No, not the man-pretty one, his older brother down in Grand Rapids.

Ilari Filppula is currently leading the Griffins in points with 19 in 22 games.  He has nine goals with a ridiculous 23% shooting percentage.  Looks like Daddy Filppula always made little brother pass it to big bro for those shots, because even today Val doesn't shoot as much as he should.

I saw Ilari play a few weeks back and he looked like one of the best players on the ice.  He plays a much more up and down game than Val and was very effective in the game.

Other notes from Grand Rapids:

Cory Emmerton is an amazing +14 on an average Griffins team and tied with the team lead with 19 points.  That's pretty amazing, considering nobody is within 6 +/- points of him.

There's actually a four-way tie for the team lead in points: Fil, Emmerton, Tomas Tatar and Jan Mursek all have 19 on the year.  Mursek also stood out in the game I saw, scoring two goals.  He might be an underdog to eventually make the Wings, I liked what I saw from him. 



Tatar will be a solid player for the Wings in the future, he's got Pavel dangles.  Head's not there yet, but hopefully it comes together.

Our boy Brendan Smith seems to be having a solid start in the pro's, leading the Griffins D in scoring with 15 points, two more than Derek Meech.  Smith stood out in the game I saw with a great spin-o-rama at the blueline and other great offensive plays.  Meech could not have blended in more.  Proves he really is an AHL player. 

The one downside I see from our boys in the A is in net; Thomas McCollum is only 5-8-1 and has a pretty piss poor .889 save percentage.  I like his style and quickness but haven't watched him enough to know where it is going wrong.  Any GR locals care to comment?