Meltzer's Player Profiles: Derek Grant

Acquired by the Flyers in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 24, 2020, versatile forward Derek Grant stepped right into Philadelphia's lineup as the third-line center at five-on-five, and a regular part of the penalty kill and the second power play unit.

Grant quickly found chemistry on a line with Scott Laughton and Tyler Pitlick before the NHL season had to be paused due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

In seven games with the Flyers, Grant has posted five points (1g, 4a) and a +2 rating at even strength. One of the biggest bargains in the entire NHL this season, Grant has posted a combined 15 goals and 25 points in 56 games between Anaheim and Philadelphia while on a one-year, $700,000 contract. He will celebrate his 30th birthday on April. Fifteen of Grant's career 31 goals in 264 NHL games have come this season.

FIVE KEY FACTS

1) Since coming to the Flyers, Grant has average 20.6 shifts and 14:17 of ice time per game, including 1:23 on the power play and 1:07 on the penalty kill.

2) Grant is able to play any forward position but has been at center since being acquired by the Flyers. With Anaheim, despite absorbing a whopping 70 percent of his even-strength shifts as defensive zone starts -- which severely affected his underlying analytics on a struggling team -- he set a career-high with 14 goals. He has attained the second double-digit goal season of his NHL career to date. At 6-foot-3, 205-plus pounds, one of Grant's primary strengths is his ability to battle in the trenches.

3) All five of Grant's points as a Flyers came over a three-game point streak (March 1 to 5), which included back-to-back two point games on March 1 against the Rangers and March 4 against Carolina.

4) In his seven games as a Flyer, Grant has been credited with 10 hits, five blocked shots and five takeaways without being charged with a single giveaway.

5) Grant has won 53.9 percent of his faceoffs since coming to Philadelphia; 35 wins, 30 losses.

TOP HIGHLIGHTS

1. MAR 1 @ NYR (17:53 1st period and 1:23 2nd period): Grant's first two points as a Flyer were crucial toward the team's 5-3 road win at Madison Square Garden to sweep a home-and-home set. First, Grant led Michael Raffl on a shorthanded 2-on-1 and set up a goal that opened a 3-0 lead. Early in the second period, with the Flyers on the power play, Grant took a neutral zone pass from Pitlick, carried the puck into the attack zone,cut in from the left circle and deposited a backhander into the net past a flummoxed Henrik Lundqvist.

2. March 4 @ WSH (14:46 2nd period) A second straight two-point game for Grant: this time via a pair of assists. The first of the two put the Flyers ahead, 2-1, in the second period on the way to a 5-2 road victory over the Capitals. As the netfront forward on the Flyers' second power play unit, Grant slickly deflected the puck with his skate, and Kevin Hayes tapped in the soccer-like pass.

THEY SAID IT

"He is hard to play against. I think every time I have played against him when he was with Anaheim and Pittsburgh, he was one of those guys that you know you are in for a tough night. He is very versatile. I am excited to be playing on the same side as him."

-- Nate Thompson, Feb. 24, 2020.

HE SAID IT

"I am excited to be here. Every player wants a chance to part of a playoff team. Everyone's been great. ...I think I'm in a good situation. You develop [chemistry] pretty quick in a game. We all play the game the same way for the most part,"

-- Derek Grant, Feb. 25, 2020