Accidents hit the Grand Rapids Griffins in internet, they usually wasted no time in addressing the matter.
Following accidents to standouts Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava, the Griffins introduced in AHL veteran goaltender and two-time Calder Cup champion Dustin Tokarski on knowledgeable tryout deal Thursday. It’s a low-risk transfer for the 9-0-0-1 Griffins, who’re getting much-needed goaltending insurance coverage with somebody who ranks ninth in AHL historical past with 227 wins.
In all, Tokarski is 227-154-41 in 444 regular-season AHL video games. He’s additionally 20-7 | 1.85 | .932 within the Calder Cup Playoffs. That is additionally somebody who took on the stress that comes with being Canada’s goaltender on the IIHF World Junior Championship. He led Canada to a gold medal in 2009 and in addition carried the Spokane Chiefs to their 2008 Memorial Cup title.
Cossa, taken within the first spherical of the 2021 NHL Draft by the first-round dad or mum Detroit Purple Wings, had been off to a wonderful begin. In 4 appearances, the 22-year-old Cossa went 4-0-0 | 1.75 | .939 in a tandem with Postava, a prospect in his personal proper. After successful the Czech Extraliga championship final season with HC Kometa Brno, the 24-year-old Postava had gone 4-0-0 | 2.15 | .936 begins with the Griffins.
However Cossa is out of the lineup with an undisclosed damage. So is Postava, who left eight minutes right into a shootout loss at Chicago final Sunday afternoon after awkwardly stretching throughout the crease to cease a shot. Carter Gylander, up from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, completed that sport in Chicago after which helped the Griffins previous the visiting Toronto Marlies with a 3-2 additional time residence win Wednesday morning.
A rematch with the Marlies is ready for Friday evening at Van Andel Area (7 p.m. ET; FloHockey), the Griffins’ lone sport this weekend.
2025 Toronto Marlies vs Grand Rapids Griffins
With restoration timelines for each Cossa and Postava nonetheless publicly murky, bringing within the 36-year-old Tokarski, a 16-year veteran with 86 NHL video games to his identify, signifies that they don’t have handy over all the goaltending work to Gylander, a second-year professional. Gylander, 24, has performed simply 5 profession AHL video games, two of them previously week.
By way of a professional profession that began in 2009-10 with the Norfolk Admirals, he has stuffed quite a lot of roles. The Tampa Bay Lightning chosen him within the fifth spherical of the 2008 NHL Draft, and he turned professional having gained a Memorial Cup championship and IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal and in addition taking the Stafford Smythe Trophy as probably the most beneficial participant within the 2008 Memorial Cup event. By his third professional season, he led Norfolk on an AHL-record 28-game successful streak and thru the postseason to a Calder Cup championship.
Whereas a number of members of that powerhouse Norfolk crew, together with head coach Jon Cooper, went on to vital success with Tampa Bay, Tokarski discovered his personal path to one of the crucial scrutinized roles in all of hockey: a Montreal Canadiens goaltender within the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After Tampa Bay despatched him to Montreal in February 2013, he ultimately ended up with the Canadiens backing up Carey Value. When Value went down within the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tokarski stepped in to face the New York Rangers in Recreation 2 of the Japanese Convention Ultimate and helped the Canadiens to push the Rangers to 6 video games.
From there, although, Tokarski’s profession started to take him throughout the NHL and AHL. He discovered himself again within the AHL for the 2015-16 season after which despatched to the Anaheim Geese group, the place he performed only one NHL sport. He went from the San Diego Gulls on to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Hartford Wolf Pack throughout the subsequent three seasons.
Then got here a revival for his profession. With Hartford out of competition within the 2018-19 season and the Charlotte Checkers needing assist for prospect Alex Nedeljkovic, the Rangers reassigned him on mortgage to Charlotte. He went 7-0-0 | 1.14 | .956 down the stretch for Charlotte after which stuffed in at instances in the course of the Calder Cup Playoffs. His 5-0-0 | 1.74 | .935 postseason line helped to guide the Checkers to their Calder Cup championship.
Like lots of AHL veterans previous the age-30 mark, Tokarski has cycled by a number of stops in his profession’s second half. Since that Calder Cup championship spring run in Charlotte, he has gone on to stints with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Rochester Individuals, and Chicago Wolves. However he additionally spent all the 2021-22 season with the Buffalo Sabres and performed 29 video games and added 4 extra video games for the Pittsburgh Penguins the subsequent season.
However after a 24-game run with Rochester in 2023-24, he went unsigned the next summer season. That summer season of 2024 featured a troublesome job marketplace for goaltenders, and people challenges continued this previous offseason as properly.
So, this signing matches the same trek that Tokarski took final season. Unsigned going into the 2024-25 marketing campaign, he landed with the Wolves once they bumped into early goaltending hassle. Damage issues had hit the Carolina Hurricanes and prompted Spencer Martin’s recall from Chicago. Tokarski took over within the Chicago crease and ended up enjoying 21 video games for the Wolves. He resurfaced final season within the NHL, too, incomes a take care of the Hurricanes and going to Carolina to make six appearances.
The place does this go for the Purple Wings, Griffins, Tokarski, Cossa, and Postava? Sooner or later, each Cossa and Postava will likely be able to go, and the Detroit group must resolve how you can rearrange its depth chart at each the NHL and AHL ranges. Detroit is holding on to the Japanese Convention’s second wild-card spot at 10-7-0. However will they continue to be content material with their goaltending? Does Cossa transfer as much as Detroit in some unspecified time in the future this season? The Purple Wings will ultimately have selections to kind out. So will Tokarski, however an excellent run right here may set him up properly for a chance elsewhere.
However for now, at the very least, the Griffins as soon as once more have their goaltending image set.
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