Red Wings Assign Ouellet To Griffins
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings assigned defensemen Xavier Ouellet to the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins.
Ouellet recorded an assist in his season debut with the Red Wings on Feb. 14 vs. Boston and totaled five games with the team, recording two penalty minutes, four shots on goal, five hits, three blocked shots and three takeaways in 16:14 average time on ice. The 22-year-old defenseman has also skated in 38 games with the Griffins, recording 17 points (3-14-17), a plus-eight rating, 43 penalty minutes and 90 shots on goal. He was also named to the AHL All-Star Game for the second-straight season, picking up four points (2-2-4) for his division on Feb. 1 in Syracuse, N.Y.
Originally drafted by the Red Wings in the second round (48th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Ouellet has appeared in 30 career NHL games over the past three seasons, logging four points (2-2-4), a plus-two rating, six penalty minutes and 35 shots on goal. Over the same span with the Griffins, the third-year pro has registered 50 points (8-42-50), a plus-11 rating and 89 penalty minutes, in addition to six points (1-5-6) and 12 penalty minutes in 24 career AHL postseason games.
Prior to his professional career, Ouellet spent four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, recording 160 points (41-119-160), a plus-61 rating and 177 penalty minutes in 223 games played with the Montreal Juniors and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada from 2009-13. He was a 2010 QMJHL All-Rookie Team member and twice cracked the QMJHL First All-Star Team in 2012 and 2013. A native of Bayonne, France, Ouellet represents Canada internationally, most recently at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, picking up three points (1-2-3) in six games for Canada.
