you have to focus on Shai Buium to understand while he’ll have a decent pro career. So that’s why I did some isolated viewing of Buium in the third period, focusing only on him during his shifts, to watch some of the small details and calm demeanor in a chaotic game. He’s a third-pairing defender in the making, not a shutdown guy, but he’s exactly what I’d want long-term on my defensive depth as someone you can roll out in all situations if needed.

Sebastian Cossa, Grand Rapids Griffins, G — It was a frustrating viewing for me on Cossa because all the raw tools are obvious, he made a tremendous pad save on a 2-on-1 by Texas, but some of the decision making continues to be baffling. His misplay on a Texas dump-in eventual led to the first goal on extended zone time by Texas. I guess my thing with Cossa is this — if he’s such a great athlete, and he is, he needs to be better about using those tools. If he can channel the raw parts of his game, he can be a bona fide No. 1 in the NHL. If he can’t, he’s probably nothing more than an NHL backup/quad-A goalie. Amongst Red Wings prospects, Cossa, to me, has one of the highest boom/bust pendulums and I have no idea which way it’ll end.

Hot Dog Cannon, Grand Rapids Griffins — Maybe the most impressive projectile-based giveaway in all of sports. The hot dog cannon in Grand Rapids is both impressive and dangerous. One of the AHL off-ice officials last night told me a story how this thing once reached up to the press box and closed his laptop.