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Penguins grant a contract to another center

July 20, 2018, 10:42 AM ET [61 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Penguins have made another depth signing. This time it is center Derek Grant formerly of the Anaheim Ducks




Grant is nothing more than organizational center depth. Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan want a few lottery tickets in their depth in case of injury. Matt Cullen and Derek Grant are those lottery tickets right now.

For the most part Grant has been a career AHL player. He's played seven years in the AHL and 315 games compared to his 152 games scattered through the years in the NHL. Last year was his best season in the NHL. He played in a career high amount of games (66) and registered 12 goals and 12 assists. On the surface this is great. You signed a double digit goal scorer for very little. Peel back the surface a little bit and you'll see that he shot 18.5% after shooting 0% in all his games prior to last year. Only the league's elite can expect to stay at that shooting percentage. Heavy regression is in the future.

He is an upgrade on what the Penguins had though, although that isn't saying much




I view this right now as Matt Cullen insurance in case the soon to be 42 year old, well, plays like a 42 year old. I wouldn't head into the season expecting another double digit goal total and that was a big reason Grant's season was successful last year. He doesn't drive play so you're in a situation where the offense needs to drive success.

Grant gives an upgrade on the 13/14th forward area from last year. That is realistically the extent of this signing.

Thanks for reading!
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