AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Demitra to Downey: Griffins Celebrate 100 NHL Alumni

Published on January 29, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Detroit Red Wings right wing Aaron Downey on Thursday became the 100th former member of the Grand Rapids Griffins to play in the National Hockey League, when he took his first shift against the Dallas Stars in the opening period at Joe Louis Arena.

The Griffins' 100 alumni over their 13 seasons include 53 forwards, 31 defensemen and 16 goaltenders, many of whom have achieved the NHL's highest honors.

Twelve Griffins have continued on to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup, including nine who helped Detroit capture the Cup last spring: Valtteri Filppula (no. 75), Darren Helm (92), Jiri Hudler (58), Tomas Kopecky (79), Niklas Kronwall (64), Brett Lebda (70), Darren McCarty (95), Derek Meech (82) and Chris Osgood (72).

Other notable Griffins alumni include:

- Vancouver right wing Pavol Demitra (no. 1), whose 728 games played, 282 goals, 416 assists and 698 points since departing Grand Rapids are the most of any former Griffin. The three-time NHL All-Star won the league's Lady Byng trophy in 2000;

- Buffalo goalie Patrick Lalime (12), a one-time NHL All-Rookie pick whose return to the league in 1999 was later punctuated by a 2003 NHL All-Star Game selection;

- Ottawa center Jason Spezza (50), who made his pro debut with Grand Rapids in the 2002 Calder Cup Playoffs and remains the highest-drafted player to ever skate for the Griffins (2nd overall by Ottawa in 2001). He played in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game and led the Senators with 92 points last season.

"It's gratifying to look at that number and realize we've had 100 players called up from our organization," said general manager Bob McNamara, who as the only GM in franchise history has witnessed every alumnus play in a Griffins sweater. "You feel like you've at least had a small impact in helping each player get to the next level and reach his potential."

Left wing Ville Leino, who was recalled by the Red Wings with Downey earlier today, is in line to become graduate no. 101 this Saturday, when he is expected to make his NHL debut at Washington.

