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Can't find it, but I saw a graphic/quote earlier today with Granlund saying his broken hand wasn't something he was worried about playing with. "Just a little sore" was what he claimed.
Player Discussion Mikael Granlund IX
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Can't find it, but I saw a graphic/quote earlier today with Granlund saying his broken hand wasn't something he was worried about playing with. "Just a little sore" was what he claimed.
Fremitus Borealis
Flügelstürmer
I mean... I guess technically a broken wrist would be more debilitating; you can kind of still use your hand if you have a broken bone in it, whereas a wrist becomes nearly useless. But still.... I dunno.
- Aug 5, 2011
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Found it on Instagram of all places.
Photo caption says he suffered the broken hand during game 1.
From Russo's STrib article:
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Both I guess, but play style more than anything. I'm having a hard time with a 40p center that is a 70p wing the next season comparison for production.
Zuccarello has the same determination, hands, and smarts.
Dr Jan Itor
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iLLogik87
Registered User
Unforunately I got things mixed up:
His reveal behind curtains was done with all 1st round draft choices in 2010 that year, the portraits are here:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/1L9b...y+Draft+Portraits/5sn7QyO9v7m/Mikael+Granlund
His hype video released (after his signing) by Wild.com (now on youtube) is here:
Nonetheless, I cringe just a bit with this stuff. The hype was so overblown.
Maybe not now considering this last season...
Puhis
Nah.
Probably should move this topic to Granlund -thread. Anyway, if you think the hype he got over at the States was overblown... Well, in Finland, I think he could've been a shoe-in for president at the 2012 election.
Aside from making his way into a stamp, leading HIFK to Finnish championship and winning the WC gold with Finland in 2011, he also emerged as the sports personality/teen idol in our country. Not a sports personality, the sports personality. Even people who don't follow hockey knew who was #64.
Even then, his skating was an issue. He wasn't known as much of a goal-scorer, even if his most famous moment was one. An unorthodox one, granted, but a goal nonetheless. His balance wasn't very good by hockey-player standards, and he was small.
That didn't deter his popularity.
To say Granlund was a promising prospect is a criminal understatement - at least from a Finnish POV. He was an icon. A teenage dream. A boy, grown into a man in front of the public eye. And above all, he was a hero. To match those expectations laid on his quite average shoulders would be a Herculean feat.
Still, he worked hard, and he improved on various aspects.
It would've been easy to go insane from all that fame (and no doubt a little fortune as well) he'd have made from there on out. Had he chosen to do so, he could've probably signed an ELC on the spot and guarantee himself some party money for next few years. Not that he necessarily needed it that summer - I think if that man wanted a drink, he wouldn't have to pay. No doubt there would be someone more than happy, even honored to do it. And I think few people would've blamed him, had he mailed in that next summer and enjoyed the world championship gold and his newly found status as practically a golden God, taken in all that the pearl of the Baltic has to offer and then some - and maybe get to work a little later.
Alas, he did not. And yes, he was a disappointment in his first forays to the small ice. Many of us even here tried to see the bright side, but after a few too many fumbles and getting knocked off the puck disappointingly easy, people started to wonder whether he was the savior at all. Finnish Baby Jesus was turning into nothing more than an ordinary, undersized European who just couldn't hack it with the big boys.
We know now that he was not, after all, a bust. That picking Mikael Granlund at #9 was not a mistake. We saw how clutch he can be, how skilled he can be, and - above all else, we have seen that he has the most important quality a hockey player can have. Hell, probably the most important quality for any human to have.
Heart.
So yes, I don't argue your original point. It is perfectly valid. But the hype, I think the hype was warranted, at least to the extent he was hyped in MN. It's just that we had to wait for the good thing. And we are impatient by nature.
Aside from making his way into a stamp, leading HIFK to Finnish championship and winning the WC gold with Finland in 2011, he also emerged as the sports personality/teen idol in our country. Not a sports personality, the sports personality. Even people who don't follow hockey knew who was #64.
Even then, his skating was an issue. He wasn't known as much of a goal-scorer, even if his most famous moment was one. An unorthodox one, granted, but a goal nonetheless. His balance wasn't very good by hockey-player standards, and he was small.
That didn't deter his popularity.
To say Granlund was a promising prospect is a criminal understatement - at least from a Finnish POV. He was an icon. A teenage dream. A boy, grown into a man in front of the public eye. And above all, he was a hero. To match those expectations laid on his quite average shoulders would be a Herculean feat.
Still, he worked hard, and he improved on various aspects.
