Griffins NHL Alumni
Pipeline to the NHL
Since the Griffins' inception in 1996, 218 different players - 29 goalies and 189 skaters - have gone on to play at least one game in the National Hockey League.
Some of the more accomplished members of the Griffins' alumni class include 21 Stanley Cup champions, two members of the Triple Gold Club -- Stanley Cup champ, Olympic gold, World Championship gold -- (Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula), one Calder Trophy winner (Moritz Seider), another Calder Trophy finalist (Jimmy Howard), and two Lady Byng winners (Pavol Demitra and Jiri Hudler).
A few facts of note:
- A Griffins alumnus has had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup in each of the last six years, 12 times in the last 18 years, and 14 times in the last 21 seasons.
- Fifteen former Griffins were on the playoff roster of the 2008 Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, nine of whom had their names engraved on the Cup: Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Brett Lebda, Derek Meech, Darren Helm, Tomas Kopecky, Darren McCarty and Chris Osgood.
- Thirty-six Griffins alumni logged ice time in the NHL during the 2024-25 season.
- With the exclusion of the Utah Mammoth, every NHL team has had a former Griffin play for it at some point.
- One hundred sixteen players have made their NHL debuts after first playing for the Griffins, including 74 who made their debut during the same season they played in Grand Rapids.
- On Oct. 4, 2018, defensemen Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak all made their NHL debuts with Detroit, marking the first time that three players joined the Griffins' NHL alumni ranks on the same day. That accomplishment was duplicated on Oct. 9, 2025, when Emmitt Finnie, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard wore the Winged Wheel for the first time.
- In addition, three Griffins head coaches - Guy Charron, Bruce Cassidy and Jeff Blashill - moved on to the NHL the season after winning Coach of the Year honors in Grand Rapids, while three assistant coaches eventually advanced to assistant positions in the NHL (Curtis Hunt, Kelly Miller and Todd Nelson). Cassidy also won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach in 2019-20 while with Boston, before winning the Stanley Cup as Vegas' head coach in 2023.
| Graduate # | Player | NHL Debut/Return | 2025-26 NHL Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 (cs) | 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 (cs) | 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 (cs) | 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 (cs) | 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 (cs) | 12/13/08 DET at PHX | - |
| 100 | Aaron Downey | 1/29/09 DET vs. DAL | - |
| 101 | Justin Abdelkader | 1/31/09 DET at WSH | - |
| 102 | Ville Leino* | 1/31/09 DET at WSH | - |
| 103 | Aaron Gagnon* | 10/16/09 DAL vs. BOS | - |
| 104 | Scott Parse* | 10/24/09 LA at PHX | - |
| 105 | Doug Janik | 11/3/09 DET vs. BOS | - |
| 106 | Ryan Keller* | 11/25/09 OTT at NJ | - |
