Griffins 2025-26 Opening Night Roster and AHL Veteran Rule Refresher
Photo Credit: Nicolas Carrillo
On October 9, 2025, the Grand Rapids Griffins announced the opening night roster for their 30th anniversary season.
They will start the season with 22 players. Seventeen are under contract with the Detroit Red Wings, and five are under contract with the Griffins.
There is one thing coaches and general managers have to keep in mind when piecing together a game lineup, the development rule, or as many call it the “veteran rule”. The AHL briefly explains the rule on their FAQs page.
“Of the eighteen (18) skaters (not counting two goaltenders) that teams may dress for a game, at least thirteen (13) must be qualified as “development players.” Of those 13, twelve (12) must have played in 260 or fewer professional games (including AHL, NHL and European elite leagues), and one must have played in 320 or fewer professional games. All calculations for development status are based on regular-season totals as of the start of the season.”
So, no more than six veterans can dress for a game.
To break things down even further for you:
Veterans are broken down into two categories: “Veteran” and “Veteran Exempt”
Veterans have played in 321 or more professional games
Veteran Exempts have played 261-320 games
The leagues that go into that professional number are the AHL, NHL, or any of the elite leagues in Europe. ECHL numbers are not factored into this count
Below is the Griffins opening night roster for their 30th anniversary season.
Veterans are marked with a (v).
Veteran Exempts are marked with a (ve).
Captain is marked with a (C )
Alternate Captain is marked with a (A)
Forwards - 13
Tyler Angle - #77
Carson Bantle - #21
Ondrej Becher - #25
Alex Doucet - #47
Sheldon Dries (v) - #15
John Leonard (ve) - #19
Amadeus Lombardi - #93
Carter Mazur - #43
Jakub Rychlovsky - #81
Gabriel Seger - #11
Dominik Shine (v)(C) - #65
Eduards Tralmaks - #34
Austin Watson (v) - #51
Defensemen - 7
Justin Holl (v)- #3
Alex Kannok Leipert - #41
William Lagesson (ve)(A) - #37
Ian Mitchell (ve) - #55
Jacob Truscott - #20
Antti Tuomisto - #4
William Wallinder - #22
Goaltenders - 2
Sebastian Cossa - #33
Michal Postava - #35
