I think that a gritty player should be able to fight and grind for your team, whether you are matched up against the leagues worst fourth line, or a line consisting of Ovechkin, Semin, and Backstrom. A gritty player is someone who when you look over your shoulder, ther they are, chirping the hell out of you, trying to make you crack. If you go into the corner, they are going to be coming towards you full-steam ahead, wanting to put you through the boards. When there is a whistle, they are going to be right in your grill, and they will do it with a smile on their face. Thats a gritty player

is someone with somewhat marginal talent who will do anything for his team. He will risk life and limb to stop a shot from going to the net, play through pain, is not afraid of being physical and will stand up for his team mates. Basically, he is a survivor willing to do anything to play.
The first three guys that come to mind are Ian Laperriere, Bill Guerin and Brent Sopel.
 I would have gone with players like Kesler and Toews but their hockey skills are still above normal.

I always admired but detested Draper and Maltby.
Laperriere for sure. Darcy Tucker. Jamal Mayers. Steve Ott.

Grit, ain’t that sumthin ya have fer brakfast?

I have no idea what hockey grit is, unless you’re referring to sand on the ice. You seem to be getting a lot of different answers here.

Grit is about toughness, about the ability to take the punishment to make the play. It’s about taking one for the team. It’s about intimidation: being able to deliver it and being able to resist it.

Daniel Sedin is not normally seen as a “gritty” player, but in the playoffs two years ago he took a stick in the mouth and had to get stitches but stayed out on the ice until he scored the goal, then went for repairs, then came back to the game. That is grit.

Grit is the defenseman who moves the guy out from in front of the net. Grit is goalie who dives into the skates in the scrum in front of the net to grab the loose puck. Grit is the forward who goes into the corner against two defenders and fights to get the puck back.

On the Canucks the usual suspects for the grit tag are Kesler, Burrows, Kevin Bieksa and Rick Rypien. However, there is more grit than that on the Canucks.

grit is someone who rises above their ‘obvious’ talent level with an overabundance of ‘heart’. So someone who plays thru the pain, who steps it up when the team is down, and who goes outside what their expectations are from scouting. Prime example, Alex Burrows. Other examples are obviously kesler, I think Hansen is gritty, Tanner Glass (although his grit level doesn’t quite get past his talent level yet, unfortunately). Matt Cooke had a lot of grit when he was here, but uses his powers for evil. I’m hoping manny malhotra gives us some, and i’m warming to the idea of raffi being gritty.

a player who will sacrifice anything and everything for his team. Look at shot blocks, hits, and take-aways

1. Rob Niedermayer
2. Lappy (Ian Laperriere)
3. Josh Gorges

you could be the most talented player in the world and still be gritty. Grit is about toughness in mind and body. Not compromising and always standing up for your teammates. To me the ultimate gritty player in the NHL right now is Jarome Iginla.

Is Sami Salo to be considered gritty?
Nobody can question his heart, or his willingness to take any punishment. But….is he gritty?

Someone who can (and will) close the distance between an opponent and themselves, no matter which one has the puck. Someone who doesn’t let anybody past without getting a touch – just to let them know they’re being watched. Someone who claims their space on the ice and is staying there come hell or high sticks.

Cam Neely. Brendan Shanahan. Mark Messier. Ted Lindsay. Scott Stevens. Gordie Howe. Dave Andreychuk. Theo Fleury.

I suppose you’ll need some non-retired names though, yeah? Hmm…

Kesler is certainly in there; as are Downie and Carcillo, love them or hate them as you will. Lapierre has to vacuum his bed each morning when he gets up, and Hartnell’s certainly a player the other team is made aware of every shift. Tom Kostopoulos keeps getting hired because of the “something extra” he brings to a team.

I think the vast majority of players have “grit” – what you’re looking for are those who exemplify it, right? I think the biggest marker is the contact with opposing players. Not necessarily hits, but ongoing battles and willingness to be in them.

desire (compete level) and courage. talent is irrelevant to grit. it boils down to how bad do you want to win, every game, every shift, every puck battle. what are you willing to do to win. gritty guys don’t get their sticks lifted by backcheckers, they don’t let people skate out of the corners with the puck and they make you work for every inch of ice. gritty players tend to be more important the more important the game, and don’t have to score to make an impact but tend to be clutch performers anyway.

linden was gritty, smyl was gritty, naslund not so much. kesler is gritty, bernier isn’t. iginla, richards, morrow, toews, yzerman, sakic – all world-class grit players. dave bolland, claude lemieux, john madden, sami paulsson are/were great 3rd line grit guys.

one thing i will say, it’s really hard to be a little grit guy. theo fleury is one of the few that i can think of because a big part of being gritty is being physical and the same psychological makeup in a small body tends to make a player just cheap and dirty.

indomitable courage, toughness, or resolution. From the Free Online Dictionary.

Grit is always giving it your all, every shift. Grit is battling in the corners for the puck or in front of the net for position. Grit is laying out a big hit at the right time. Girt is getting down and blocking shots. Grit is playing through pain.

Grit cannot be defined by statistics. Although it can be somewhat measured by hits and blocked shots.

I’d want any line to have good hit and blocked shot numbers. Also plus-minus and Corsi (though some bloggers are WAY too obsessed with this stat {Hint: I though all Albertans were either Cowboys or Oil Hillbilly’s, not stat geeks} ) But those numbers are especially important for a checking line.

“ESA TIKKANEN”

That or ‘Shithead 3rd Liner’

I’d like to throw out another name: Mike Grier

Mike Fisher
Chris Neil
Owen Nolan
Erik Cole
Ethan Moreau
Travis Moen
Jordin Tootoo
Jamie Langenbrunner

Sandpaper

Ladd
Morrow
Lucic
Doan

trade for Matt Lashoff. Christ, that is 9 D signed now.