Excuse the lack of updates recently. If you follow my Twitter, you'll know that I didn't watch the Detroit/Florida game because I was at the Griffins game on Friday. I intended to come home and catch the midnight replay, but I happened to catch the goal that won it in overtime and decided I really had no interest in watching Bryan McCabe beat Osgood with a soft shot from a low percentage area. However, after finding out today that Detroit really controlled the play and Darren Helm had eight shots, I might just watch it down the road when it's archived on NHL Gamecenter. But that's irrelevent, because by then no one will have interest in reading about that game, so I'm not going to write about it.

I'll write about the Montreal game tomorrow. Tonight I just wanted to post some thoughts on the Griffins game I took in on Friday while they're still fresh. Grand Rapids beat Texas 4-1. Despite the lack of really top-caliber prospects, Texas was actually tops in the league before coming in. I figured it would be a good test for Grand Rapids, one of the hottest teams in the league, to play them. It's also interesting how the teams are composed. Texas is good because they have mostly older players, 26-30ish, who are in their primes but just never got good enough for the NHL. Grand Rapids is mostly young Wings' prospects with a few of those types to fill out the roster.

So everything went pretty much as expected. Texas was much stronger, but Grand Rapids controlled much of the play with their talent and speed. The Griffins came out especially hard in the first period, and really took control of the first ten minutes. The rest of the game was really back and forth, but Grand Rapids capitalized on some powerplays and Daniel Larsson made the saves he needed to make. But anyway, here's the deal. In the last game I attended, I wrote about everyone who played because I was just looking for impressions. Friday, I was just looking for a handful of players, so I'm going to focus on fewer guys, but anyone else who caught my eye will be mentioned.

Jakub Kindl -- Kindl's a good place to start, considering the news today that Niklas Kronwall is out 2-3 weeks. Detroit's said that they're not calling anyone up, but I'm not convinced Kronwall is only out for two weeks. If it's longer, I don't know if Detroit's ready for two full months of Meech. Anyway, I was really watching Kindl, and it was one of the better performances I've seen from him. His NHL readiness is always in question, but I'd like to remind people that Jonny Ericsson and Brett Lebda are our current third paring -- he wouldn't be much worse. He's like Ericsson with a lot of the stick poking defensively, but he's a better skater and he does lay on the body from time to time. But his game is definitely puck-moving, and the problem I've had with him is he doesn't always look fluid with the puck. He made the right decisions all game and looked very confident. And that confidence was probably helped out by him scoring a late goal in this game -- his first of the year. Tonight, he had three assists in a 6-3 win over Toronto. Hopefully the start to him regaining his AHL All-Star form from the first half of last season.

Cory Emmerton -- Probably the most NHL ready looking forward, great for him, but bad for the last player to have that distinction in Mattias Ritola, who I barely noticed. Emmerton was all over, centering the second/third line with powerplay and penalty kill time. Strong on faceoffs. He's really tenacious on the puck and looks like an entirely different player from the goal-scoring, playmaking Emmerton that the Wings drafted three years ago. He still has offensive talent though, and he's been on a scoring tear lately. No points for him on this night, but he did lead the team with five shots. Much, much better than opening night, just needs a little strength as he got manhandled a few times when trying to beat defensemen to the outside.

Dick Axelsson -- Depresses me to say that he looked really disinterested. This is terrible news is he told a Swedish newspaper that he's feeling homesick. Didn't express any interest in going back to Sweden, but there's definitely some thoughts swirling in his head. He mentioned the Griffins' crowds, which are strong on dollar beer Fridays, but not throughout the week. I think he's going through a bit of a culture shock with playing in front of smaller and less interested crowds than professional hockey in Sweden. Axelsson showed bursts of skill and almost scored a spectacular goal early in the first period where he drove hard to the net, cut across the crease, and put the puck just wide of the post while falling. That was his only chance though. Late in the game he was slow getting off the ice and he lost the puck a few times overhandling it. Visibly frustrated. Finished the game, but did not play today against Toronto. That either means he was hurt or a healthy scratch. It's not great to say, but given his uncertain culture shock thing, at this point you gotta hope that he's hurt a little. Note: Just read that he limped off the ice and went down the tunnel for a few shifts. Came back, though. So it sounds like he's hurt, so as long as it's not serious, it's better news than the coaches turning against him.

Jan Mursak -- I wasn't watching for him specifically, but he stood out. He's great on a line with Tatar because he has a high level of skill. Mursak is really simplifying his game though, he's more physical and he's really aggressive on the puck. And hey, his hard work was rewarded and he scored his fifth goal of the year.

Francis Pare -- Was hurt/sick for the home opener, so this was my first look at him. Another guy who is just puck hungry and his size is absolutely not an issue at this level of play. He's an interesting prospect as he has nothing that stands out about him, but he's a smart player and is overall very good. It's hard to say where he fits in at the NHL level, but in all the times I've seen him he's looked like a strong player at the AHL level. He'll need a taste at the NHL eventually, maybe next month, maybe next year. But he's a strong player and a fun guy to watch.

Tomas Tatar -- He looked great. Playing with an incredible amount of confidence -- far and away the most offensively skilled player on the ice. He had a few shifts where he was just dominant, at the heart of the cycle, dishing the puck off, getting it back, burning around defensemen. Played on the powerplay and was mostly the centerpiece of that. Got himself two assists -- after just three points in his first ten. Better yet, he had a goal and two assists tonight, giving him five points in two games. He looks like he could easily be a big producer at this level, so hopefully his performance on this night was the beginning of things to come.

Daniel Larsson -- All those trips across I-96 didn't wear on him at all, virtually perfect. He had no chance on the goal he let up. Not incredibly busy overall, but he made some huge saves. I'm a Howard fan, as readers of this blog know, but I think McCollum and Larsson are better bets to be the long-term solution. Howard gets the job done, but looks ugly doing so. Larsson and McCollum are not in that same boat. I really hope that Larsson gets an NHL start or two before the season's over. We shall see.

If you want to hear about anyone else, just drop a line in the comments. Really wanted to just look at the big names, but nobody else stood out that much. Hoping to get out to more than one game a month though, so hopefully posts like these will be more frequent.

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