“I think over the early part of the season, it’s been a good transition,” Lashoff said on Dec. 14. “I’ve learned a lot. Hopefully it’s been a good experience for the guys, especially the players who I played with last year. I know it’s definitely a different situation that not many of them probably will go through in their careers, but I’ve had a good relationship with them, from playing with them to moving into coaching.”
After serving as captain of the Griffins from 2020-23, the 33-year-old Lashoff said he believes his new role fits him very well.
“You go through the season playing a lot of the same teams every night in your division, so being able to help when it comes to that,” Lashoff said. “Also, just the temperament of the room. The different personalities we have in the room, I think me being a captain and leader of the team last year, I definitely know a lot about each one of those guys.”
As assistant coach, Lashoff mostly works with Grand Rapids’ defensemen and the penalty killing unit.
“I think killing penalties is something that takes a lot of hard work, but it can be a momentum builder for your team,” Lashoff said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys take that role really seriously. Once you have that mixture of guys taking it seriously, having that role for themselves and wanting to excel at it, I think that’s when you see penalty kills go on long stretches of good play.”
First-year Griffins head coach Dan Watson said Lashoff is an integral part of Grand Rapids’ coaching staff.
“He’s engrained in the community and organization,” Watson said about Lashoff on Dec. 14. “He was teammates with the players right now. I think that’s going to allow the communication to flow if there’s things that need to be said, maybe if they aren’t comfortable yet, coming to the head coach. They definitely go to Brian for those types of things.”
