It’s all about GRIT!

Grit is something you hear a lot about in hockey as something that is inherently necessary. If you don’t have it, you need it. If you have it, all you want is more of it. Grit was a popular term during the hours leading up to the trading deadline. Who has it? Who needs it? Which players can give you more of it?

And what IS grit, anyways?

Grit is hard work, effort, sticking up for your teammates, and basically doing whatever is necessary for your team to win. Players lacking grit are generally frowned upon in hockey, because grit is intwined in hockey’s fabric. While grit may be synonymous with the 3rd and 4th lines and the large amount of players that populate them, every player needs to show that they will do anything to win a game. A lot of players lack grit, and we like to call them “floaters”. For example, Jaromir Jagr lacks grit (Sorry Jaime). That doesn’t mean Jagr is not a great player. He just has the natural talent to contribute to his team in other ways. Conversely, gritty players such as Adam Mair may not contribute much to the score sheet, but he contributes to the team by showing grit, banging his body around and coming to the defense of his teammates.

Grit does not necessarily mean someone who drops the gloves every shift either. That’s not grit, that’s being an enforcer. Andrew Peters is an enforcer, not a gritty player. Ideally, you’d want a group of players that not only have the natural scoring talent, but show the gritty team attitude that really wins hockey games.

One thing is clear: You can not win a Stanley Cup without a sufficient amount of grit on your team. It comes down to what hockey really is at its core, giving 110% effort every shift and the unselfish all-for-one, one-for-all attitude.

Does your favorite team have grit?