Griffins NHL Alumni Chronology

# - Player - NHL Debut/Return 1 - Pavol Demitra - 3/17/97 STL at PHX 2 - Kevyn Adams - 10/1/97 TOR vs. WSH 3 - Tyler Moss - 10/28/97 CGY vs. PIT 4 - Michel Picard - 1/6/98 STL at SJ 5 - Jeff Nelson - 10/10/98 NSH vs. FLA 6 - Patrick Traverse - 10/10/98 OTT at COL 7 - Mark Greig - 1/7/99 PHI vs. NYI 8 - Radim Bicanek - 2/1/99 OTT at VAN 9 - Robert Petrovicky - 2/15/99 TB at NYI 10 - Andrei Vasilyev - 3/5/99 PHX vs. DET 11 - Todd Hlushko - 4/25/99 PIT vs. NJ 12 - Patrick Lalime - 10/2/99 OTT at PHI 13 - Glen Metropolit - 10/2/99 WSH at FLA 14 - Kevin Miller - 10/31/99 OTT at ATL 15 - Karel Rachunek - 10/31/99 OTT at ATL 16 - Erich Goldmann - 11/11/99 OTT vs. NSH 17 - Yves Sarault - 11/20/99 OTT at NJ 18 - John Gruden - 11/30/99 OTT vs. CHI 19 - Mike Fountain - 12/3/99 OTT at NJ 20 - Dave Van Drunen - 12/13/99 OTT at TOR 21 - Petr Schastlivy - 1/3/00 OTT vs. NJ 22 - John Emmons - 1/6/00 OTT vs. PHX 23 - Slava Butsayev - 1/28/00 OTT at BUF 24 - Aris Brimanis - 2/13/00 NYI at NYR 25 - Dieter Kochan - 3/28/00 TB vs. DAL 26 - Jani Hurme - 4/9/00 OTT vs. TB 27 - Shane Hnidy - 10/5/00 OTT at BOS 28 - Donald MacLean - 10/14/00 TOR vs. OTT 29 - David Oliver - 11/4/00 OTT vs. CBJ 30 - Jamie Rivers - 11/12/00 OTT at CAR 31 - Sean Gagnon - 11/26/00 OTT at NYR 32 - Joel Bouchard - 11/29/00 PHX at COL 33 - Mike Crowley - 12/8/00 ANA at MIN 34 - Ivan Ciernik - 1/23/01 OTT at NYI 35 - Darren Rumble - 2/6/01 STL at COL 36 - Joel Kwiatkowski - 2/19/01 OTT at BUF 37 - Todd White - 2/19/01 OTT at BUF 38 - Chris Neil - 10/3/01 OTT at TOR 39 - Toni Dahlman - 1/3/02 OTT vs. WSH 40 - Steve Martins - 1/11/02 OTT at FLA 41 - Kip Miller - 1/17/02 NYI at SJ 42 - Jody Hull - 2/4/02 OTT at TB 43 - Dmitry Afanasenkov - 2/6/02 TB at FLA 44 - Simon Lajeunesse - 3/7/02 OTT at SJ 45 - Martin Prusek - 3/23/02 OTT vs. ATL 46 - Chris Bala - 3/27/02 OTT at NYI 47 - Neil Little - 3/28/02 PHI at CAR 48 - Josh Langfeld - 3/30/02 OTT vs. TB 49 - Gaetan Royer - 4/1/02 TB vs. NYR 50 - Jason Spezza - 10/24/02 OTT at BOS 51 - Sean Avery - 10/29/02 DET vs. SJ 52 - Jason Doig - 12/3/02 WSH at PIT 53 - Jason Williams - 12/5/02 DET at PHX 54 - Patrick Boileau - 12/19/02 DET vs. DAL 55 - Stacy Roest - 2/20/03 DET vs. EDM 56 - Wade Brookbank - 10/9/03 NSH vs. ANA 57 - Julien Vauclair - 10/25/03 OTT at MTL 58 - Jiri Hudler - 10/29/03 DET vs. STL 59 - Curtis Joseph - 10/30/03 DET at NSH 60 - Darryl Bootland - 11/8/03 DET vs. NSH 61 - Mark Mowers - 11/19/03 DET vs. CBJ 62 - Nathan Robinson - 11/28/03 DET vs. NYI 63 - Blake Sloan - 12/4/03 DAL at LA 64 - Niklas Kronwall - 12/10/03 DET at BUF 65 - Ryan Barnes - 12/15/03 DET vs. FLA 66 - Chris Kelly - 2/5/04 OTT vs. TOR 67 - Marc Lamothe - 2/23/04 DET at EDM 68 - Anders Myrvold - 2/26/04 DET at CGY 69 - Mathieu Chouinard - 2/29/04 LA at ANA 70 - Brett Lebda - 10/5/05 DET vs. STL 71 - Mark Eaton - 10/5/05 NSH vs. SJ 72 - Chris Osgood - 10/29/05 DET at CHI 73 - Kyle Quincey - 11/25/05 DET at ANA 74 - Jimmy Howard - 11/28/05 DET at LA 75 - Valtteri Filppula - 12/15/05 DET at FLA 76 - Rob Collins - 12/17/05 NYI vs. COL 77 - Manny Legace - 1/5/06 DET vs. STL 78 - David Gove - 1/31/06 CAR at MTL 79 - Tomas Kopecky - 2/28/06 DET at SJ 80 - Alexandre Giroux - 3/25/06 NYR at TB 81 - Joey MacDonald - 10/19/06 DET at SJ 82 - Derek Meech - 12/7/06 DET vs. STL 83 - Matt Ellis - 12/18/06 DET at CBJ 84 - Matt Hussey - 1/26/07 DET at STL 85 - Sheldon Brookbank - 2/6/07 NSH at PIT 86 - Danny Syvret - 2/27/07 EDM vs. PHX 87 - Mark Hartigan - 11/29/07 DET vs. TB 88 - Drew MacIntyre - 12/13/07 VAN at SJ 89 - Peter Vandermeer - 2/10/08 PHX vs. NSH 90 - Jonathan Ericsson - 2/22/08 DET at CGY 91 - Garrett Stafford - 2/23/08 DET at VAN 92 - Darren Helm - 3/13/08 DET vs. DAL 93 - Mattias Ritola - 3/15/08 DET vs. NSH 94 - Clay Wilson - 3/25/08 CBJ at NSH 95 - Darren McCarty - 3/28/08 DET vs. STL 96 - Krys Kolanos - 11/4/08 MIN at SJ 97 - Landon Wilson - 11/22/08 DAL vs. ANA 98 - Bryan Helmer - 11/28/08 WSH vs. MTL 99 - Chris Chelios - 12/13/08 DET at PHX 100 - Aaron Downey - 1/29/09 DET vs. DAL

