DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings like what they’re seeing from their AHL affiliate.

What’s not to like about the Grand Rapids Griffins’ sizzling start – at 16-1-0-1 it’s the best in franchise history.

“They’re a very good hockey club,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “Goaltending gives them the security blanket of rescuing the team when they do make mistakes. But from what I understand, they don’t make a lot of (mistakes). They’re well-organized.”

That reflects on coach Dan Watson and his staff.

“Waddy and his coaching staff have done a really good job,” McLellan said. “I think that the veterans that have gone down there, from what I understand, there’s a rotation because there’s too many of them, they’ve handled that really well because that can derail a group really quick. You take a guy like (John) Leonard, who’s one of the top goal-scorers, all of a sudden, he’s not in a game. It’s not ideal, but those guys have really handled it well.”

Leonard leads the AHL with 15 goals and is tied for the lead with 24 points in just 15 games. He was named the league’s player of the month for November. Dominik Shine has 10 goals and 17 points in 15 games. Eduards Tralmaks has 10 goals. Amadeus Lombardi has 11 assists and 14 points in 13 games.

Sebastian Cossa (8-1-0) leads the AHL in goals-against average (1.56) and save percentage (.942).

The Griffins have overcome injuries to key players in forward Carter Mazur and goalies Michal Postava and Cossa. They’ve flourished without players many expected would spend all or part of the season in Grand Rapids – Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Emmitt Finnie, Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who was reassigned to the Griffins after starting in Detroit.

“The games that I’ve watched, the veterans, you take Gus (Erik Gustafsson) and Holler (Justin Holl) and some of the others, when the kids score, they’re really excited for them and for the team,” McLellan said. “So that spirit’s really high there. Everybody wants to be in the NHL. None of the guys that have gone down there have dragged the team down. So, there’s a lot of real positives going on down there and we’re happy for them. They deserve it.”