Danny Grant
| Danny Grant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
February 21, 1945 Fredericton, NB, CAN | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||
| Position | Left Wing | ||
| Shot | Left | ||
| Played for |
AHL Quebec Aces Fredericton Express NHL Montreal Canadiens Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings Los Angeles Kings | ||
| Playing career | 1964–1982 | ||
Daniel Frederick Grant (born February 21, 1945 in Fredericton, New Brunswick) is a Canadian former ice hockey left winger, who played in the National Hockey League for parts of fourteen seasons, most notably for the Minnesota North Stars.
After a fine junior career with the Peterborough Petes and a season and a half in the minor leagues with the Houston Apollos, Grant made the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968, playing 22 regular season games and 10 playoff games. Grant helped Montreal win the Stanley Cup in 1968.
He was then acquired by the Minnesota North Stars, and in his 1969 rookie season with the club won the NHL's Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's most outstanding rookie player, thus becoming one of only four players who won the Stanley Cup the season before winning the Calder Trophy. He would remain a star for Minnesota for six seasons, scoring nearly thirty goals a season during his tenure.
Despite this, Grant was traded in 1974 in a surprising deal for defensive forward Henry Boucha (whose attraction to the franchise may have been that he was a Minnesota native), and the trade backfired badly: Grant had his best season that season, scoring 50 goals for the Detroit Red Wings while on a line with superstar centre Marcel Dionne, and becoming only the 12th player in NHL history to accomplish that feat. However, Grant was plagued by injuries from that point on, and only played partial seasons at best thereafter. He retired after the 1979 season to coach a Tier II junior team.
In his career, Grant notched 263 goals and 535 points while playing for the Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings, and played in three All-Star Games (1969, 1970, 1971).
In 1985, he was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame.
Grant went on to coach the University of New Brunswick hockey team in 1995 and 1996, and the Halifax Mooseheads Quebec league junior team in 1998. Grant has been an assistant coach for the St. Thomas Tommies men's hockey team since the 2002–03 season.
Grant now sits on the TELUS Atlantic Canada Community Board (http://about.telus.com/community/community_boards/en/community_boards/atlantic_canada_member.html), which allocates funding to organizations which involve youth and/or technology throughout Atlantic Canada.
Awards and achievements
- Selected to the OHA-Jr. Second All-Star Team in 1965.
- Selected to the OHA-Jr. First All-Star Team in 1966.
- Stanley Cup champion in 1968.
- Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1969.
- Played in 1969, 1970 and 1971 NHL All-Star Games.
- Inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1962–63 | Peterborough Petes | OHA-Jr. | 50 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1963–64 | Peterborough Petes | OHA-Jr. | 44 | 18 | 21 | 39 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1964–65 | Peterborough Petes | OHA-Jr. | 56 | 47 | 59 | 106 | 23 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 4 | ||
| 1964–65 | Quebec Aces | AHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965–66 | Peterborough Petes | OHA-Jr. | 48 | 44 | 52 | 96 | 34 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 10 | ||
| 1965–66 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1966–67 | Houston Apollos | CPHL | 64 | 22 | 28 | 50 | 29 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 2 | ||
| 1967–68 | Houston Apollos | CPHL | 19 | 14 | 8 | 22 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 22 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 1968–69 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 75 | 31 | 34 | 65 | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1969–70 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 76 | 29 | 28 | 57 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1970–71 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 78 | 34 | 23 | 57 | 46 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 8 | ||
| 1971–72 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 78 | 18 | 25 | 43 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1972–73 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 78 | 32 | 35 | 67 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 1973–74 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 78 | 29 | 35 | 64 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1974–75 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 80 | 50 | 36 | 86 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1975–76 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 39 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1976–77 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 42 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1977–78 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1977–78 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 41 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1978–79 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 35 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1981–82 | Fredericton Express | AHL | 19 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 736 | 263 | 272 | 535 | 239 | 43 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 19 | ||||
References
| Preceded by Marcel Dionne |
Detroit Red Wings captain 1975–77 with Terry Harper, 1975–76 and Dennis Polonich, 1976–77 |
Succeeded by Dan Maloney |
| Preceded by Derek Sanderson |
Winner of the Calder Trophy 1969 |
Succeeded by Tony Esposito |
- Note: Harper served as Red Wings captain for most of the 1975–76 season, while Grant was injured and out of the lineup.
- Note: Polonich served as Red Wings captain for part of the 1976–77 season, while Grant was injured and out of the lineup.