Mikyla Grant-Mentis is a former PHF MVP, was once the highest player in women's hockey and this year earned a spot with PWHL Ottawa. Still on 25, after her release from Ottawa, Grant-Mentis is again a free agent.
Mikyla Grant-Mentis is a former PHF MVP, was once the highest player in women's hockey and this year earned a spot with PWHL Ottawa. Still on 25, after her release from Ottawa, Grant-Mentis is again a free agent.
Mikyla Grant-Mentis is known for being the highest paid player in women's hockey history for a time in the PHF and for repping number 13 in the PWHL.
But before she was breaking records and making a name in the professional leagues she was making waves in Division I college hockey.
Even as a freshman at Merrimack College in 2016, Grant-Mentis was making her name known. She led her team in points with 27 points and she was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month at the start of the hockey season.
Her junior year she made an even bigger impact becoming the 6th player in Division 1 Women’s Hockey history to score two short-handed goals in a single game.
She led her team in points again her senior year with 20 goals and 33 points in 33 games. However, her greatest accomplishment was when she scored in a game against Maine which solidified her as the second player in Merrimack history to hit 100 career points.
Grant-Mentis grew up in Brampton, Ontario, competing regularly in hockey against her twin brother and two older brothers. She played in her junior hockey in the Provincial Women's Hockey League in Ontario prior to the NCAA.
With Grant-Mentis’ success in college, she was pursued by the PHF's Buffalo Beauts. She signed with them in February of 2020 and was able to play in the ending of the 2019–20 National Women’s Hockey League season.
The Toronto Six joined the PHF as Canada's only professional ice hockey team the following year, and as a born and raised Canadian Grant-Mentis decided to join the Toronto Six for their first season. In the short 2020-2021 season Grant-Mentis became the league's top scorer. In the team’s first ever win, she scored the game winning goal against the Boston Pride in the third period after trailing for a majority of the game.
She led the Toronto Six to have the best record in the league in their debut season and was later named the league MVP.
Not only was winning MVP an accomplishment in itself, but Grant-Mentis also made history as the first Black player in the league's history to win the award.
In May of 2022, Grant-Mentis decided she was going to return to the Buffalo Beauts and signed a one-year, $80 000 contract. This is the deal that made her the highest paid player in PHF history.
Things couldn’t have been going better for Grant-Mentis, that was until July of 2023. On a ten minute zoom call she and all the other PHF players suddenly had lost their spots in the hockey world. The PHF was sold and the players were not promised a spot in the new PWHL league.
Thankfully Grant-Mentis had a high chance of making it into the new league, but it would come at a price. Whoever she signed with would not pay her the same amount as she was projected to make in the upcoming PHF season.
A pay cut was certainly not going to turn her away from the opportunity to keep playing the sport she loved.
After going undrafted, in November of 2023, Grant-Mentis, 25, was a free agent who joined a handful of free agents in a fight for a spot on Ottawa’s team.
The talented forward made the team. In her red and white number 13 Ottawa jersey Grant-Mentis had three assists and one goal that was called back during her six games with the team.
Shockingly this will be the only impact she will make on the team, as she has been released by PWHL Ottawa as of Saturday February 17th.
Grant-Mentis once again has become team-less. It is safe to assume that her talent and history will land her opportnities in the future, but for now she remains a free agent.