There are three players whose waiver exemption expires next year on the Grand Rapids Griffins, Riley Sheahan, Landon Ferraro, and Mitch Callahan. We profiled Riley Sheahan a little while ago in this article here. Mitch Callahan will be the subject of this article. Click the jump for the rest of the article.
Callahan was the Wings 6th selection, drafted 180th overall in the 2009 draft. He's got around average size at 6 feet and weighing 195 pounds. Callahan is a typical grinder. He plays a tough game, goes to the net,
competes in the corners, and checks hard. Callahan has "it" whatever that is. He's been described as having a lot of intangibles that are vital to victory. He's a player you win with, he plays hard and his compete level is infectious.
We are going to focus on Callahan in relation to the other players mentioned above. By Winged Pride's calculation there will be 4 spots open on the roster (5 if Alfredsson leaves but we don't think he's going to retire at the end of the year). We believe Cleary and Samuelsson to be gone for sure, we also think that there is a good likelihood that both Eaves and Bertuzzi are gone as well. Bertuzzi is an aging player who is waning in effectiveness. Justin Abdelkader does everything that Bertuzzi does and does it better, with the exception of having the shootout prowess.Eaves is a useful player who might be back, but he will have to earn his spot with strong play throughout the rest of the season.
With this calculation we have 4 spots. We are going to break this group up into two pairs. The first pair consists of Sheahan, Callahan, Ferraro, and Jurco two of these guys will get spots. This is the group we are going to focus on in the article. Sheahan, Callahan, and Ferraro have the advantage in this situation due to their waiver exemption expiring. However bringing this back to Callahan, he is going to have to get much better to win this spot. He plays on the third line in Grand Rapids and is effective there. But beyond that, he doesn't seem to project very well into the NHL. He is a little too small to be a grinder and his skills are extremely replaceable by players that are on the roster. The Wings would probably prefer to keep Eaves on the roster than to have Callahan up there. They will probably place him in Grand Rapids again next year assuming he doesn't get claimed by a different team. His lack of a call up this year acts as evidence to how the Red Wings feel about him right now.
competes in the corners, and checks hard. Callahan has "it" whatever that is. He's been described as having a lot of intangibles that are vital to victory. He's a player you win with, he plays hard and his compete level is infectious.
We are going to focus on Callahan in relation to the other players mentioned above. By Winged Pride's calculation there will be 4 spots open on the roster (5 if Alfredsson leaves but we don't think he's going to retire at the end of the year). We believe Cleary and Samuelsson to be gone for sure, we also think that there is a good likelihood that both Eaves and Bertuzzi are gone as well. Bertuzzi is an aging player who is waning in effectiveness. Justin Abdelkader does everything that Bertuzzi does and does it better, with the exception of having the shootout prowess.Eaves is a useful player who might be back, but he will have to earn his spot with strong play throughout the rest of the season.
With this calculation we have 4 spots. We are going to break this group up into two pairs. The first pair consists of Sheahan, Callahan, Ferraro, and Jurco two of these guys will get spots. This is the group we are going to focus on in the article. Sheahan, Callahan, and Ferraro have the advantage in this situation due to their waiver exemption expiring. However bringing this back to Callahan, he is going to have to get much better to win this spot. He plays on the third line in Grand Rapids and is effective there. But beyond that, he doesn't seem to project very well into the NHL. He is a little too small to be a grinder and his skills are extremely replaceable by players that are on the roster. The Wings would probably prefer to keep Eaves on the roster than to have Callahan up there. They will probably place him in Grand Rapids again next year assuming he doesn't get claimed by a different team. His lack of a call up this year acts as evidence to how the Red Wings feel about him right now.