For Grant and the Ducks, Absence Made the Heart Grow Fonder

Derek Grant had a feeling something was going to happen in the hours leading up to Trade Deadline Day last season (Feb. 24). As an unrestricted free agent at season's end, his services were in demand from teams amid a playoff push. The 6-foot-3, 206-pound center made a great case for himself by that time, ranking tied for fourth in the NHL in shorthanded goals (3) and tied for sixth in shorthanded points (4) while tallying a career-best 14 goals in 49 games with Anaheim.

The Flyers expressed interest and a deal was made. In return, the Ducks acquired forward Kyle Criscuolo and a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, which they used to select QMJHL Drummondville defenseman Thimo Nickl. It was a move Ducks Executive Vice President/General Manager Bob Murray said was "something we figured we had to do." In other words, gaining assets for a player whose contract was expiring. At the same time, it gave a veteran like Grant an opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. "Derek is a guy I pull for," Murray said later that day. "He's come a long way. He's worked his butt off to get where he's at. I hope he goes and makes a good run for it."
Not to say free agency was an afterthought at the time because building for the future is always important, but, in the moment, Grant was joining a team in the heat of a playoff push. The Flyers were riding a three-game winning streak when he switched orange jerseys. The streak would blossom into nine straight as they battled for the division lead in the Metropolitan. A few days later, the season came to a screeching halt because of COVID-19.
Ironically, Grant returned to Orange County during the pause, mere miles from his familiar workplace. Once the Return to Play was formalized, he was off to Toronto where he'd spend the next few months in playoff mode. The Flyers made it to Game 7 of the Second Round, but a 4-0 loss against the New York Islanders put an end to their season and left Grant wondering what his next chapter would look like.
Two separate stints with the same team isn't that unusual in the sports world, but three is harder to come by. Would there be a chance he'd have another opportunity of returning to the place where he'd played his best hockey? The planets began to align.
Free agency this time around was different than usual. First off, it wasn't on July 1 and there wasn't a "courting" or negotiation period leading up to the date like in years past. General Managers had to wait until the market opened at 9 a.m. PT on Oct. 9 to make their bids to available players.

Despite all the great unknowns, Grant says he slept easy the night before. His agent kept him in the loop. "It's always strange when you don't really know," he says. "You might have ideas here and there, but you can't even talk to other teams until free agency opens. It happens really fast."
Grant says the plan of attack was to narrow down his list of interested teams as quickly as possible. "There were a few teams interested," he says. "You talk to your agent and go over different scenarios prior to free agency, but sometimes it can happen within an hour or a couple hours. Things change really quickly with other guys getting picked up and getting signed. Sometimes you have to make decisions really quickly. Once I knew Anaheim was interested, we were able to get a deal we were comfortable with. It just made sense to me. It was an easy decision from there."
The result was a three-year deal that would keep the 30-year-old under contract through the 2022-23 season. It gave him something he hadn't had since he signed an entry-level deal with the Ottawa Senators nearly 10 years ago: stability.
"It's been seven years of one-year deals or something like that," Grant says. "It's definitely nice having the stability. It takes a little bit of pressure off your shoulders. This has basically been home for me for the past couple years. It's exciting to be able to stay here throughout the season."
The fit just works. Call it chemistry, or compatibility, or destiny. Whatever the case, it works. "It's always nice to go to a place you're comfortable in," he says. "I've had success here. As a team, we're right on the cusp of being a good playoff team. Last year, we were all disappointed in how it went. The core group of guys we have all think we have better to each individual and as a team. Any time you can be a part of that and dig yourselves out of a hole is always a fun challenge. I've gotten along great with everyone here in the organization. It's just a fun place to be. It's always fun to be a part of a reboot in how we play and getting ourselves out from underneath. That's what we're looking forward to doing this year."
He believes the addition of Stanley Cup champion Kevin Shattenkirk helps the team in a big way. "Any time you can get a guy of that quality, coming off a Stanley Cup run, he's going to help our group in a lot of ways with that experience," Grant says. "We don't have too many guys that have won Stanley Cups in our dressing room. The quality of player he is, it really shores up our backend. Any time you can add a good, quality player on the backend, it can help your team immensely."
He, too, gained a wealth of experience with the Flyers. "Even the regular season, the seven games I was there, the approach to the game," he says. "In Philly, when I arrived, they were on a three-game winning streak and we extended it to nine. Even in a streak like that with a team that has a bunch of older guys but also some younger players, you could see the confidence level in that group of guys. You only really see that on good teams that aren't worried if they're down two goals in a game. Hey, we're going to come back. We're not out of this. That's one thing you want every team to have, that mentality. It's not easy to come back. The playoffs are a lot more intense. Playoff experience. The whole game ramps up.
"If you've only ever played an exhibition game and then you play a regular-season game, it's another level," Grant adds. "It's the same with the playoffs. The ability and the will to show up every day for practice or the game and bring the intensity. Playoffs are such a testament to consistency. You could be up 2-0 or down 2-0 in a series, but you still need to win the next game. That mentality you can gain from playoff experience is something you can bring in and help others along that maybe might not have had that kind of experience and take that approach to every game throughout the season."
That kind of experience is invaluable, but especially crucial to impart on the team's younger players, many of which have never experienced the battles of the playoffs and are still trying to find consistency on a nightly basis. Grant made no excuses for the disappointing season the Ducks had but pointed out a few examples that should be rectified with time.
"Last year was [Dallas Eakins'] first year [as head coach]," he says. "Whenever you get a new coach, you don't necessarily know how it's going to be. We tried to change some things within our system, but sometimes that takes a while to click and gel with guys and feel your way out in that situation. But even last season, we showed we're highly capable of beating very good teams on any given night. As our young core is a year older and grows and matures, along with some of our older players, everyone knows we didn't achieve as high as we should've. Just the consistency in our game, you can't go out and be a good team one night and fall to a team that's not as high in the standings another night. It was a good learning year."
He thinks back to the nights when the Ducks came out victorious against some of the league's best as proof of the team's potential. "We had moments throughout the season where we showed how good we can be," he says. "It was just the consistency standpoint from our group that lacked. Now being one year older, hopefully we've learned from the past couple years that we have to show up every night. There are going to be ups and downs and ebbs and flows to the year, but you have to manage those and show up and play because it's a tough league. Anybody can beat anybody on any night. We had glimpses that showed we were a good team last year. We just didn't follow through with that every night."

