Calgary had little input in Gridin’s decision, but Flames director of player development Ray Edwards said the 68-game schedule Gridin will play in the QMJHL compared to the 35-40 he would have played at Michigan is a tremendous development advantage.
“I think the big thing is just more games played,” Edwards said. “He’s going to get a ton of reps. As much as you love players in NCAA because of the ability to train and build their bodies, one of the things with Matvei is … getting as many reps as he can at that level to prepare for the next level. It's one of the things we always talked about with Mat was, it's really hard to develop when you're only playing 34 games.
“I think that was a big thing for Matvei too, just continue to play a bunch of games, learn the pro schedule, learn how to adjust mid-week, mid-game, be able to learn from a game, get to work the next day on it, and then be better the next game. It's really hard to do that when you have a whole week off and you sort of have to reset every week. We just thought for Matvei it was very good to be able to play in the CHL.”
The other benefit was Gridin being able to attend Flames training camp.
“That was a great experience,” he said. “First couple days I just stared at guys. Can't believe you're practicing with these guys like [center Jonathan] Huberdeau, [forward Andrei] Kuzmenko, [center Yegor] Sharangovich, [center Nazem] Kadri, all those guys. After a couple days, you get used to it and start focusing yourself.”
He was able to play in two preseason games before being sent to the QMJHL, and left a strong impression.
“I think the big thing that we came away with was we loved his competitiveness in the games that we saw,” Edwards said. “And that’s what we’re focusing on moving on now from watching him in junior, making sure he's got a first effort, but also a second or third effort in terms of getting pucks back and being good in the forecheck and tracking, and in turning pucks over, using his stick to create loose pucks and being able to get pucks back so he can get on the offense.
"So we love the way he competed, the way he went to the net. Obviously you see that high skill level. And you could tell when he played with NHL players, it just worked. It was smooth. It was easy. He sees the game at a high level.”
Gridin feels confident where his game is at offensively, but understands to reach the next level, it’s his play away from the puck that needs to be developed.
“[The Flames] want to focus me on my game without the puck,” he said. “They say, 'We can see all the skills and the shot and you're dangerous when you’ve got the puck. We want you to be harder on the puck so you have the puck more.' They want me to play good without the puck to get the puck back more.
“I think Calgary and all the staff doesn't care if I'm the points leader in the 'Q' or not. If I score 120 points and still play bad without the puck, it's not going to help me play in the NHL.”