It would've been easy to go insane from all that fame (and no doubt a little fortune as well) he'd have made from there on out. Had he chosen to do so, he could've probably signed an ELC on the spot and guarantee himself some party money for next few years. Not that he necessarily needed it that summer - I think if that man wanted a drink, he wouldn't have to pay. No doubt there would be someone more than happy, even honored to do it. And I think few people would've blamed him, had he mailed in that next summer and enjoyed the world championship gold and his newly found status as practically a golden God, taken in all that the pearl of the Baltic has to offer and then some - and maybe get to work a little later.
Alas, he did not. And yes, he was a disappointment in his first forays to the small ice. Many of us even here tried to see the bright side, but after a few too many fumbles and getting knocked off the puck disappointingly easy, people started to wonder whether he was the savior at all. Finnish Baby Jesus was turning into nothing more than an ordinary, undersized European who just couldn't hack it with the big boys.
We know now that he was not, after all, a bust. That picking Mikael Granlund at #9 was not a mistake. We saw how clutch he can be, how skilled he can be, and - above all else, we have seen that he has the most important quality a hockey player can have. Hell, probably the most important quality for any human to have.
Heart.
So yes, I don't argue your original point. It is perfectly valid. But the hype, I think the hype was warranted, at least to the extent he was hyped in MN. It's just that we had to wait for the good thing. And we are impatient by nature.
BagHead
Registered User
Definitely a bit cheesy, but still not as bad as Katz welcoming McDavid to the Oilers. As long as I don't have to see Leipold welcoming Kaprizov to the NHL in a staged video, I can live with the Granlund types of videos.
Holy cow, Puhis. All that screaming in the background of the video you posted, if my eyes were closed I would have thought it was a Backstreet Boys intro from back in the day.
Holy cow, Puhis. All that screaming in the background of the video you posted, if my eyes were closed I would have thought it was a Backstreet Boys intro from back in the day.
Agreed, move this to the Granlund thread.
Puhis, first off, I respect your opinion as that portrayed from Finland. It provides an insight that is important, without question.
However, the very culture of Finland (as I know it) would be exactly what you just described; a fanatic and passionate country whose patriotism will take shape in the form of (in this instance) a sport, and in particular, a demi-god of that sport.
Could it not be said that that same passion is what fueled the overblown hype; atleast here on these message boards where country lines are transcended by the internet?
There used to be some EPIC, and I mean all-out arguments, over what Granlund could be here with the Wild (especially after his first year). He was too small, an average skater, and had too much space in the Euro game.
All the dekes, flashy breakaway goals, and that damned lacrosse goal, fed right into that fanaticism (exacerbated by the internet, obviously).
The whole time the very real possibility of his size and speed being problems were pushed aside. Those who didn't praise the "FBJ"(
) were seen as pessimists (albiet realists). Quite frankly it was drop-dead annoying at times. If I had to hear one more Martin St. Louis argument in comparison to Granlund I was going to lose it.
The Wild (particularly Fletcher and PR) knew exactly what it was doing in 2011-2012. They took that hype and used it to sell Parise and Suter (alongside prospects such as Coyle, Brodin, and Zucker), to sell it's fan-base and season ticket holders that the best was yet to come. And let us not forget that here on the internet, a hockey message board, the hype was everywhere.
We were a team that had little-to-no identity. Were mired in the hell of never making the playoffs or getting top picks. The fanbase was searching for hope, and we found it. I will almost argue that the hype was needed, and as much as it was overblown, it was the key to the lock of our hopes for the future of this team.
As this relates to Kaprizov, please be aware of what you see in another league. Yes it looks promising, but it will be even more-so if he succeeds here. Until then, however, the future superstar comparisons, Gaborik comparisons, 1st-liner hopes, all need to be checked. Someone along the way will try to say that "its just hope, it does no harm" and I tell you, at some point you will start to sell yourself on that hope when you have no where else to look to. It's at THAT point that your hope becomes expectation, and in turn, becomes entirely unrealistic.
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Puhis
Nah.
Puhis, first off, I respect your opinion as that portrayed from Finland. It provides an insight that is important, without question.
However, the very culture of Finland (as I know it) would be exactly what you just described; a fanatic and passionate country whose patriotism will take shape in the form of (in this instance) a sport, and in particular, a demi-god of that sport.
Could it not be said that that same passion is what fueled the overblown hype; atleast here on these message boards where country lines are transcended by the internet?
There used to be some EPIC, and I mean all-out arguments, over what Granlund could be here with the Wild (especially after his first year). He was too small, an average skater, and had too much space in the Euro game.
All the dekes, flashy breakaway goals, and that damned lacrosse goal, fed right into that fanaticism (exacerbated by the internet, obviously).
The whole time the very real possibility of his size and speed being problems were pushed aside. Those who didn't praise the "FBJ"(
If I had to hear one more Martin St. Louis argument in comparison to Granlund I was going to lose it.