Just because he's a familiar face here didn't save him from some good-natured chirps from his once-former-but-now-current teammates when they caught wind of the signing. "There were some jabs thrown," he says with a laugh, "like, Why are you back?" He was even taken off the team's group chat even if the thought (jokingly) was that he'd be back in a few months anyways. "I was removed," he says with another laugh. "I guess they didn't want me knowing their schedule. My girlfriend was added back to the wives' group before I was added back to the team group. The guys were very supportive though. We had fun with it. It was great. We have such a good group of guys and a close team. You definitely miss them when you're gone."
Though his time with the Flyers was brief, he looks back on it with gratitude. "I can't say any bad things about the guys in Philly," he says. "They were awesome. Great group to spend a couple months locked in a bubble with. You never want to get traded, but any time you're given the opportunity to play in the playoffs and try to win a Stanley Cup, you have to take those opportunities and run with it. It was a great learning experience and probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to do that, go into a bubble and play. It's a memory I'll have for a long time."
Grant comes back to Anaheim with some unfinished business to handle. A longstanding bet he's had with his close friend Brendan that dates back two summers is still on the table. If you remember, Grant recorded a hat trick - the first of his NHL career - in a game in St. Louis back on Nov. 16, 2019. The bet was that if Grant posted a hat trick during the season, he'd have exclusive naming rights to Brendan's first-born child.

"I wish I could say I have a name, but I've thrown a few at him jokingly," Grant says with a chuckle. "He and his wife Becky just got married, so I'm thinking there's going to be a kid shortly after that. I still have a little bit of time, so I'll look out for some good ideas from you guys [the fans] throughout the season."
It's almost as if he never left. He'll be wearing his familiar No. 38, will likely be a fixture on the penalty kill and might even get his old locker stall back. Only time will tell on the latter. "I knew I wanted to possibly come back," he says. "I knew the Ducks, as an organization, liked me. They had to do what they had to do last year to make the organization better. It's one of those things that just worked out. We're really happy here. I'm just excited to be back. It's always nice coming back to a place you're comfortable in. You can show up to the rink and you're not quite the new guy as it would be in other situations. Coming back here, there's familiarity and friendships I had before."
The love from the fans doesn't go unnoticed, either. This time around, though, Grant wants to repay the favor on a grander scale. "I appreciate the support from all the fans," he says. "Hopefully we can get them back into the playoffs because they deserve to see some playoff hockey again."