Kuffner scored his first professional goal in his AHL debut during the Griffins' season-opening win on Saturday after signing with the organization as a free agent on March 12, 2019. The 23-year-old appeared in 10 NHL games with the Red Wings during the 2018-19 season following a four-year career at Princeton University, where he set the school record for goals after racking up 75 goals in 132 games from 2015-19. Kuffner totaled 152 points (75-77-152) and 20 penalty minutes in his four-year collegiate career. The Ottawa, Ontario, native was a 2019 ECAC First-Team All-Star after he was named an ECAC Second-Team All-Star as a junior in 2017-18.
Kaski, 23, is in his first season in North America after signing with the Red Wings as a free agent in May 2019 and also scored in his AHL debut in Grand Rapids' 8-5 win on Saturday. Kaski was the most-valuable player of the SM-Liiga, Finland's top professional league, during the 2018-19 season after leading defensemen and finishing sixth overall in league scoring with 51 points (19-32-51) in 59 games with the Lahti Pelicans. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound blueliner has played parts of three seasons in the SM-Liiga for HIFK Helsinki and the Pelicans, totaling 73 points (30-43-73), a plus-15 rating and 20 penalty minutes in 144 games. Kaski also made his national team debut in 2018-19 and won a gold medal with Finland at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia, collecting two assists in 10 games.