The Wild (particularly Fletcher and PR) knew exactly what it was doing in 2011-2012. They took that hype and used it to sell Parise and Suter (alongside prospects such as Coyle, Brodin, and Zucker), to sell it's fan-base and season ticket holders that the best was yet to come. And let us not forget that here on the internet, a hockey message board, the hype was everywhere.
We were a team that had little-to-no identity. Were mired in the hell of never making the playoffs or getting top picks. The fanbase was searching for hope, and we found it. I will almost argue that the hype was needed, and as much as it was overblown, it was the key to the lock of our hopes for the future of this team.
You're right. Hockey, especially the Skoda Cup, are a big thing over here. The hardcore fans know and respect the Stanley Cup, of course, but the casual fan cares more about the World Championship. It is a thing everyone understands, after all. Best in the world. Even if the tournament isn't exactly "best on best".
Regarding "little-to-no identity", it is funny actually. In a lot of ways, Minnesota Wild hockey was very similar to Team Finland hockey. Low-scoring, defense-orientated, solid two-way play with value on team effort over individual superstars. Giant-slaying, too. Of course a lot of that has changed for better in past few years regarding Minnesota. And also regarding Finnish hockey and how they develop prospects these days.
I think it's safe to say that there are also those who will always wear tinted glasses. You know, Granlund - the next Gretzky? -kind of thing. Which was ridiculous, but it was also our media which came up with a lot of the hype. And once people read what the papers write and get caught up in the collective hype, it's easy to go online and keep up the excitement. So it can seem a bit hostile from a Finnish POV when people try to shoot him down and tell Finns to manage expectations and such. I can see why it can easily lead to an argument, especially as not everyone is even familiar with NHL and what it takes to succeed on the small ice.
Now, this is not just a hockey trend. If there is one thing Finns love, it is international attention. Finland mentioned somewhere abroad is newsworthy in itself. I cannot explain this, it just is. One could observe the same phenomenon when Lauri Markkanen was drafted to NBA this year. Go to a NBA discussion forum, and it's people suspicious about Markkanen's ability, and then Finns in there telling that the guy is really something special. But that's the thing; to you, he is just another prospect. Whether it's Lauri Markkanen or Mikael Granlund, they will see just the numbers, some highlights, and scouting reports. To us, those guys are heroes, saviors, with great expectations laid on their shoulders.
It's important to keep that in mind not only regarding hyped-up Finnish prospects, but also those from other countries. And while the Swiss are very calm and collected people (not unlike Finns, although generally better educated I feel), you ask them about Nino and their opinion might differ from ours. And I don't think it differs to a less flattering direction.
Victorious Secret
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Lapa
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If you are still watching NHL the up coming seasons you will know why. The dude is simply in the class of Laine as a talent. An exceptional hockey IQ combined with very good abilities in practically every area in hockey. And most of all, like Laine, the dude is an extremely highly motivated and fierce competitor. Laine AND Aho simply are the crown jewels in Finnish hockey. They are the two best talents that our nation has and will have for a long time. Sure Barkov and Granlund are nice, and some other guys too, but none of them have the exceptional combination of so many great skills and the absolute killer attitude towards hockey and developing themselves as hockey players, like Laine and Aho have. Those dudes just simply are really special talents.
Oh, and his NHL rookie season should explain something too...
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Well, he is a helluva player and is going to get better, very smart too on the ice. And teenage girls dig his brown eyes
It's kinda teen thing, Mikael is absolutely very well known and popular still, but teenage girls need new boys to idolize. Young hockey players are like pop stars
I'd say Laine, Aho and Pulju are the new hot boy band right now... even when Pulju lip syncs
Plural
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Among the general population, Aho was part of the Pulju/Aho/Laine line and became a national hero after the WJC.
Laine is by and far the biggest headline generator these days. Koivu is the most respected, he's gotten himself to a similar position where his big brother was. Unanimously considered as the leader and voice of reason in our national team. His authority is uncontested and he holds more power in NT than any other player and probably more than few "lower level" executives. He's probably not quite as high in the food chain than his brother was at his hey days (during the 00's Saku probably could have hand picked the coaching staff for the NT and the management wouldn't have blinked an eye) but he's still in a class of his own when compared to other players.
Granlund is still popular and one of the names that sell. I think Komarov and Granlund have similar "fame" in Finland. They're right after Laine (who's currently by and far the most talked player in Finland), Aho, Pulju (who's quickly fading away but next season will determine more) and Koivu. The first three represent the new hope for our nation and Koivu is the commander-in-chief. Then comes Komarov, Granny, Rinne, Risto, etc.
Any rumors on Granlund's contract?
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