GRAND RAPIDS - It's taken more years than Corey Elkins cares to remember, but he is finally back playing hockey in Michigan.
It's not the Detroit Red Wings, but that doesn't matter at this point to the 32-year-old West Bloomfield native who has embraced his role as a veteran mentor and big goal-front presence at center this season with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
He has a one-year contract, well worth the chance after an eight-year pro hockey journey that took him across the country (AHL's Manchester Monarchs to the NHL's Los Angeles Kings) and out of it, too (Czech Republic for one season and the past five in Finland).