Griffins Begin Home Schedule this Weekend
AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Begin Home Schedule this Weekend

Published on October 6, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins right wing Dominik Shine vs. the Manitoba Moose
Grand Rapids Griffins right wing Dominik Shine vs. the Manitoba Moose
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Nicolas Carrillo)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS (1-0-1-0) vs. Manitoba Moose (2-0-0-0) // Fri., Oct. 9 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 6:45 p.m. on Friday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey on Friday

Season Series: First of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 86-48-1-2-10 Overall, 45-21-1-2-7 Home

NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids will begin its home portion of the regular season with the Home Opener presented by Huntington Bank. In addition to a magnet schedule giveaway, fans are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy a special pregame show that includes a full-team introduction.

GRIFFINS at Milwaukee Admirals (1-0-0-0) // Sat., Oct. 10 // 7 p.m. EDT // Panther Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 6:45 p.m. EDT on Saturday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey on Saturday

Season Series: First of 10 meetings overall, first of five at Panther Arena

All-Time Series: 123-90-7-12-8 Overall, 56-49-5-7-5 Road

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: The Griffins have met the Admirals 240 times heading into the campaign, the most of any opponent. In addition, the 123 victories over Milwaukee are also the most of any foe.

GRIFFINS vs. Chicago Wolves (0-2-0-0) // Sun., Oct. 11 // 4 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey on Sunday

Season Series: First of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 110-94-2-8-6 Overall, 54-42-2-6-4 Home

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: Sunday's game will mark the conclusion of the Griffins' first-of-five three-in-threes this season.

Where It All Began: Yesterday, the Griffins hit the 30-year anniversary of their first-ever game and victory, which occurred on Oct. 5, 1996, in a 1-0 win at the Indianapolis Ice. Grand Rapids opened its inaugural campaign on the road at Market Square Arena versus the Ice and emerged with a 1-0 win behind 30 saves by Pokey Reddick and a first-period power-play goal by Michel Picard, the first goal in franchise history.

All 32 Teams Unlocked: Last Thursday with the New Jersey Devils, Amadeus Lombardi made his NHL debut, becoming the 224th former Griffin to compete in the NHL. During last Friday's season opener with the Detroit Red Wings, Anton Johansson became the 225th alum to make their NHL debut. With Sebastian Cossa making his season debut with the Utah Mammoth last Saturday, at least one former Griffin has now played for each of the NHL's 32 teams.

The Watson Supercomputer: Dan Watson was named the 12th head coach in franchise history on June 14, 2023, and enters his fourth season at the helm. The Griffins have yet to drop a season opener under Watson, continuing the trend last Friday with a 5-2 win at Cleveland. Last season, Watson became the third head coach in franchise history to reach the postseason in each of his first three full years as head boss (Jeff Blashill 2012-15 & Todd Nelson 2015-18) and is looking to become the first coach to lead the Griffins to four consecutive playoff appearances. Watson was also named the head coach of the Central Division at the AHL All-Star Classic for the second straight season, becoming the second coach in team history to attend two all-star events and the first in its AHL history. In the 2025-26 regular season, Watson led the Griffins to a Central Division title as well as a Western Conference championship with a franchise-record 51-16-4-1 (.743) mark. With Grand Rapids, Watson sports a 126-68-18-7 regular-season mark (.633) and a 9-11 postseason ledger (.450). As a head coach, the Glencoe, Ontario, native possesses a 398-180-39-20 record (.671) during the regular season and a 60-45 (.571) mark over only eight playoff campaigns.

I Shall Return: Veterans John Leonard (33-21-54) and Sheldon Dries (23-22-45) both return to the Griffins after being the team's top two point producers last season. Captain Dominik Shine (21-18-39), who finished sixth on the roster in 2025-26 with nearly a point-per-game output, also returns. The Griffins went 35-3-2-0 (.900) a season ago when Shine was in the lineup. In addition to generating 21% of the team's points, Leonard, Dries and Shine accounted for 30% of Grand Rapids' goals from a year ago. Defensively, William Lagesson is back for his third campaign after pacing all AHL defensemen and ranking third among all skaters with a plus-33 rating last season. Goaltender Michal Postava enters his second season in North America after posting a 1.71 GAA and a .937 save percentage in 25 regular-season games, which were both franchise records for a single season.

