What the Griffins’ crease looks like if Michal Postava heads back to Detroit

With a Red Wings recall possibly coming for Michal Postava, here is how Trey Augustine, Carter Gylander, and the Griffins’ team defense measure up in net.

Shaun

November 4, 2026

4–6 minutes

By the Numbers, Grand Rapids Griffins

Michal Postava was named the AHL’s Goaltender of the Month for October on Tuesday. The same day, John Gibson left the Red Wings’ game in Tampa with a lower-body injury, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff wrote Wednesday that Postava is the logical choice to back up Daniil Tarasov. Detroit had announced no move as of Wednesday morning.

That puts a familiar question in front of the Grand Rapids Griffins, who are 8-1-1-1 and off to the third-best start in the franchise’s 31 seasons: what does this team look like in net without its best goalie? The numbers say the drop in the crease is real, but the team in front of it has done a lot to cover for it.

The gap in net

Michal Postava: 5-0, 1.20 goals-against average, .955 save percentage. First in the AHL in save percentage, second in GAA, and tied for first in wins.
Trey Augustine: 2-1-2, 2.92 GAA, .901 save percentage in five games.
Carter Gylander: 1-0, 24 saves in a 5-2 win over Cleveland on Oct. 24. He has since been reassigned to Toledo.

The Griffins are 6-0 in games started by Postava and Gylander and 2-1-2 in Augustine’s. The save-percentage gap between Postava and Augustine is 54 points; on a 30-shot night, that difference works out to about 1.6 goals.

Postava’s standard is hard to match at any level. The 24-year-old has not allowed more than three goals in any of his 30 career AHL regular-season games, and he is 22-6-0 with a 1.62 GAA and a .940 save percentage in the league. He also won his first NHL start, a 4-3 shootout in Edmonton on Oct. 26. “I think it was just a matter of time until he got his shot,” Moritz Seider told Detroit Hockey Now.

Augustine’s starts in context

Augustine’s game-by-game numbers read better than his totals. His only regulation loss came before his first pro win, a 27-save night in Rockford on Oct. 17. Since then he is 2-0-1:

Oct. 17 at Rockford: 27 saves, his first professional win.
Oct. 21 vs. Manitoba: 26 saves in a 4-3 win; one of the three goals deflected in off a Griffin’s stick.
Oct. 23 vs. Cleveland: 36 saves on 38 shots as the Monsters outshot Grand Rapids 38-23, before a 3-2 shootout decision.

Among AHL rookie goalies, he ranks sixth in save percentage, eighth in GAA, and tied for sixth in wins. The track record behind him is strong: at Michigan State he went 66-25-7 with a 2.40 GAA, a .922 save percentage, and nine shutouts in 99 appearances, and he won the 2025-26 Richter Award as the NCAA’s top goaltender. He is also Team USA’s winningest goalie at the World Juniors, 12-1-1 with two gold medals.

The fair read on a 21-year-old’s first five pro games is that the results lag his pedigree, and that five games is a small sample.

The team game is the cushion

Dan Watson’s group makes the goalie’s job easier. Through 11 games, the Griffins:

allow 2.27 goals per game, tied for third in the AHL;
own the league’s best penalty kill at 93.5%, including 28 straight kills from Oct. 9-21;
have held opponents under three goals in seven of 11 games;
score 3.82 goals per game, fourth in the league, and are 8-0 when scoring first; and
have outscored opponents 20-8 in third periods.

That part travels no matter who is in net. A penalty kill that strong takes away the easiest goals a young goalie can give up, and a top-five offense means a 2.92 GAA still wins a lot of nights.

The depth behind them

A Postava recall would leave Grand Rapids looking for a backup again. In October, the Griffins handled it two ways. They signed veteran Jamie Phillips to a professional tryout on Oct. 21; he is 8-11-3 with a 2.84 GAA and a .906 save percentage in 27 AHL games with Manitoba. They also brought Gylander back from Toledo, then returned him to the Walleye on Oct. 29 when Postava came back.

Gylander’s Grand Rapids numbers are the quiet outlier. The Oct. 24 win extended his point streak with the Griffins to 10 games (9-0-1), dating to Dec. 7, 2024. Last season he went 7-0-1 with a .942 save percentage in eight AHL games, and he is 10-1-1 with a .926 save percentage across three AHL seasons.

Last year’s safety net looked different. Sebastian Cossa, who shared the Hap Holmes Memorial Award with Postava for the AHL’s fewest goals allowed, was traded to the Utah Mammoth at the 2026 draft for the 23rd overall pick.

Mitten Hockey’s take

Nobody replaces a .955 save percentage, so the slip in net would be real. But the Griffins are built to absorb it. Our lean is that Grand Rapids stays at or near the top of the AHL through a recall, because the penalty kill and the team defense limit the damage and Augustine’s college record suggests his .901 climbs with more starts.

The hedge: a long stint in Detroit would put a heavy load on a rookie, and the shot totals are the number to watch. If Augustine keeps facing 35-plus a night, as he did against Cleveland, that is a team-defense issue more than a goaltending one, and it would be the first sign the cushion is wearing thin.

Watch

Highlights: Griffins vs. Monsters, Oct. 24 (Grand Rapids Griffins)

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Red Wings send goaltender Carter Gylander back to Grand Rapids from Toledo