Griffins NHL Alumni - By the Numbers

Griffins graduates by season - 1996-97: 1; 1997-98: 3; 1998-99: 7; 1999-00: 15; 2000-01: 11; 2001-02: 12; 2002-03: 6; 2003-04: 14; 2004-05: 0 (NHL Lockout); 2005-06: 11; 2006-07: 6; 2007-08: 9; 2008-09: 5

Griffins graduates by NHL team (first NHL team after playing for Grand Rapids) - Detroit: 32; Ottawa: 32; Nashville and Tampa Bay: 4; New York Islanders, Phoenix, St. Louis and Washington: 3; Dallas, Philadelphia and Toronto: 2; Anaheim, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh and Vancouver: 1

1 - NHL team, out of 30, which has never had a former Griffin play for it - Colorado

2 - Sets of brothers who have played in the NHL after suiting up for the Griffins - Kevin and Kip Miller and Sheldon and Wade Brookbank

3 - Griffins games played by Ottawa Senators star Jason Spezza while making his pro debut with Grand Rapids during its 2002 Calder Cup Playoff series against Chicago. He scored his first pro goal as a Griffin then later became the team's 50th NHL graduate.

5 - One-hit wonders (played in exactly one NHL game) - Mathieu Chouinard, Erich Goldmann, Simon Lajeunesse, Dave Van Drunen and Julien Vauclair

5 - Established NHL players who spent conditioning stints with the Griffins before returning to their NHL clubs - Chris Chelios, Jody Hull, Curtis Joseph, Manny Legace and Chris Osgood

6 - Different NHL teams that Kevyn Adams, Glen Metropolit and Jamie Rivers have gone on to play for, the most of any Griffins alumni

12 - Griffins who've gone on to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup - Dmitry Afanasenkov and Darren Rumble (2004 Tampa Bay); Kevyn Adams (2006 Carolina); and Valtteri Filppula, Darren Helm, Jiri Hudler, Tomas Kopecky, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Lebda, Darren McCarty, Derek Meech and Chris Osgood (2008 Detroit). A total of 15 former Griffins were on the Red Wings' playoff roster last spring, including Mark Hartigan and "black aces" Jonathan Ericsson, Jimmy Howard, Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey and Mattias Ritola.

15 - Record number of Griffins alumni who graduated to the NHL during the 1999-2000 season

16 - Griffins goalies who've gone on to play in the NHL

17 - Players on the Griffins' 2005-06 AHL regular season championship squad who've since played in the NHL - Darryl Bootland, Matt Ellis, Valtteri Filppula, Bryan Helmer, Jimmy Howard, Jiri Hudler, Tomas Kopecky, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Lebda, Manny Legace, Joey MacDonald, Drew MacIntyre, Donald MacLean, Derek Meech, Chris Osgood, Kyle Quincey and Clay Wilson

19 - Record number of NHL teams that had a former Griffin play for them at some point during the 2007-08 season

31 - Griffins defensemen who've gone on to play in the NHL

34 - Griffins alumni who've played in the NHL this season

36 - Griffins who've earned their Wings (gone on to play for Detroit) - Sean Avery, Ryan Barnes, Patrick Boileau, Darryl Bootland, Chris Chelios, Aaron Downey, Matt Ellis, Jonathan Ericsson, Valtteri Filppula, Mark Hartigan, Darren Helm, Jimmy Howard, Jiri Hudler, Matt Hussey, Curtis Joseph, Tomas Kopecky, Niklas Kronwall, Marc Lamothe, Josh Langfeld, Brett Lebda, Manny Legace, Joey MacDonald, Donald MacLean, Darren McCarty, Derek Meech, Kevin Miller, Mark Mowers, Anders Myrvold, Chris Osgood, Kyle Quincey, Mattias Ritola, Jamie Rivers, Nathan Robinson, Stacy Roest, Garrett Stafford, Jason Williams

44 - Record number of former Griffins who appeared in an NHL contest during the 2003-04 season

48 - Players who've made their NHL debuts after playing for the Griffins, including 30 who made their debut during the same season they played in Grand Rapids

52 - Players who've used their time with the Griffins as a springboard for returning to the NHL

53 - Griffins forwards who've gone on to play in the NHL

728 - Record number of NHL games played by the Griffins' first graduate, Pavol Demitra, since departing Grand Rapids in 1997. The three-time NHL All-Star and current Vancouver Canuck also stands first among former Griffins with 282 goals, 416 assists and 698 points in the NHL since leaving the organization.

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 29, 2009


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