Dominik Shine helped pave path to success in Grand Rapids, now Griffins players are celebrating his newfound NHL journey

On the player that has been one of the best stories in the NHL this season after almost a decade in the AHL.

Earlier this season, sometime in the first half of the season, Amadeus Lombardi went over to Dominik Shine’s house in Grand Rapids.

The trip had multiple purposes, first Lombardi wanted to play mini sticks with Shine’s son, Cooper.

After that, the then 20-year-old forward wanted to talk about hockey with his veteran teammate, who has helped define the Grand Rapids Griffins for close to a decade.

“We were just talking and I remember talking to him and stopping and thinking about the work he’s put in, and told him he really deserved a game with eh Red Wings,” Shine said. “For all he’s done for everyone else, for all the other guys he’s helped get an opportunity, and the loyalty, he really deserved that game.”

Shine kind of shrugged it off, Lombardi remembers, after all he was on year nine with the franchise, all of them on AHL contracts. And at 31-years-old, without an NHL debut, he was already labeled as a quad-A player that would probably never get an NHL entry-level contract.

But things changed in late January, when Shine, while planning on buying skates for Cooper, got the call to the NHL that many thought he’d never get. He signed a two-year NHL deal, made his NHL debut, and lived a dream that most people never get the chance too.

On fathers, sons, and the moment Dominik and Cooper Shine will never forget

It was a great story, one of the better ones in the NHL this season, and would have been great if Shine had only played that singular game.

But then with his opportunity, Shine has done his best to shed that quad-A label.

He’s now played nine game for Detroit, become a well-liked teammate in the NHL locker room, and has added some depth and energy to the Red Wings fourth line.

Back in Grand Rapids, Griffins players have been watching the story unfold, beaming with pride for a player that helped mold so many of the young prospects.

“When I found out he was going to play, as a team we all rushed to make sure we all could watch his first NHL shift together,” Griffins defender William Wallinder said. “That’s the type of stuff that you know the work he’s put in, how he does everything for everyone, that we all needed to watch.”

Shai Buium said that Shine is effectively the model citizen that young players quickly learn to emulate in Grand Rapids.

“How he does his work everyday, and how he approaches everything, nothing has ever been given to him, at all,” Buium said. “You get here in Grand Rapids, like I did last year, and I think pretty quickly you learn he’s the one that you follow and you’ll do pretty well as a person and hockey player.”

Griffins coach Dan Watson said Shine’s story is one that he can use as coaching tool, for several reasons.

It’s a story of perseverance off the ice, Watson said, but it’s also a story of how development can take many different paths.

“I’ve known him since I’ve been part of the organization, and you kind of watch how he grows from a fourth liner, gets more responsibility, takes advantage of it, and keeps building,” Watson said. “One of the things that we try to preach as a staff is that development is different for everyone, and I have the perfect example right there with him.”

Austin Watson said that Shine is unofficially the mayor Grand Rapids, the guy who can help connect the Griffins with a community and help players feel comfortable in a new setting.

“In the AHL you’ve got young guys coming from Sweden or junior or whatever, and they have no idea about Grand Rapids, Michigan, they probably couldn’t find it on a map,” Watson said. “(Shine) is the guy that helps them, helps them find the place to eat, the place go grocery shopping. He’s the person that makes difference for so many on the day-to-day stuff.”

Red Wings forward Marco Kasper, who’s likely played his final AHL game, remembers arriving in Grand Rapids last season and how Shine helped his development. He also has been relishing having Shine as a teammate in the NHL this season.

“It’s been awesome, you hear his story, the work he puts in and then you see it and to see him here now, it’s really cool,” Kasper said. “Those are the types of guys that I think bring a team together, and he did that in Grand Rapids and he does it here, too.”