All I Want for Christmas

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Thu., Dec. 22 // 8 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:45 p.m. EST

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 0-1-0-0 Overall, 0-1-0-0 Away. Second of 10 meetings overall, second of five at Allstate Arena

All-Time Series: 91-82-2-7-3 Overall, 47-45-0-2-1 Away

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: The Griffins fell on the road last week to the Wolves 5-1 in the first meeting of the season. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Grand Rapids is just 4-18-1-0 (0.196) against the Wolves and has been outscored 95-45.

GRIFFINS vs. Cleveland Monsters // Fri., Dec. 23 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 0-1-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Second of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 68-34-6-10 Overall, 38-17-2-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets

Noteworthy: With 28 points (12-16—28) in 19 games, Trey Fix-Wolansky not only leads Cleveland in scoring but is tied for 11th in the AHL. In four games from Nov. 11-19, Fix-Wolansky bagged 14 points (7-7—14) and was named the AHL’s Player of the Week.

Last Week’s Results
Fri., Dec. 16 // GRIFFINS 4 vs. Hartford 6 // 10-13-1-0 (21 pts., 0.438, 6th Central)
Sat., Dec. 17 // GRIFFINS 1 at Chicago 5 // 10-14-1-0 (21 pts., 0.420, 6th Central)

Last Week’s Notes
Friday vs. Hartford (4-6 L) - The Griffins dropped their second-consecutive game to the Wolf Pack in a 6-4 contest at Van Andel Arena. Kyle Criscuolo starred for the Griffins, recording a goal and an assist. Criscuolo now has three goals in his last five contests and seven total points in his last 10 outings (3-4–7). Taro Hirose (1-1–2), Chase Pearson (0-2–2) and Joel L’Esperance (0-2–2) also all ended the night with two points. Alex Chiasson lit the lamp during his 700th game as a pro and Tyler Spezia recorded an assist in his 150th game as a Griffin and in the AHL. Recap | Highlights

Saturday at Chicago (1-5 L) - The Griffins suffered their third-consecutive loss in a 5-1 contest against the Wolves at Allstate Arena. Dominik Shine’s goal to begin the second stanza would be the only one for Grand Rapids on the night. Shine has lit the lamp in back-to-back games and is tied with Austin Czarnik for fifth on the team in goals this season. Recap | Highlights

Making Moves: On Monday, the Detroit Red Wings traded forward Givani Smith to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Michael Del Zotto. The Red Wings subsequently traded Del Zotto to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Danny O’Regan, whom they assigned to Grand Rapids. Smith skated in 148 career games with the Griffins and totaled 52 points (26-26—52) and 262 penalty minutes. He also tallied 14 points (7-7—14) in 85 games with Detroit. O’Regan comes to the Griffins with 18 points (3-15—18) in 27 games with the San Diego Gulls. Throughout 361 AHL games, the Berlin, Germany, native has 273 points (99-174—273) and 124 penalty minutes. The 28-year-old was named the AHL Rookie of the Year in 2016-17 when he amassed 58 points (23-25—58) in 63 games with the San Jose Barracuda. O’Regan was selected with the 138th overall pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Welcomed Offensive Production: Wednesday Dec. 7, veteran Alex Chiasson made his Griffins debut against the Iowa Wild, collecting two helpers. Chiasson followed that performance with another two points (1-1—2) on Friday at Springfield. Through four games, the 10-year pro has five points (2-3—5) and a plus-one rating. Through parts of 10 seasons in the NHL, Chiasson has 224 points (114-110—224) and 353 penalty minutes in 631 games. The Griffins signed the Montreal, Quebec, native to a professional tryout on Nov. 26.

O Captain! My Captain!: Captain Brian Lashoff competed in his 600th game as a Griffin and in the AHL on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Hartford. Lashoff’s 602 games played for the Griffins rank first among active AHL players who have spent their entire AHL career with the same club and fourth in league history among one-team players. Of the players ahead of him on that list, the most recent – and, coincidentally, the record-holder – last played during the 1970-71 season (Bill Needham of the Cleveland Barons, 981 games played). Lashoff overtook Paul Larivee (Providence Reds, 1952-62) for the No. 4 spot on April 6, 2022 against Cleveland and is now six games behind No. 3 Howie Yanosik (Hershey Bears, 1957-67). Lashoff is still 53 games away from breaking the Griffins’ all-time regular-season games played record, held by Travis Richards with 655 games (1995-2006).

You Need to Be This Tall to Ride the Rollercoaster: On Friday Dec. 9, left wing Elmer Soderblom made his Griffins/AHL debut, becoming the tallest player to ever compete for Grand Rapids. At 6-foot-8, Soderblom edged out former 6-foot-6 players in Jared Coreau, Francois Leroux, Brad Norton, Michael Rasmussen, Dan Turple, and teammates Sebastian Cossa and Simon Edvinsson. The Gothenburg, Sweden, native has two goals in 13 games with Detroit this season but did not have a point through two games with the Griffins. Soderblom was selected with the 159th pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit and is his rookie season in North America.

Power Struggle: After beginning the season with a 29.3% power-play conversion rate in the first nine games of the year, the Griffins have struggled as of late. Grand Rapids is 0-for-14 on the man-advantage in its last four outings and have just three power-play goals in its last nine contests (3-for-42, 0.1%). The Griffins are tied for 22nd in the AHL with a conversion rate of 18.8%.

Just Keep it Close: The Griffins have had an up-and-down start to the season, but they have excelled at winning close games. In fact, Grand Rapids is 6-0-1-0 (0.929) in games decided by one goal. In comparison, the Griffins are just 4-14-0-0 (0.286) in games decided by two or more tallies. In the 2021-22 season, the Griffins finished with a 13-7-6-2 (0.607) mark in games decided by one goal.

Bobbing for Apples: Taro Hirose collected his first pro hat trick on Nov. 18 at San Diego, which concluded his career-high four-point (3-1—4) night. Hirose has been known for his passing abilities throughout four seasons with the Griffins. In fact, the former Michigan State Spartan has had at least 22 assists in each full AHL campaign in his career. This season has a similar pace, as Hirose has totaled a team-leading 18 helpers in 25 games and his 11 power-play assists are tied for seventh in the AHL. Hirose tied his single-game AHL high with three assists on Dec. 7 against Iowa. Hirose has points in 16 of the 25 contests this season (7-18—25).

Take the Over: The Griffins averaged just 2.75 goals a game during the 2021-22 season while giving up 3.16. However, Grand Rapids is averaging 2.88 goals this season while conceding 4.04. Fourteen of its 25 games so far have had seven or more total goals scored, with nine of those contests having eight or more tallies. The Griffins rank 29th on the circuit with 101 goals against while their 72 goals for are tied for 24th in the AHL.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:
Pontus Andreasson—Four power-play goals are tied for fourth among rookies
Taro Hirose—18 assists are tied for 12th, 11 power-play assists are tied for seventh
Joel L’Esperance—Six power-play goals are tied for eighth

Milestones:
Alex Chiasson appeared in his 700th game as a pro on Dec. 16 against Hartford and scored a goal in the process. Tyler Spezia joined Chiasson with his 150th game as a Griffin and in the AHL.
Pontus Andreasson—One game from 250 as a pro
Taro Hirose—Two games from 150 as a Griffin and in the AHL
Steven Kampfer—Two points from 200 as a pro
Joel L’Esperance—Five goals from 100 as a pro
Danny O’Regan—One goal from 100 in the AHL
Ben Simon—Two games from 400 as a pro head coach

Photo by Ross Dettman/Wolves