Ottawa took care of their lone arbitration case on Thursday morning, signing center Derek Grant to a one-year, two-way contract.
Per the release:
Grant, 24, played in a career-high 20 National Hockey League games in 2013-14, recording two assists, including his first NHL point. He played in 46 games with Ottawa’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, scoring 12 goals and 10 assists, while recording 30 penalty minutes. He played in four playoff games with the B-Sens, registering an assist and two penalty minutes.The 6-3, 206-pound Grant was the Senators’ second fourth-round pick (119th overall) in the 2008 NHL Draft. The native of Abbotsford, B.C., has appeared in 183 career AHL contests (all with Binghamton), registering 79 points (40 goals, 39 assists) and 93 penalty minutes over that span. He has recorded two assists in 25 career NHL games with Ottawa.
I don't see any of the financials listed yet, but I'm curious to see if there's an AHL salary incentive in there -- probably the main reason why Grant filed for arbitration.
[UPDATE: $700k/$85k for Grant, so he does get a jump there.]
As to the player individually: you imagine that the two-way deal benefits Ottawa right out of camp, primarily because Grant has a good chance to be on the outside looking in with the logjam of forwards right now. Problem is, I kind of want to see Grant get some extended play with the team. I was fairly impressed last season in his limited appearances -- there's nothing bad about posting 54% Corsi at evens, primarily when you played one of every six shifts with Matt Kassian.
You kind of envision that, primarily due to Ottawa's affinity for everything Curtis Lazar, Grant might be the first or second roster call-up coming out of Binghamton. Injuries happen, and he'll get his shot. The question I guess is who is ahead on the ole depth chart -- Grant, or Pageau (another player I like quite a bit).
Thanks for reading!