GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Mitch Callahan has been an agitator, grinder and king of the gruesome toothless selfie in his years with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

He has been underappreciated but a fan favorite and a support player but a vital source to success. Coach Jeff Blashill said Callahan has developed more than any other player in his three seasons as coach, but yet he remains stuck just below the surface of the NHL thanks to a logjam of forwards in Detroit.

Callahan continues to evolve, which is imperative at age 24 and in his fourth AHL season. He is the workhorse on a top line with Teemu Pulkkinen and Andy Miele, plays on all the special teams and has gradually gone from merry prankster to one of the team leaders.

More than ever, the success of the Griffins is tied to the success of Callahan.

“The challenge is, when you’re on a top couple lines and on both special teams, you have to be elite every night,” Blashill said. “It’s no different than, say, (Riley) Sheehan and (Tomas) Jurco coming back last year and my talk to them being, ‘Take the step from being a support player to a go-to guy.’

“Mitch needs to make sure that his level of play every single night is elite in order to be a go-to guy. I think he’s taking steps toward that, but I think he has to continue to strive to make sure he’s there every night.”

As the Griffins prepare to host Toronto on Friday, Callahan is tied for second on the team in scoring (10-8-18) and a plus-minus of plus-5, fourth best on the team. His penalty minutes are way down, from 103, 93 and 51 the past three seasons to 16 minutes in 25 games this season, as his value is greater on the ice than as an agitator often in the box.

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The 6-foot, 190-pound Callahan, drafted in the sixth round (180th overall) by the Red Wings in 2009, enjoyed a breakout season with the Griffins last year with 44 points (26-18-40) and earned a one-game appearance with the Red Wings in his NHL debut in late March. A week later, the left winger received national attention when he posted a photo of himself on Twitter minutes after he was hit in the mouth on a slap shot that broke his jaw along with 10 teeth.

The Red Wings expected to have one forward position available when they broke camp this fall, and that ultimately went to Andrej Nestrasil, who beat out Callahan and Landon Ferraro. Callahan then surprisingly cleared waivers, which brought him back to Grand Rapids and an immediate sit-down with Blashill.

“Once the Wings sent me down, he brought me in one-on-one and said how he plans to utilize me a lot this year,” Callahan said. “He said he is depending on me to be great in the penalty kill, power play and five-on-fives especially in the last few minutes of the game. He told me to be ready, to be great every night and to be consistent. And if I do all those things, I will help out this team and help my chances of playing in the NHL.”

Along with it, Callahan had it quickly shake off the disappointment of not making the Red Wings.

“Those are things you can’t control,” he said. “They have lots of numbers up there, and we have a lot of good young players here, too.

“It’s tough to crack that lineup, but at the same time, we just have to be great here and take that step here to get to the next step. They don’t want to call us up just to call us up. They want us to be able to play and be good at that level.”

Callahan has thrived on a line with two high scorers in Pulkkinen, who is sixth in scoring (11-15-26), and Miele, a former Hobey Baker Award winner who was third in the league in scoring last season with Portland. Callahan digs out the pucks and is sturdy and capable in front of the net.

“He’s a hard-nosed guy and he knows his role and sticks to it and so you know what he’ll do,” Miele said.

Callahan still has fun – he delivered a shaving cream pie to the face of top prospect Anthony Mantha after his first game last month – but he also understands the need to grow with experience.

“I think I have a little bit of respect in the locker room voicing my opinion because I’ve been here, but we have older guys like Jeff Hoggan and Brennan Evans who are mostly the vocal guys,” Callahan said. “I try and lead by example. It is one thing to say something, but to go out and do something can show character as well. That also shows leadership and that’s what I try and mostly focus on.”

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.