Danny Grant

Daniel Frederick Grant (February 21, 1946 – October 14, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for parts of fourteen seasons from 1966 to 1979, most notably for the Minnesota North Stars. 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).

Playing career

Grant was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick. 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 1967–68, 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 1968–69 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 32 or more goals in three of them.

Despite this, Grant was traded during the 1974–75 season 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 1978–79 season to coach a Tier II junior team.

In 1985, he was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame.

Post-playing career 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 was an assistant coach for the St. Thomas Tommies men's hockey team since the 2002–03 season.

Grant sat on the TELUS Atlantic Canada Community Board, which allocates funding to organizations which involve youth and/or technology throughout Atlantic Canada.

Grant died of cancer on October 14, 2019, at the age of 73 and is buried at Fredericton Rural Cemetery.

Awards and achievements Selected to the OHA-Jr. Second All-Star Team in 1964–65. Selected to the OHA-Jr. First All-Star Team in 1965–66. Stanley Cup champion in 1968. Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1968–69. 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 and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1962–63 Peterborough Petes OHA 50 12 9 21 8 6 0 1 1 0 1963–64 Peterborough Petes OHA 44 18 21 39 20 5 2 2 4 4 1964–65 Peterborough Petes OHA 56 47 59 106 23 12 7 7 14 4 1964–65 Quebec Aces AHL 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1965–66 Peterborough PetesOHA 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