From listening to people around me, it sounded like they were expecting Gabby 2.0 with Granlund. Folks, just how high did you have the bar with him? And it's so black and white. "Since he's struggling as a rookie, he's automatically a bust and we should trade him." Seriously people?! Seriously? Good thing you aren't GM's.
They need a plan with this kid, but simmer the hell down. Move him to wing....move him down a line...if the first line goes cold, then let put him along side Mikko....send him down....there are many ways to work on a solution. You don't trade a kid like that just because he looks lost during the fist couple weeks of his career. Cripes! Not even months or a year into his career! He has a lot of learning to do. A lot of growing pains to go through. Lots of confidence to gain. Time to bring your expectations back down to earth and raise your level of patience. Not every top prospect is going to have an immediate, smooth transition into the NHL.
Now, thank goodness for secondary scoring, because they saved us from being shutout. I don't expect the top line to score every night, but they do need to apply some pressure. Fingers crossed that they were simply exhausted from playing a lot last night, because they were somewhat unrecognizable tonight.
Props to Backs for saving the day.