League-Leading Griffins Set to Hit Midway Point of 30th Season
AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

League-Leading Griffins Set to Hit Midway Point of 30th Season

Published on January 13, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins against the Rockford IceHogs
Grand Rapids Griffins against the Rockford IceHogs
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Nicolas Carrillo)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS (29-2-1-1) at Milwaukee Admirals (15-14-2-1) // Tue., Jan. 13 // 8 p.m. EST // Panther Arena

GRIFFINS vs. Milwaukee Admirals // Sat., Jan. 17 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 7:45 p.m. EST on Tuesday and 6:45 p.m. on Saturday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey

Season Series: 2-0-1-0 Overall, 1-0-1-0 Home, 1-0-0-0 Road. Fourth and fifth of 12 meetings overall, third of six at Van Andel Arena, second of six at Panther Arena

All-Time Series: 119-87-7-10-8 Overall, 65-40-2-4-3 Home, 54-47-5-6-5 Road

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: The Admirals are one of the four teams to defeat the Griffins this season through 33 games. Grand Rapids will face Milwaukee in three of its next four games.

GRIFFINS vs. Rockford IceHogs (13-19-2-2) // Fri., Jan. 16 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

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

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey

Season Series: 4-0-0-0 Overall, 2-0-0-0 Home. Fifth of 10 meetings overall, third of five at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 78-52-11-11 Overall, 45-20-6-5 Home

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: Entering the week, the IceHogs are on a six-game winless streak (0-5-0-1) and are 2-7-0-1 in their last 10 games. After beginning the season 6-2-0-0, Rockford has since gone 7-17-2-2.

A Happy New Year: The Griffins have continued their league-record start with a 29-2-1-1 ledger and 60 points through 33 games. The Griffins have two more wins and three more points than any AHL team has ever had through its first 33 games (2005-06, W-B/Scranton, 27-3-2-1, 57 pts.) Grand Rapids also reached 60 points three games faster than any team in the AHL's 90-year history (2005-06, W-B/Scranton, 29-3-2-1, 61 pts. in 35 games). The team saw its franchise-record tying 15-game win streak from Nov. 22-Dec. 27 come to an end in overtime last Wednesday, which also tied for the sixth-longest run in AHL history. In addition, the Griffins' 19-game point streak from Nov. 22-Jan. 7 (18-0-1-0) ended last Friday, which tied for the longest run in franchise history. The Griffins are 14-0-0-1 on the road and 15-2-1-0 at home, which both are franchise records to begin a season. The 15-game point streak on the road is one game shy of tying the league record of 16 set by the Milwaukee Admirals in 2010-11. Grand Rapids ranks first in the AHL in points (60), has a 20-point cushion over Chicago for first place in the Central Division, and is 30 points up on a playoff spot.

Leaders of the Pack: The Griffins currently lead the Central Division and are 20 points above second-place Chicago and 30 points up on a playoff spot. Grand Rapids is 22-1-1-1 against its division rivals and has outscored them 97-46, suffering its first regulation defeat against the division last Friday against Texas. Last season, it took the Griffins 46 games to reach 22 wins against the division (22-20-3-1) compared to 24 games this season. Thirty-one of the remaining 39 games for Grand Rapids will be against the Central Division (79.5%), which includes the next six contests. The Griffins will see the most games against the Milwaukee Admirals (9) followed by the Chicago Wolves (6) and Rockford IceHogs (6).

Slowed Down a Smidge: Grand Rapids was shut out for the first time this season last Friday against Texas and now has just 12 goals in its last five contests (2.40 per game) compared to 21 goals in the previous five outings (4.20 per game from Dec. 14-27). However, the Griffins still rank first in the AHL with 3.76 goals per game. The team has outscored its opponents 124-58 and is 21-0 when scoring the game's first goal. Last season, it took Grand Rapids 36 games to eclipse 100 goals compared to just 26 outings this campaign. The Griffins have outscored their opponents 58-29 at home, while possessing a 66-29 advantage on the road. Grand Rapids has its largest scoring margin against its opponents in the third period (50-20). In addition to ranking first in goals, the Griffins are tied for 11th in shots per game (29.5). John Leonard leads the team and ranks third in the AHL with 20 goals, while Dominik Shine and Eduards Tralmaks are tied for second on the roster with 14.

