Coming off historic regular season, Griffins ready for 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs

DETROIT -- The Grand Rapids Griffins take pride in putting together one of the most successful regular seasons in American Hockey League history. And now, as they prepare to face the Manitoba Moose in the Central Division Semifinals, they’re determined to rely on what’s made them successful over the past six-plus months in their pursuit of being the last team standing in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.

“Obviously, everything is under a microscope right now, but we’re always trying to give our guys the best information possible to go out and win hockey games,” Watson told DetroitRedWings.com on Wednesday. “Throughout the year, there might be moments in time when we didn’t show as much video on an opposing team because we focused on ourselves a lot. So, we’ll show more video on Manitoba to help us prepare, but it’s still focusing on what we have to do. I still think that’s the key. It’s how we’ve operated all year. The regular season is there to fine-tune and grow your game, but now it’s about putting everything into place and seeing how far we’ve come.”

Securing a Calder Cup Playoffs berth for the third straight campaign under Watson, Grand Rapids went 51-16-4-1 (107 points) in 2025-26 -- the best regular-season record in franchise history. In the process, the Detroit Red Wings’ AHL affiliate finished first in the Central Division, first in the Western Conference and second overall in the AHL.

Watson credited his players for keeping things even-keel all season long, an approach he believes enabled them to enjoy the success they had while not getting too caught up in it.

“Very impressed with their mindset and willingness to come and work,” he said. “Whether it was a practice day, game day or an off day, they took everything very seriously. Not only did that show the mature group we have, but it also showed any prospects that were here the right way to do it. That’s just right from our leadership group and experienced players who came in and set the tone right away.”

With a good mix of veterans and young talent, Grand Rapids has all the right ingredients to do something special this postseason. Several of the club’s coaches and players also know what it takes to reach the top of the mountain, with experience in championship runs across the pro, college, junior or international levels.

“We have a strong lineup,” Watson said. “There’s a lot of depth there. There are a lot of players that can move in and out or up and down the lineup…I’m just excited to see how this group gels together before we play a playoff game and how they prepare for it. As a coach, it’s a luxury that we can tinker or play around with lines as we need to. That’s the exciting part; you want the depth and those tough decisions of who to play or who might be out. That means you’re going to be in a good spot.”

Like the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the intensity ramps up and the game tightens during the Calder Cup Playoffs. In his opinion, Watson noted puck management and an attention to detail in all three zones could be the biggest difference-maker for his group.

“Really, that’s going to be critical for any team to have playoff success,” Watson said. “The other thing that we did well during the regular season was defend, and we need to make sure that we are defending as hard as we possibly can. Again, owning the middle of the ice much like Manitoba does, making sure there are no free looks or easy looks because they have guys who can put the puck in the back of the net. Those two things stand out to me, then our compete level, especially right away. They’ve already played three games. Their backs were against the wall for two of them, so they already know what that feeling feels like.”

For the Griffins though, the feeling of how things ended last May -- a three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Stars in the 2025 Central Division Semifinals -- still stings. So, they’re going to try to harness that as motivation and fuel this spring.

“Last year certainly didn’t go the way we wanted to,” Watson said. “That Texas team was a very good team, obviously, but that left a sour taste. The guys that were here last year know that. John Leonard played in the Calder Cup Finals [with the Charlotte Checkers] last year, so I know he’s going to be able to share his experience on how hard it was to get there. And for the guys who have been here the last three years to the playoffs, they kind of know what to expect. Each series, over the past three years, all very different and all tough in their own way.”

Grand Rapids was 6-1-1-0 in the regular-season series against Manitoba, the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Hockeytown faithful can follow along on DetroitRedWings.com and GriffinsHockey.com throughout this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs.  

“The Moose do a really good job of clogging up the middle of the ice, especially in the defensive zone with their sticks,” Watson said. “They’ve got some big defensemen who like to box out, so that’s going to be a challenge for us. They’re very good off the rush. We’re going to make sure that we manage pucks throughout the neutral zone. We don’t want to shorten the ice for them or give them easy offense. They also work extremely hard…We’ve got our work cut out for us.”