Derek Grant has truly found a home with the Anaheim Ducks. After a long, drawn-out start to his career, the modest centreman finally resides among the Ducks fourth-line. From there, Grant has added a fresh sense of stability to the team’s lineup. This comes after appearing on six different teams in only seven NHL seasons. The journeyman Derek Grant, though, seems to finally be docking ship in Anaheim.
Derek Grant has Settled in with the Anaheim Ducks
Well-Traveled Career
Since being selected 114th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators, Grant has become quite a drifter. He played 25 games with the Senators and spent his fair share of time with the AHL Binghamton Senators, even being part of the 2013 Calder Cup-winning team. Through his time with the NHL’s Senators, though, he only mounted a meager two assists.
In 2015 he signed to play with the Calgary flames via free agency. In 15 games with them, he only recorded a single assist. He left the team in free agency the following summer.
He signed another one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres that following summer. With the Sabers, he played a career-high 40 NHL games but still only managed 3 assists in the season. And once again, he left the team as a free agent the following summer.
Move to Anaheim
In July 2017 Grant signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Anaheim Ducks. He’d go on to play in 66 games with the Ducks, helping to validate the move. It was through-and-through his best year thus far. Not only did he appear in more games than ever before, but he also netted a career-high 24 points, evenly split.
As was becoming tradition, though, Grant did leave the Ducks in the following offseason. He ended up signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins, appearing in 25 games with the team last season. He scored two goals and three assists before being traded back to Anaheim. Upon his return to Anaheim, he played in 31 more games and netted two more goals and seven more assists.
Since being reacquired, Derek Grant has found a home with the Anaheim Ducks. Scoring his first NHL goal with the ducks on his first tour with the Ducks. His first goal came after playing in 92 NHL games he finally broke through with the ducks in 2017. In 2017-18 season he scored 24 points with the Anaheim Ducks (12g, 12a). He has since left the team as a free agent to the Pittsburgh Penguins but returned via trade and signed a one-year deal.
This Year
In 21 games for the Ducks this season, Grant has scored five goals and three assists. He’s clearly starting to find his stride now that he’s settled in with Anaheim. The team has used him on their penalty-kill, which has found great success, and he’s thriving at the faceoff dot with a faceoff-percentage of 53.5 percent. While he hasn’t dazzled by any means, his productivity on the fourth-line represents the fruits of a very tedious, often unforgiving career.
The goal that made it 5-3 Ducks: @DGrant57 shows some soccer-like skills with the chest. #LetsGoDucks pic.twitter.com/q1tnUb8CdY
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) October 30, 2019
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