| 107 | Jakub Kindl* | 12/3/09 DET vs. EDM | - |
| 108 | Kris Newbury | 12/14/09 DET vs. PHX | - |
| 109 | Darren Haydar | 2/10/10 COL vs. ATL | - |
| 110 | Andreas Lilja (cs) | 3/1/10 DET at COL | - |
| 111 | Jeremy Williams | 10/24/10 NYR vs. NJ | - |
| 112 | Jan Mursak* | 12/27/10 DET at COL | - |
| 113 | Chris Mueller* | 12/28/10 NSH vs. DAL | - |
| 114 | Tomas Tatar* | 12/31/10 DET vs. NYI | - |
| 115 | Cory Emmerton* | 1/22/11 DET vs. CHI | - |
| 116 | Patrick Rissmiller | 2/23/11 ATL at BUF | - |
| 117 | Tom McCollum* | 3/30/11 DET vs. STL | - |
| 118 | Gustav Nyquist* | 11/1/11 DET vs. MIN | Winnipeg |
| 119 | Fabian Brunnstrom | 11/5/11 DET vs. ANA | - |
| 120 | Brendan Smith* | 11/17/11 DET at SJ | - |
| 121 | Mark Cullen | 11/29/11 FLA at CAR | - |
| 122 | Chris Conner | 12/2/11 DET at BUF | - |
| 123 | Joakim Andersson* | 12/27/11 DET vs. STL | - |
| 124 | Ty Conklin | 3/21/12 DET at NYR | - |
| 125 | Riley Sheahan* | 4/7/12 DET vs. CHI | - |
| 126 | Brian Lashoff* | 1/21/13 DET at CBJ | - |
| 127 | Mike Knuble | 1/26/13 PHI at FLA | - |
| 128 | Jamie Tardif* | 2/2/13 BOS at TOR | - |
| 129 | Petr Mrazek* | 2/7/13 DET at STL | Anaheim |
| 130 | Jonas Gustavsson (cs) | 2/19/13 DET at NSH | - |
| 131 | Carlo Colaiacovo (cs) | 4/1/13 DET vs. COL | - |
| 132 | Danny DeKeyser | 10/2/13 DET vs. BUF | - |
| 133 | Luke Glendening* | 10/12/13 DET vs. PHI | New Jersey |
| 134 | Xavier Ouellet* | 10/21/13 DET vs. SJ | - |
| 135 | Adam Almquist* | 11/4/13 DET at WPG | - |
| 136 | Chad Billins* | 11/5/13 CGY at MIN | - |
| 137 | Patrick Eaves | 12/14/13 DET vs. PIT | - |
| 138 | Tomas Jurco* | 12/15/13 DET vs. TB | - |
| 139 | Jordin Tootoo | 12/19/13 DET vs. CGY | - |
| 140 | Alexey Marchenko* | 1/4/14 DET at DAL | - |
| 141 | Teemu Pulkkinen* | 3/14/14 DET vs. EDM | - |
| 142 | Landon Ferraro* | 3/18/14 DET vs. TOR | - |
| 143 | Calle Jarnkrok* | 3/21/14 NSH at CGY | Toronto |
| 144 | Mitch Callahan* | 3/25/14 DET at CBJ | - |
| 145 | Ryan Sproul* | 4/13/14 DET at STL | - |
| 146 | Andrej Nestrasil* | 10/9/14 DET vs. BOS | - |
| 147 | Stephen Weiss (cs) | 11/24/14 DET vs. OTT | - |
| 148 | Mattias Janmark* | 10/8/15 DAL vs. PIT | - |
| 149 | Dylan Larkin* | 10/9/15 DET vs. TOR | Detroit |
| 150 | Kevin Porter | 10/10/15 PIT at ARI | - |
| 151 | Andreas Athanasiou* | 11/8/15 DET vs. DAL | - |
| 152 | Tomas Nosek* | 12/26/15 DET at NSH | - |
| 153 | Eric Tangradi | 1/25/16 DET at NYI | - |
| 154 | Anthony Mantha* | 3/15/16 DET at PHI | Pittsburgh |
| 155 | Alan Quine* | 4/9/16 NYI vs. PHI | - |
| 156 | Martin Frk* | 10/18/16 CAR at EDM | - |
| 157 | Tyler Bertuzzi* | 11/8/16 DET at PHI | Chicago |
| 158 | Jared Coreau* | 12/3/16 DET at PIT | - |
| 159 | Nick Jensen* | 12/20/16 DET at TB | Ottawa |
| 160 | Drew Miller | 2/28/17 DET at VAN | - |
| 161 | Robbie Russo* | 3/7/17 DET at TOR | - |
| 162 | Dan Renouf* | 3/27/17 DET at CAR | - |
| 163 | Ben Street | 3/28/17 DET at CAR | - |
| 164 | Evgeny Svechnikov* | 4/3/17 DET vs. OTT | - |
| 165 | Matt Lorito* | 4/8/17 DET vs. MTL | - |
| 166 | Kyle Criscuolo* | 11/17/17 BUF at DET | - |
| 167 | Dominic Turgeon* | 1/14/18 DET at CHI | - |
