Rocco Grimaldi

Rocco Grimaldi
Date of birth	February 8, 1993
place of birth	Rossmoor , California , USA
size	168 cm
Weight	82 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2011 , 2nd round, 33rd position Florida Panthers
KHL Junior Draft	2015 , 5th round, 120th position Salawat Julajew Ufa
Career stations
2005-2009	Detroit Little Caesars
2009-2011	US National Team Development Program
2011-2014	University of North Dakota
2014-2015	San Antonio Rampage
2015-2016	Florida Panthers Portland Pirates
2016-2018	San Antonio Rampage
since 2018	Nashville Predators

Rocco Niccolas Grimaldi (born February 8, 1993 in Rossmoor , California ) is an American ice hockey player . Since July 2018 he has played for the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League on the position of the center .

Career

Rocco Grimaldi began his career with the Detroit Little Caesars , for which he played in various regional youth leagues. During this time he was drafted by the Bradford Rattlers in the seventh round of the GMHL Draft in 2008 as a total of 96th player, but never moved to this team. In 2009 he moved to the USA Hockey National Team Development Program , the junior program of the US ice hockey association USA Hockey . For the team in this program, he played in the United States Hockey League and was nominated for the league's All-Star Game in 2011. He was then selected in the NHL Entry Draft 2011 by the Florida Panthers in the second round at a total of 33rd position. However, he initially did not move to Sunrise , but took up studies at the University of North Dakota and played for their university team, with which he won the title of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 2012. The following year he was elected to both the All-Academic Team and the All-Rookie Team of the Conference.

For the 2014/15 season he actually moved to his draft club in the southwest of the United States, but in addition to seven NHL appearances for the Panthers, he was mainly used for the AHL club San Antonio Rampage . With the team from Texas he won the West Division of the AHL, but was eliminated in the first playoff round against the Oklahoma City Barons . In the following year he was used in addition to increased missions in the NHL in the AHL, now for the new farm team of the Panthers, the Portland Pirates . Previously, he was the 120th player drawn in the fifth round of the 2015 KHL Junior Draft by Salawat Julajew Ufa .

After two years in the organization of the Panthers, Grimaldi switched to the Colorado Avalanche in June 2016 in exchange for goalkeeper Reto Berra . There he was increasingly used in the farm team San Antonio Rampage, for which he had already played during his time with the Florida Panthers. In July 2018, he joined the Nashville Predators as a free agent .

International

Rocco Grimaldi represented his home country for the first time at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2010 , which he won with his team. He himself was the top scorer and best preparer and was elected to the all-star team of the tournament. In the same year he also took part in the 2010 U18 World Cup. With a total of 10 scorer points, he was involved in winning the US Boys' title. In the following year he and his team defended their title. In 2013 he was also able to become world champion with the US U20 team . He scored the first two goals of his team in the 3-1 final win against Sweden .

Achievements and Awards

2011 USHL All-Star Game 2012 WCHA championship with the University of North Dakota 2013 WCHA All-Academic Team

2013 WCHA All-Rookie Team 2018 AHL All-Star Classic

International

2010 gold medal at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2010 top scorer of the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2010 Best Assists in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2010 World U-17 Hockey Challenge All-Star Team

2010 gold medal at the U18 World Championship 2011 gold medal at the U18 World Championship 2013 gold medal at the U20 World Cup

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2009/10	USA Hockey NTDP	USHL		32	11	9	20th	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	USA Hockey NTDP	USHL		23	12	13	25th	18th		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	University of North Dakota	NCAA		4th	1	1	2	2
2012/13	University of North Dakota	NCAA		40	13	23	36	18th
2013/14	University of North Dakota	NCAA		42	17th	22nd	39	48
2014/15	San Antonio Rampage	AHL		64	14th	28	42	22nd		3	1	0	1	4th
2014/15	Florida panthers	NHL		7th	1	0	1	4th		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Portland Pirates	AHL		52	16	17th	33	20th		5	0	4th	4th	0
2015/16	Florida panthers	NHL		20th	3	2	5	2		2	0	0	0	2
2016/17	San Antonio Rampage	AHL		72	31	24	55	39		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		4th	0	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	San Antonio Rampage	AHL		49	15th	16	31	32		-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		6th	1	2	3	0		-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Milwaukee Admirals	AHL		10	4th	7th	11	8th		-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Nashville Predators	NHL		53	5	8th	13	10		5	3	0	3	0
2019/20	Nashville Predators	NHL		66	10	21st	31	10		4th	0	1	1	2
USHL total				55	23	22nd	45	40		-	-	-	-	-
NCAA overall				86	31	46	77	68
AHL total				247	80	92	172	121		8th	1	4th	5	4th
NHL overall				156	20th	34	54	28		11	3	1	4th	4th

International

Represented the USA at:

• World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2010
• U18 Junior World Championship 2010
• U18 Junior World Championship 2011
• U20 Junior World Championship 2013

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2010	United States	U17-WHC			6th	4th	10	14th	8th
2010	United States	U18 World Cup			7th	2	8th	10	6th
2011	United States	U18 World Cup			6th	2	6th	8th	6th
2013	United States	U20 World Cup			7th	2	2	4th	4th
Juniors overall					26th	10	26th	36	24

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Player biography on the Nashville Predators website
• Rocco Grimaldi at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Rocco Grimaldi at eurohockey.com