Johnny Bravo: John Leonard has 32 points and 20 goals in 24 games with the Griffins this season to go along with two penalty minutes, seven game-winners and a plus-14 rating. In the AHL rankings, the sixth-year veteran is tied for 14th in points, third in goals and first in game-winners. Leonard has jumped back and forth between Detroit and Grand Rapids since Dec. 16, showing four points (2-2-4) in nine games with the Red Wings. He was named the Fortune Tires "Expect More" AHL Player of the Month for November with 16 points (9-7-16) in 10 games and became just the third player in franchise history to win the award, joining Riley Barber (April 2022) and Chris Minard (Feb. 2012). Leonard's career-best 10-game point streak from Oct. 10-Nov. 19 set a franchise record to begin both a season and a Griffins career, and his career-high six-game goal streak from Oct. 11-Nov. 2 tied for the third-longest run in franchise history. Throughout parts of six AHL seasons since 2020-21, Leonard has 203 points (103-100-203) in 273 games.

Power Struggle: On Dec. 30, the Griffins ranked eighth in the AHL with a power-play percentage of 22.7%. However, Grand Rapids has been held without a power-play goal in five straight games from Dec. 31-Jan. 9 (0-for-11) and has just three man-advantage goals in its last 11 outings (3-for-34, 8.9%). The Griffins now rank 11th in the power-play rankings at 20.2%. The road power play places fourth at 26.8% but the home power play ranks 31st out of 32 teams at 11.6%, which includes a 0-for-14 mark in its last seven home games. Dominik Shine and Eduards Tralmaks are both tied for the team lead with four power-play tallies.

What's The Password?: The Griffins' defense is the best in the AHL, as it ranks first with 1.76 goals allowed per contest. Providence is the closest to Grand Rapids with 2.09 goals allowed per game. Grand Rapids shut out its opponent in two straight games from Dec. 21-27 for the first time since Feb. 15-17, 2018. The Griffins have allowed more than two goals just four times in their last 27 games and have averaged just 1.36 goals allowed in their last 11 outings, which includes three shutouts. In fact, the team has allowed more than two goals just six times all season (18.2%). In addition, the team's penalty kill is first in the AHL at 87.5% (84-for-96). In net, Sebastian Cossa sports a 1.68 GAA with a .937 save percentage, while first-year netminder Michal Postava possesses a 1.96 GAA and a .936 save percentage. Grand Rapids also has three of the top eight plus-minus ratings in the AHL and five of the top seven ratings among defensemen. The Griffins have four defensemen who have played at least 100 games in the NHL in Erik Gustafsson (516), Justin Holl (396), Ian Mitchell (110), and William Lagesson (107), totaling 1,129 appearances.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard-Tied for 10th in plus-minus (+17), tied for third in game-winners (5), tied for ninth among rookies in assists (13), tied for 14th among rookies in points (21), second among rookies in plus-minus (+17), eighth among rookies in shots (73), first among rookies in game-winners (5)

Sebastian Cossa-First in GAA (1.68), tied for first in save percentage (.937), first in shutouts (4), first in wins (17)

x Sheldon Dries-Tied for 14th in plus-minus (+16)

Erik Gustafsson-Tied for sixth in plus-minus (+19), tied for 10th among defensemen in points (20), fifth among defensemen in assists (18), tied for third among defensemen in plus-minus (+19), tied for seventh among defensemen in power-play goals (2)

Justin Holl-Fifth in plus-minus (+20), second among defensemen in plus-minus (+20)

William Lagesson-Tied for sixth in plus-minus (+19), tied for third among defensemen in plus-minus (+19)

John Leonard-Third in goals (20), tied for 14th in points (32), tied for first in shorthanded goals (3), first in game-winners (7)

Ian Mitchell-Tied for 14th in plus-minus (+16), tied for sixth among defensemen in plus-minus (+16)

Dominik Shine-Tied for 14th in goals (14), tied for 10th in plus-minus (+17)

Eduards Tralmaks-Tied for 14th in goals (14), tied for 14th in plus-minus (+16)

Antti Tuomisto-Tied for 10th in plus-minus (+17), tied for fifth among defensemen in goals (6), tied for 15th among defensemen in points (18), fifth among defensemen in plus-minus (+17)

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

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Images from this story

Grand Rapids Griffins against the Rockford IceHogs
Grand Rapids Griffins against the Rockford IceHogs
(Nicolas Carrillo)		   



American Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2026


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