| 168 | Joe Hicketts* | 1/22/18 DET at NJ | - |
| 169 | Dennis Cholowski* | 10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ | New Jersey |
| 170 | Libor Sulak* | 10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ | - |
| 171 | Filip Hronek* | 10/4/18 DET vs. CBJ | Vancouver |
| 172 | Wade Megan | 11/1/18 DET vs. NJ | - |
| 173 | Christoffer Ehn | 11/6/18 DET vs. VAN | - |
| 174 | Eddie Pasquale* | 12/4/18 TB at DET | - |
| 175 | Michael Rasmussen (cs) | 2/7/19 DET vs. VGK | Detroit |
| 176 | Filip Zadina* | 2/24/19 DET vs. SJ | - |
| 177 | Matt Puempel | 3/23/19 DET at VGK | - |
| 178 | Dylan McIlrath | 3/25/19 DET at SJ | Washington |
| 179 | Jake Chelios* | 3/29/19 DET vs. NJ | - |
| 180 | Givani Smith* | 10/25/19 DET vs. BUF | - |
| 181 | Calvin Pickard | 11/29/19 DET at PHI | Edmonton |
| 182 | Madison Bowey | 12/14/19 DET at MTL | - |
| 183 | Taro Hirose | 2/6/20 DET at BUF | - |
| 184 | Gustav Lindstrom* | 2/6/20 DET at BUF | - |
| 185 | Joe Veleno* | 4/27/21 DET at CBJ | Montreal |
| 186 | Mathias Brome | 5/7/21 DET at CBJ | - |
| 187 | Moritz Seider* | 10/14/21 DET vs. TB | Detroit |
| 188 | Riley Barber | 12/18/21 DET vs. NJ | - |
| 189 | Gemel Smith (cs) | 2/2/22 DET vs. LA | - |
| 190 | Luke Witkowski | 3/12/22 DET at CGY | - |
| 191 | Chase Pearson* | 3/24/22 DET at NYI | - |
| 192 | Harri Sateri | 4/7/22 ARI vs. VAN | - |
| 193 | Turner Elson | 4/26/22 DET at TOR | - |
| 194 | Matt Luff | 10/27/22 DET at BOS | - |
| 195 | Austin Czarnik | 11/6/22 DET at NYR | - |
| 196 | Jonatan Berggren* | 11/10/22 DET vs. NYR | Detroit |
| 197 | Magnus Hellberg (cs) | 12/14/22 DET at MIN | - |
| 198 | Elmer Soderblom | 12/14/22 DET at MIN | Detroit |
| 199 | Jakub Vrana | 2/21/23 DET at WSH | - |
| 200 | Adam Erne | 3/2/23 DET vs. SEA | Dallas |
| 201 | Alex Chiasson | 3/4/23 DET at NYI | - |
| 202 | Simon Edvinsson* | 3/18/23 DET vs. COL | Detroit |
| 203 | Alex Nedeljkovic | 3/23/23 DET vs. STL | San Jose |
| 204 | Zach Aston-Reese | 12/11/23 DET at DAL | Columbus |
| 205 | Michael Hutchinson | 12/23/23 DET at NJ | - |
| 206 | Ville Husso (cs) | 2/13/24 DET at EDM | - |
| 207 | Albert Johansson* | 10/12/24 DET vs. NSH | Detroit |
| 208 | Austin Watson | 10/14/24 DET at NYR | - |
| 209 | Marco Kasper | 10/19/24 DET at NSH | Detroit |
| 210 | Sebastian Cossa* | 12/9/24 DET at BUF | - |
| 211 | William Lagesson | 12/21/24 DET at MTL | - |
| 212 | Donovan Sebrango* | 1/16/25 OTT vs. WSH | Ottawa |
| 213 | Dominik Shine* | 1/27/25 DET vs. LA | - |
| 214 | Carter Mazur* | 3/6/25 DET vs. UTA | - |
| 215 | Emmitt Finnie* | 10/9/25 DET vs. MTL | Detroit |
| 216 | Axel Sandin-Pellikka* | 10/9/25 DET vs. MTL | Detroit |
| 217 | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard* | 10/9/25 DET vs. MTL | Detroit |
| 218 | Charle-Edouard D'Astous* | 10/25/25 TB vs. ANA | Tampa Bay |
| Bold = Has played in the NHL this season (through games of Nov. 2) |
| Italics = Had named engraved on the Stanley Cup after playing for Grand Rapids |
| * = Made NHL debut after playing for the Griffins |
| (cs) = Joined Griffins on conditioning stint from NHL club |