Griffins Have Lost Their Way In the AHL Race

Coach Dan Watson described his Grand Rapids Griffins as being “a fragile team mentally right now.”

That assessment came after the Chicago Wolves pinned a 4-3 home loss on the Griffins to drop the Detroit Red Wings affiliate into fourth place. Only the first three places in the Central Division receive first round byes in the AHL playoffs. The Wolves and Griffins are tied at 70 points, but Chicago owns the tiebreakers. The Griffins have eight games left, and the Wolves have seven.

As of today, the Griffins would have to beat the Rockford IceHogs (Chicago Blackhawks) in a best-of-three series to earn a spot in the division semifinals. The Texas Stars (Dallas Stars), Milwaukee Admirials (Nashville Predators) and Wolves (Carolina Hurricanes) hold the byes.

“It seems as if something goes bad,” Watson said, “it goes bad twice, three times and then we have to dig ourselves out. We have to battle through that.”

Struggling Griffins

Grand Rapids hasn’t been able to overcome the frequent call-ups from Detroit this season. The most recent call-ups of Elmer Soderblom, Dominik Shine and Austin Watson seems to have made it more challenging to be competitive.

In their current four-game losing streak, they have scored only five goals.

“We haven’t had many leads — let’s put it that way,” Watson said. “That’s four straight games now With what we have in here, right now, we have to work hard, and make sure we compete. We have to defend harder.  All four lines gave up quality chances against.”

Watson doesn’t like what he sees on the ice. “The scoring changes against, where teams are getting them from, that’s worrisome,” he said.

🚨 LOMBARDI!!! 🚨 Weird goal, couple bounces, and goes in for Amadeus Lombardi. Grand Rapids ties it late in the third.

#GoGRG #LGRW pic.twitter.com/gkx9d4Shtw

— x – Hockeytown West Podcast (@HockeytownWpod) April 3, 2025

The Griffins wasted a two-goal effort from Amadeus Lombardi who has 15 goals and 31 points this season in 36 games. Despite missing almost 11 weeks with an injury, Lombardi has taken a giant leap in his development this season.

On the flip side, 2023 first-round pick Nate Danielson has no points in those four losses. He’s minus-3 in those games with a total of two shots on goal.

The Griffins picked up some help recently with Emmitt Finnie (drafted 201st, 2023) joining the team after his 37-goal Western Hockey League season. In his two games with the Griffins, he is minus-3 with one shot on goal.

The Red Wings have some important prospects playing in Detroit, and getting those players postseason experience is a priority.

Grand Rapids’ next game is Friday at home against Rockford.