By Kyle Kujawa –
When it comes to franchise records, longevity, professionalism and loyalty on the Grand Rapids Griffins, Joey MacDonald stands alone.
With 924 games of NHL experience on the roster, there is certainly no shortage of role models for the young players on the Griffins. Though he doesn’t wear a letter on his jersey, there’s no doubt that a large part of the team’s leadership group is none other than the man between the pipes.
MacDonald first suited up for the Griffins in 2002-03, helping the Griffins to the best record in the Western Conference and combining with Marc Lamothe to win the AHL’s Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award for outstanding team goaltending. He worked his way up the Detroit Red Wings depth chart, spending the next three seasons with the Griffins before the 2006-07 season saw him become the Red Wings’ third goaltender.
Overdue for an NHL chance, he was claimed on waivers by the Boston Bruins on Feb. 24, 2007. After seven games in Boston, a year as the starting goaltender for the NY Islanders and a brief stint in Toronto, with time in the AHL in between, MacDonald rejoined the Detroit organization for the 2010-11 season.
“I’m kind of biased,” said MacDonald. “I went to a couple other teams, but this is where my heart never really left.”
Detroit signed MacDonald as an unrestricted free agent on July 6, 2010. After 20 games in Grand Rapids and
15 with Detroit last season, he found himself with an easy decision to re-sign with the organization this summer.
“It was pretty simple,” explained MacDonald. “This is where I want to be. This is where I’ve spent seven years. I love it (in Detroit), and Grand Rapids is just an absolutely great place to live. It’s a win-win for me.“
MacDonald was set to be a key component in the Griffins lineup last season, but injuries saw him assigned to and recalled from Grand Rapids a total of 10 times on the season. While MacDonald’s ultimate goal is to be in the NHL, he would have preferred fewer trips across I-96.
“I was going up and down like a yo-yo,” he said. “It’s tough to get in a rhythm when you’re not playing as much. It’s almost like you’re playing for two teams. You’re playing for [Detroit], then you’re coming back down.”
MacDonald was far from a fill-in during his time with the Red Wings last season. His 2.58 goals against average and .917 save percentage was the best on the team, and he recorded a shutout on Mar. 17 as part of a shutout streak of 110:47. The Pictou, Nova Scotia native explained that having the right attitude is key to succeeding in that kind of situation.
“Being a backup in the NHL is tough,” said MacDonald. “You have to be loose. I see a lot of guys that are always uptight and, if they get thrown in, they get nervous.
This season, with the exception of joining Detroit as a backup for one game when his former teammate Jimmy Howard was celebrating the birth of his first child, MacDonald is happy to be getting the chance to play more often and stay in Grand Rapids.
“The season’s going pretty well so far,” MacDonald said. “I was a little disappointed in training camp when I went down with my knee acting up. I didn’t get a whole lot of exhibition games in, so when I got sent down here I was thrown right into it. But I think everything’s rolling along here pretty well.”
MacDonald is off to a strong start with the Griffins, ranking among AHL goaltending leaders with five wins (T-2nd), two shutouts (1st), 226 saves (3rd), a 2.09 goals-against average (6th) and a .934 save percentage (4th). He’s also set several franchise records, besting Howard’s games played (186), minutes (10659:17) and saves (4,489) records while becoming the first Griffins goaltender to win 100 games, doing so in a 3-0 shutout of Hamilton on Oct. 18.
He’s been pleased with how the team is improving throughout the early stretch of the schedule.
“We’re building on it,” he said. “The first couple games we had a good game, bad game, good game. I think in the last two or three, our consistency has been growing. Guys who played junior or college are getting used to playing three or four times per week.”
MacDonald has also shown this season that, no matter what jersey he’s wearing, he’ll stand up for his teammates. After a scrum broke out on the side of the Griffins net in the Oct. 28 contest against Abbotsford, he found himself going toe-to-toe with Heat goaltender Leland Irving. It was the Griffins’ second goalie fight since at least the start of the 2000-01 season; the other occurring on April 9, 2006 between Jimmy Howard and Rochester’s Michael Leighton.
“It was just one of those strange things, you don’t see too many goalie fights,” said MacDonald. “I give the kid credit for skating all the way down. He was sticking up for his teammates, and that’s what he has to do.
“The fans like that stuff, and they loved it that night.”