Grant's Slant

The Dirty Dozen #7

The Dirty Dozen #6

Twelve Post-Game Grant’s Slants 1 The game has had the feeling early on that it just wasn’t going to go the Habs’ way. For several reasons. Breaks, refs, hot goalie, karma. Jacob Markstrom looked unbeatable last night. Cutting off the angles, tremendous positioning, confident. Yes…it felt familiar in that Montreal seemingly ran into plenty of […]

The Dirty Dozen # 5

Twelve Post-Game Grant’s Slants 1 Ten Habs with five or more points on the season so far. Obviously, the pace isn’t likely to continue, but based on an 82-game schedule that would be ten Habs with 56-plus points by season’s end. The Habs have NEVER had ten players score 56 points in a season. Not […]

Crossing the Colour Line

I first started writing this article when protests were heating up all across North America following the senseless death of George Floyd. I ultimately decided not to finish and publish the article at the time as I was hesitant to interview minority hockey players concerning their treatment over the years, in part because of the […]

The Apprenticeship of Vitali Kravtsov

What Kravtsov is achieving in the KHL playoffs is pretty remarkable. Two more assists today and looking great. Six goals and five assists in nine games. He leads all KHL goal scorers and is in top five in points….no draft eligible 18-year-old has ever achieved that. On top of that, he is doing it with […]

Zadina-Mite!

I had a look at Filip Zadina’s four goals in the last 37 minutes of Halifax’s game versus Charlottetown last night. On his first goal showed off his great shot and release, receiving a pass in the slot that was bulging the twine before he was finishing his follow through. On his second goal a […]

Knights Reload, Foudy Gets Exposure

Scouts have been giving Liam Foudy a certain benefit of the doubt this season as he has not been given an offensive role, so he’s had very little opportunity to show his offensive upside. They pointed to Alex Formenton as an example, a forward who played on London’s fourth line for much of last season […]

The “Other Rasmus” Turning Heads

It’s interesting to see Rasmus Sandin score two goals for the Soo tonight with defence partner Conor Timmins away at the WJC. Given more of an offensive opportunity and he responds right away. There is no issue with his passing skills, nice to see him score a couple of goals. Quite possibly the best first-pass […]

Sutter on a Scintillating Scoring Streak

Everett Center Riley Sutter has been on a terrific tear recently, scoring seven goals and three assists in his last three games, including four goals and an assist in an 11-0 pasting of the Vancouver Giants.

Barrie Deals Nizhnikov

When a team that has OHL championship aspirations over the next couple of years like Barrie deals one of its young “up and comers” like Kirill Nizhnikov for draft picks, it’s a serious red flag for scouts in terms of his character.