PRETTY LUCKY GUY

When Mike Knuble looks back on his hockey career, he says that he has "no regrets whatsoever," which is not surprising given all he accomplished after playing four years at the University of Michigan:

• Selected in the fourth round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit, he broke into the NHL with the Red Wings, playing on both the 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cup championship teams;

• Traded to the New York Rangers for a second-round draft choice (eventual Griffin Tomas Kopecky) before the 1998-99 season, he got the opportunity to play with Wayne Gretzky, his childhood hero;

• Played in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, where his teammates included Joe Thornton, Peter Forsberg and Alex Ovechkin;

• Recorded nine straight 20-goal seasons after the age of 30, including two seasons where he topped the 30-goal mark;

• Played in the 2006 Winter Olympics, representing the United States (thanks to dual citizenship; he was born in Toronto but raised in Kentwood);

• Appeared in 1,068 games over the course of 16 NHL seasons.

Knuble is "very satisfied" with his career, but he still loves the game, so he's now happy to be serving as an assistant coach to Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill and his staff.

The role is an outgrowth of his relationship with Blashill, whom Knuble first met at the 2012 Griffins Youth Foundation Golf Outing.

Knuble had played out his contract with the Washington Capitals, but his age and the uncertainty surrounding a potential NHL lockout meant he was without a team for the 2012-13 season.

"We had moved our family back (to Kentwood) from Washington," he said. "It was a combination of things. I was 40. There was anticipation of a work stoppage. For the first time in a long time, we didn't know how things were going to shake out."

Blashill gracefully offered Knuble the opportunity to skate with the Griffins during practices. "I felt like I still had unfinished business (in the NHL)," he said. "I was very thankful when Jeff opened the door for me to skate with the team. It gave me a place to train and stay productive."

When the NHL returned to action, Knuble still found himself without a team. Finally in January, he signed a 25-game professional tryout with the Griffins in a move that gave him and the AHL affiliate some options. It gave him the freedom to sign with an NHL team if one came calling, and the Griffins got a proven veteran scorer.

"My plan was to play in Grand Rapids for a while, knowing that the NHL remained a possibility," he said. "Being 40 years old, I figured people would want to see 2-3 weeks worth of games."

But Knuble played just one game with the Griffins before the Philadelphia Flyers, with whom he played from 2005-09 and had his most productive years, offered him an NHL contract to finish the 2012-13 season.

In retrospect, Knuble is grateful for those few months skating with the Griffins.

"It gave me the taste of what life might be like after I retired," he said. "At first, you're scared to look over the fence and see what's on the other side. Being able to do that and then hop back over the fence and still play was pretty good. It was like a free look."

Knuble would have welcomed the opportunity to return to the Griffins last season. "(Unfortunately) the team was overflowing with veterans, especially after (Jordin) Tootoo and (Patrick) Eaves were sent here," he said. "It wasn't going to happen."

Truth be told, Knuble wasn't interested in playing 76 games at that point in time.

"I felt like I had done all that I could do," he said. "As an athlete, that's how you want to stop playing. I felt like I had gotten my bang out of the buck. I had maximized all of my opportunities.

"I never felt like I was tired of hockey. If I had been 35, I would have absolutely kept playing. But my kids were getting older and I enjoyed being able to see my kids play."

Although they would have been happy living in any of the places where he had played, Knuble and his wife decided to return to Michigan to be closer to family and friends here, which they felt would be great for their kids: Cam, 14; Anna, 13; and Cole, 10.

"Hockey was good to me. It's given us everything we have," said Knuble, a 2014 inductee to the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame. "But we had never been on spring break with the kids and they need some memories, too, instead of just dad playing hockey all the time.”

His current position with the Griffins, which he assumed during the 2013-14 season, allows him to watch his boys play AAA hockey. All three kids play lacrosse, as well as other sports.

He loves the fact that he is back where he started, working with prospects within the Detroit Red Wings organization. For Knuble, it's the next best thing to playing.

"Being a Michigan guy, I would have loved another chance in Detroit, but it never came to fruition," he said. "We talked informally (in the past). I think teams and players kick the tires, but ultimately everyone kept shopping."

Although he never played for the Wings again after the 1997-98 season, he has fond memories of his years in the Detroit system.

Getting the opportunity to play with Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Igor Larionov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy and Chris Osgood is something he'll never forget.

"I had been drafted in 1991, so I had been following these guys for several years," he said. "From a distance, I felt like I knew them, but to get in there and see what really made them tick was a great chance to learn. There were six or seven guys on the team who were going to go to the Hall of Fame, so if your eyes weren't open and you weren't listening, it was your fault."

He would have loved to have spent his entire career in Detroit, but ultimately he knew it was for the best when the Red Wings dealt him to the New York Rangers.

"I'm thankful there's 29 other teams," he said. "It's really cool to be in one spot forever, but I'm very thankful for the places I got to play, the teammates I had along the way and all the people we met."

Not too many players can say they got to play with Gretzky, Thornton, Forsberg and Ovechkin. With the opportunity, of course, there is pressure.

"The moment those guys are not successful, guess who's going," Knuble said, chuckling. "You're doing whatever you can to make sure those guys stay successful. When they're scoring goals and you have something to do with it, you get swept up with it."

Knuble eventually found his way to Boston, where he scored 30 goals at the age of 30 in 2002-03, which was his third full season with the Bruins. It started his streak of nine consecutive 20-goal seasons. "I was lucky," he said. "I was teetering on the edge of getting contracts and then I found a really nice niche in my 30s. It was a combination of playing with the right guys and being put in the right situations to succeed."

He played for his share of memorable coaches over the years, too, starting with the legendary Scotty Bowman in Detroit.

"You try to pull little things from every coach," he said. "From Robbie Ftorek, it was the importance of faceoffs; with Mike Keenan, it was finding an edge to get yourself ready to play hard every night; with Ken Hitchcock and John Stevens, it was about becoming a leader."

So now Knuble is doing his best to offer little tidbits of advice to the Red Wings' prospects. "It's nothing earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but I try to give my input here and there."

"You always tell players to take the long view, but the fact is you don't want to be in the minors forever," he said. "As a player, you have to be patient, but urgent at the same time. You may not be called up tomorrow, but you need to get better every day. So I guess I'd say you have to be patiently urgent, like predictably unpredictable."

He also stresses consistency.

"When you're playing 76 games in a season, you have to realize every game is important. You never know who is watching. Even though you're a Detroit prospect, you're still trying out for other teams because another organization might someday sign you or trade for you. The importance of every game is huge.

"The hard part is to be consistently good. When you play three games in four nights with travel, it's human nature to feel like you want to take a game off, but they want to see how you do when you're tired, too. The reality is it's a long season."

In the end, Knuble contends that players need to only worry about those things they can control. "Are you getting stronger in the weight room? Are you paying attention in meetings? Are you learning from what the coaches are saying? As a player, you're the CEO of your career. You need to do everything you can to give yourself the opportunity to advance."

As for his own future, Knuble says he is content for the time being but wouldn't rule out an interest in returning to the NHL as a coach.

"Right now, this is a chance for me to keep my foot in the door and stay relevant, to keep tabs on the players and how the game's being played," he said.

"I enjoy coming to the rink. I'll be honest, there's a little social aspect to it, too. I enjoy talking hockey and I enjoy the guys I see every day, so that makes it even more fun. Plus there's a winning environment here, so that's even better. I guess I'd say I'm pretty lucky."