Shine On, Captain: Dominik Shine is in his 11th season with the Griffins and his second as captain, becoming just the second player in team history to reach 11 seasons (Brian Lashoff 14). During the 2025-26 AHL season, Shine finished with 39 points (21-18-39), 41 penalty minutes and a plus-25 rating, setting career highs in goals, plus-minus and shooting percentage (20.5%). He also competed in his first-ever AHL All-Star Classic, serving as an alternate captain for the Western Conference. Shine spent Feb. 28 until the end of the NHL regular season with the Detroit Red Wings and showed three goals and seven penalty minutes across a career-best 18 outings. He scored his first NHL goal on March 8 at the New Jersey Devils, becoming the fifth-oldest player in Red Wings history to score his first-career NHL goal. On the all-time regular-season franchise leaderboard, Shine ranks third in games played (525), third in goals (96), seventh in assists (128), fourth in points (224), fifth in penalty minutes (594), tied for fifth in shorthanded goals (6), tied for third in game-winners (15), tied for first in unassisted goals (10), and third in shots (907).

Pure Michigan: Several Griffins will be competing in their home state this year, as the roster features seven Michiganders in Ronnie Attard (White Lake Township), Trey Augustine (South Lyon), Kienan Draper (Bloomfield Hills), Sheldon Dries (Macomb), Sutter Muzzatti (Okemos), Dominik Shine (Detroit) and Jacob Truscott (Port Huron). In addition, the roster is comprised of seven players that competed collegiately in the Great Lakes State, including Attard (Western Michigan), Augustine (Michigan State), Draper (Michigan), Dries (Western Michigan), Nolan Moyle (Michigan), Shine (Northern Michigan) and Truscott (Michigan).

Holy Goalies: The Griffins' goalie room this year will feature a pair of young prospects in Trey Augustine and Michal Postava. Augustine, the 41st overall pick by Detroit in 2023, enters his rookie campaign, while Postava, signed in 2025 as an undrafted free agent out of Czechia, returns to the Griffins for his second season in North America. Augustine, the 2025-26 Richter Award winner as the NCAA's best goaltender, comes to Grand Rapids after an illustrious career at Michigan State, winning three Big Ten titles. As a Spartan from 2023-26, the 21-year-old went 66-25-7 with nine shutouts, a 2.40 GAA and a .922 SV% in 99 appearances. In the all-time rankings at Michigan State, Augustine places second in SV%, fifth in GAA, sixth in saves (2,838), sixth in wins and sixth in shutouts. The South Lyon, Michigan, native is also the winningest goaltender in Team USA history at the World Junior Championship, collecting a 12-1-1 record and two gold medals across three tournaments. As a rookie last season with Grand Rapids, Postava logged a 17-6-0 record during the regular season to go along with four shutouts, a 1.71 GAA and a .937 SV% in 25 outings. Along with teammate Sebastian Cossa, the duo won the 2025-26 Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award with a league-low 159 combined goals allowed. In the franchise's all-time single-season record book, Postava's 2025-26 season ranked first in GAA, first in save percentage and tied for 10th in shutouts. The 24-year-old was also named the team's starter for the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs and went 4-4 with one shutout, a 2.09 GAA and a .912 SV% in eight appearances. Throughout Postava's five-year pro career, the 6-foot-1 netminder has shown a 92-71-9 record with 16 shutouts, a 2.05 GAA and a .932 SV% in 170 regular-season contests.

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

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Images from this story

Grand Rapids Griffins right wing Dominik Shine vs. the Manitoba Moose
Grand Rapids Griffins right wing Dominik Shine vs. the Manitoba Moose
(Nicolas Carrillo)		   



American Hockey League Stories from October 6, 2026


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