Emptying the notebook from Griffins vs. Stars in Grand Rapids

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Greetings from Grand Rapids.

I drove out to Western Michigan on Sunday afternoon, brought the 6-year-old with me, and we watched some AHL hockey between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Texas Stars.

The Texas Stars won 3-2 in overtime, but I was more focused on watching individual players than really worrying about the final score.

I also spent part of the game catching up with Stars development coach Jordie Benn, who retired after playing in Sweden last season with Brynäs.

Benn, who still sports an immaculate beard, spends a good amount of his time visiting Stars prospects at various levels and also occasionally traveling with the AHL team. He told me on Sunday that he’s embraced moving to the other side of the hockey world, but will often miss playing when watching Texas play.

“They’ll be a scrum or something like that, those are the moments, the ones that you think, ‘man, I wish I was back down there,’” Benn said.

OK, let’s go through the notebook on some players from both teams that stood out to me/filled my scouting sheet.

Sebastian Cossa — The Red Wings top goalie prospect, who made his NHL debut in relief earlier this season, has been really good at the AHL level this season. He was really good again on Sunday, despite getting beat late in a loss.

Cossa has more calmness to his game than he had in the past — he still battles, but he doesn’t let the battle take him out of position. I really like the way he handles his feet on saves, he’s always ready for the second push or reaction now. He’s ready to play in the NHL in my view, it’s now more of a question of when the Red Wings will give him that chance.

Cossa was also highly accommodating of the fact I had my 6-year-old with me, who wanted to ask a post-game question to the goalie.

Here’s the transcript of that exchange between my daughter, Evangeline, and the Griffins goalie.

Q: Why are you the goalie?

A: I’m a little crazy, like getting pucks shot at me. I think I was eight or nine when Is started being a goalie and I stuck with it since then.

Elmer Söderblom — since the start of the 2022-23 season, where he started in the NHL, Söderblom has slipped tremendously down the Red Wings organizational depth chart. The 6-foot-8 forward has also struggled in the AHL this season, entering Sunday’s game with eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 28 games.

Despite that, I actually like a bit of Söderblom’s game on Sunday, and it certainly didn’t hurt that he scored in the first period. Söderblom had more connected elements to his game than I recall seeing in the past, there were a couple times he was effectively a one-two passing option moving through the neutral zone.

Nate Danielson — There were a couple nice moments for Danielson, but if not for his draft status I wouldn’t have made any note of his impact on the game. Danielson was fine defensively, that’s always going to be a strength, but there wasn’t much to speak of in the offensive zone. There was one moment where he delayed the play offensively to setup a lane for Dominik Shine.

Shai Buium — Grand Rapids went with seven defensemen on Sunday, so partners were kind of jumbled, but Buium was noticeably good throughout the game. I thought he had decent composure with the puck on his stick, and read the space well.

Justin Hryckowian — Hryckowian has been the Texas Stars best forward this season and he scored twice against Grand Rapids, both in regulation. It’s more of a question of when, not if, he’ll make his NHL debut this season.

Hryckowian scores at the AHL level because he understands spacing and plays well off of others, he’s good on the forecheck and turns instant turnovers into offense for his line. This is why he’ll be more of an instant fit at the NHL level, his game isn’t necessarily predicated on playing a top-six role where the puck is always on his stick.

Antonio Stranges — I can’t help but look at Stranges and see a very good, potentially AHL-MVP type player. But I also can’t see him finding a fit at the NHL level, because those final pieces needed for him to be an NHL regular and in a top-six role, simply don’t exist in his game. There’s a lot of flash, but there’s also a lot of frustration with the final decision sometimes after he tries to start up the highlight reel. There’s also not enough in Stranges shot for him to be a true shot-pass option on the power play, which is how Texas was using him on the flank Sunday.

Arttu Hyry/Matěj Blümel — I’m lumping Hyry and Blümel together because they played on the same line with Cameron Hughes and were effective, but underwhelming. Now this was a tough game for Texas, it was the second game of a back-to-back and the Stars captain, Curtis McKenzie just left the team to go play for Canada at the Spengler Cup, but I expected more from two players who I thought would be in the call-up conversation.

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One more side note: after the game, while I was leaving the rink, I ran into Texas goalie Magnus Hellberg catching up with Griffins/Red Wings goalie Ville Husso, who shared a crease during the 2022-23 season in Detroit.

Husso didn’t dress on Sunday, Jack Campbell backed up Cossa, but the fact he and Campbell were both in Grand Rapids on Sunday gives me at least an inkling that Detroit’s current goalies, Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot, are still healthy enough to be the tandem against the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

Technically one more side note: did you know the Griffins have a hot dog cannon?

Yes, it shoots real hot dogs.