Hockey Talk with the Grand Rapids Griffins

During the first half of the 2022-23 season, I asked the Grand Rapids Griffins questions about things that aren’t typically talked about. From the veteran rule to sitting in the penalty box, forward Joel L’Esperance and Head Coach Ben Simon took the time to answer some of my outside of the box questions.

The Penalty Box

What goes on in the mind of a player when they are sitting in the penalty box? Do they watch the game unfold? Are they replaying the penalty in their head? 

Joel L’Esperance explained that a player is more than likely watching the game and hoping his teammates do their best work on the kill. “I’m just watching the game,” said L’Esperance. “I’m just trying to wish the team luck. Hopefully, they kill the penalty off and it doesn’t cost ya.”

After a penalty is killed, a player has to go from sitting for two minutes to going full steam ahead on the ice. 

Does the mind stay sharp during those two minutes? Do a players legs get clunky or stale while sitting for that long?

According to L’Esperance, it’s not that hard to assimilate back into play. “The time between the shift is a little longer than normal but you’re watching the game, you’re paying attention to the game, your mind is still in the game.” explained L’Esperance. “It’s pretty similar to a normal shift.” 

Navigating the Veteran Rule

Since the AHL is a development league, there is a rule put in place to make sure younger and inexperienced players are getting the proper training and not being relegated to riding the bench every night. This rules is called the “Development Rule” or as many fans of the league call it, the Veteran Rule. 

According to the league, a maximum of six skaters (goaltenders not included) who entered the season with 260 games of professional experience at the start of the season are allowed to dress a night. Another caveat to the rule is at least one of those six players must have less than 320 games of professional experience. These totals are based on regular-season games. Furthermore, the league defines “professional” as playing in the AHL, NHL, and European elite leagues. 

During December and January, the Griffins had to make some tough lineup choices like sitting their captain Brian Lashoff due to the Veteran Rule. While there are many challenges a coach faces with the veteran rule, Coach Simon has found ways to deal with it and in some cases has used it to his advantage. 

Head Coach Ben Simon explained the most important part of dealing with the veteran rule is communication. “It’s just managing personalities and managing expectations and really having open lines of communication with these older guys,” said Simon. Luckily, the Griffins have veterans on the team this season who Simon affectionately refers to as “good character guys”. They are the kind of players who constantly keep the communication lines open between them and the coaching staff while also relaying the message to the rest of the team. 

Being communicative with the veterans allows them to not feel as much added pressure to stand out in both practice and games. “Honestly, that’s the last thing we want,” said Simon. “We don’t want them gripping their sticks for fear of making a mistake.” He then went on to point out that due to their experience, veterans should be the best players on the team. “The veteran players should be driving the bus, they should be carrying the heavy load, and they should have the pride to be the best player on the ice every shift and every game.”

Building a lineup while adhering to the veteran rule can be tough. However, Simon has found two key elements to making it work a bit easier- production and rest. “Who we’re playing might be based on performance, “ said Simon. “It might be giving a guy a rest.”

Sometimes You Have to Try Something New

Throughout the 2022-23 season, Grand Rapids have hit a few rough patches. Typically, they find ways to shake a bad loss off, get their mind right, and come back ready to play their hearts out next game. However, the vibe was a little different around the middle of January for the Griffins. After the Iowa Wild beat the Griffins in commanding fashion on January 11th and 13th, they were deflated and a gloomy cloud hung over the team. It felt like the Griffins were starting to give up.  

On January 14th, the heart of the Griffins appeared to be lighter and their energy more upbeat. Instead of making the team break down their loss, Coach Simon had them watch a different type of video. “It was a clip of some motivational stuff that I’ve watched over the years that kind of resonated with me,” said Coach Simon. Showing a motivational video was Simon’s way of trying to find an outside of the box way to reach the Griffins and show them how other successful people reach their goals. “Sometimes that’s good just to see how it can correlate, whether i’s baseball,” explained Simon. “Successful people do certain things. You can learn from other people and their successes.”

This new found energy allowed the Griffins to power through 60 minutes of play and shut out the Chicago Wolves, 1-0. 

I asked Simon if he thought the video helped the team win that night. He chuckled before giving the initial response, “I’d like to think so but who knows.” From Simon’s point of view, the team needed a change of pace and a reminder of who they are as players. So, he was hoping it stuck with at least a few of the players. “Sometimes that stuff works. Sometimes it does resonate with players. Sometimes it doesn’t,” said Coach Simon. 

Over the next 14 games, the Griffins went 8-4-1-1 including sweeping the best team in the Central at the time, the Texas Stars. It is clear the video Simon showed the Griffins resonated with the players. 

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