AHL: Daniel youre a Star

Ever since the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Jimmy Howard has been talked of as Detroit's goaltender of the future. However, the early returns of the 2008-09 season in the AHL show that the torch may not be passed from Chris Osgood to Howard, it just may be to Swedish goaltender Daniel Larsson. The 22-year-old Swede has an impressive technical game and he was beating Howard in every statistical category to end November.

Larsson isn't the only impressive prospect in Grand Rapids' fold, though, the team also has a number of impressive forwards, including Ville Leino, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Mattias Ritola, and an impressive puck-moving defenseman in Jakub Kindl.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey had the opportunity to catch the Grand Rapids Griffins in action in late November and files notes on several promising prospects.

Daniel Larsson (Det), G, Grand Rapids

Just might be Detroit's starting goaltender of the future .. able to go down into the butterfly very quickly ..has good three-dimensional mobility in net: up and down, lateral, and out and back .. quick, smooth pad slides give him very good lateral movement .. able to move laterally quickly after going down into the butterfly .. able to reset quickly to the puck with pad slides and/or getting up quickly .. does a good job hugging the post when needed and keeps trailing pad on the ice to help take away the backdoor if there's a centering pass .. adept at directing rebounds in the butterfly if shot is low .. plays angles well and allows shots to hit him in the chest if the shot is high or mid-height .. only major flaw is his puckhandling, like many European goalies new to North America .. won't be surprised if Larsson leapfrogs Howard and replaces Conklin in Detroit in 2009-10, as Conklin is a UFA after this season .. entering December, he had played in over 12 games with a record of 7-2-1, 2 shutouts, a 2.52 goals-against average, and a .910 save percentage.

Jakub Kindl (Det), D, Grand Rapids

Confident puck-moving defenseman .. makes crisp, accurate breakout passes and can connect on long passes .. a smooth skater operating the point with good mobility and confident stickhandling .. very nice lateral movement at the point with the puck .. makes good offensive reads from the point and reads off his partner well .. has some speed and a little dangle with the puck to skate it through the neutral zone and into the attacking zone .. a regular on Grand Rapids' powerplay .. did see a little time on the penalty kill .. should at least have a future as an NHL team's fourth or fifth defenseman and a regular on the powerplay .. entering December, he had 4 goals and 7 assists in 22 games and a plus-4 rating, second worst on the Griffins.

Justin Abdelkader (Det), C, Grand Rapids

Good size, good two-way player .. adept at protecting the puck along the boards using his size and some nifty stickhandling combined with spins and switchbacks .. has good offensive vision in the open ice and from the half boards to set up teammates for chances and goals .. has decent speed with the puck .. plays with some physicality and can make some nice hits .. responsible forechecker who doesn't backtrack but instead maintains the pressure .. played on Grand Rapids' second powerplay unit and on the penalty kill .. 21-year-old rookie out of Michigan State is a likely candidate to be a third-liner for Detroit someday .. entering December, he had 9 goals and 5 assists in 22 games.

Darren Helm (Det), C, Grand Rapids

Viewing was not as impressive as Helm's high-energy efforts the second half of last season, but still pretty good .. model skater .. has very good knee bend in his strides, giving him very good power and speed .. excellent stride extension .. has powerful starts and stops, thanks again to the knee bend .. also able to get very low in his turns, allowing him to make very tight turns at speed .. active on the forecheck .. able to use his speed with the puck to draw penalties .. played on both Grand Rapids' powerplay and penalty kill .. only listed at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, but actually has a very impressive, solid build .. entering December, he had 5 goals and 13 assists in 19 games .. had two brief call-ups to Detroit, one in October and one in November, but held pointless in three games for Detroit entering December.

Ville Leino (Det), LW, Grand Rapids

Second overall in scoring in the Finnish Elite League in 2007-08, scoring 28 goals and 49 assists in 55 games for Jokerit .. good offensive vision and playmaking skills .. able to make crisp passes but also feather passes when necessary, including saucers .. adept at using his agility along the boards employing spins and switchbacks to evade checks .. an adept stickhandler with some dangle that can get off quick shots .. has a nice wristshot and one-timer .. played on Grand Rapids' powerplay and saw some time on the penalty kill .. entering December, the 25-year-old Finn led Grand Rapids in scoring with 4 goals and 16 assists in 20 games, good for 34th overall in AHL scoring.

Mattias Ritola (Det), LW, Grand Rapids

As to be expected, he is playing a bigger role in his second AHL season .. has good speed with the puck .. has some dangle to his game, but stickhandles too much while skating the puck .. has good offensive vision to find open teammates to set them up or spring them for breakaways .. possesses fine agility in open ice and can make tight switchbacks to ditch defenders .. willing to venture into traffic with the puck and does a pretty good job of maintaining the puck along the boards .. played on the Grand Rapids powerplay and saw some icetime on the penalty kill .. has some offensive skill, but will make the NHL as a two-way player .. entering December, he had 7 goals and 7 assists in 22 games.

Cory Emmerton (Det), C, Grand Rapids

Playing as a two-way, third-line center in his rookie AHL season .. stays fairly low and has some power in his strides .. active on the forecheck down low, but rarely finishes his checks with a bodycheck .. decent effort on the forecheck was exceeded by his effort on the backcheck .. has some offensive vision to find open teammates and make plays with crisp passes .. possesses a fairly hard one-timer .. AHL rookie season has potential of making Emmerton a good two-way center long term .. entering December, he had 12 assists in 20 games.

Evan McGrath (Det), C/LW, Grand Rapids

In his third season in the AHL, and has gradually made a bigger impact each season .. still needs to improve his skating a bit .. has decent top speed, but acceleration lacks power and is only okay .. puts in a good effort on the forecheck and can pounce on opportunities that arise .. passing is crisp, but needs to make decisions quicker .. also tries to force plays at times .. played on Grand Rapids' second powerplay unit .. on pace to improve his point totals from 2007-08, but looking more and more like a career AHL-caliber player .. entering December, he had 4 goals and 7 assists in 15 games.

Sergei Kolosov (Det), D, Grand Rapids

Big Belarusian defenseman can't be accused of running around .. wide-tracked skater who never seems to move too fast .. shows a little speed from time to time, but generally seems to be in energy-conservation mode .. displayed little offensive creativity .. made some fairly crisp, accurate breakout passes, but often just wrapped it along the boards .. played some on the Grand Rapids penalty kill .. adequate speed backwards and can get down reasonably low .. has previous North American experience in two seasons with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL but played for Dynamo Minsk in 2007-08 .. would like to see Kolosov play with the physicality and intensity he displayed at the 2005 World Junior Championships .. also known as Siarhai Kolasau .. entering December, he 3 assists in 16 games.

Aaron Gagnon (Dal), C, Grand Rapids

Dallas Stars prospect playing in Grand Rapids system .. has improved his acceleration since last season .. displayed good quickness to get to loose pucks, although got upright on the third or fourth stride at times unnecessarily .. employed some good speed bursts with the puck, too, to skate it out after helping his defensemen low .. still has good top speed and used it as F1 on the forecheck .. a regular on the Griffins' penalty kill .. has a crisp wristshot, but needs to make sure he hits the net .. little reason why Gagnon shouldn't be Texas's third-line center next year when Dallas gets its own AHL affiliate in Austin .. if Gagnon has an NHL future, it's looking more and more like a fourth-liner .. entering December, he had 2 goals in 11 games.