Confirmed Trade: [PIT/NSH] Mikael Granlund for 2023 2nd round pick

mattihp

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I guess he is there because he can kinda play (but not excel) in a third line role, but is a good fill-in on the top lines if a top line player gets injured.

But no retention makes him very expensive for an injury replacement.
 

ericstrat1

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Oct 29, 2010
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A 2% WAR player with term at five million dollars, playing exactly like a 2% WAR player. The Penguins employ multiple full-time analytics staff, so do they just get zero say or what? This guy is already a major contributor to the Pens issues and eats a ton of cap. Fire Hextall.
 
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wej20

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A 2% WAR player with term at five million dollars, playing exactly like a 2% WAR player. The Penguins employ multiple full-time analytics staff, so do they just get zero say or what? This guy is already a major contributor to the Pens issues and eats a ton of cap. Fire Hextall.

Granlund being the wrong sort of player used in completely the wrong role is the Pens issue. Not Granlund himself.
 

Richard

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Feb 8, 2012
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Just another stupid trade by the worst general manager the penguins have had since Esposito.
 

Porter Stoutheart

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Granlund being the wrong sort of player used in completely the wrong role is the Pens issue. Not Granlund himself.
Well, to be fair Granlund has also had issues along the way, with the Preds. There were some understandable personal reasons why he failed to perform initially when the Preds acquired him from Minnesota. But he still had to be overused to extravagant lengths to succeed with the Preds after that. And then for whatever reason this season while he continued to be overused to extravagant lengths, he was really terrible, his 5on5 play was a huge boat anchor to us. Despite being spoon-fed all the same top line utilization as before. His production could have been back to almost "normal-ish" for him, if our PP didn't suck so badly. But it did. And yet his 5on5 play was still off as well.

I don't think any Preds fans are upset with the trade at all. And that was with us using Granlund in basically a supra-optimal role for him. So there's something going on with Granlund this year just beyond his utilization also. He's only 31 and as far as we know entirely healthy, so he should be able to get back on track. Possibly bumping him into a different role on the Pens, like a Zucker-Malkin-Granlund line would do the trick. But also possibly not. I do agree it would be a worth a try, for sure. But no guarantee of anything. :dunno:
 

TotalHomer

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Jan 3, 2022
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Incredible that Nashville got rid of this contract with still two (!) years left on it. And not only didn't have to pay but got actually a valuable pick. This guy has been on the decline for a while now. What a puzzling trade for Pittsburgh.
 

wej20

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Well, to be fair Granlund has also had issues along the way, with the Preds. There were some understandable personal reasons why he failed to perform initially when the Preds acquired him from Minnesota. But he still had to be overused to extravagant lengths to succeed with the Preds after that. And then for whatever reason this season while he continued to be overused to extravagant lengths, he was really terrible, his 5on5 play was a huge boat anchor to us. Despite being spoon-fed all the same top line utilization as before. His production could have been back to almost "normal-ish" for him, if our PP didn't suck so badly. But it did. And yet his 5on5 play was still off as well.

I don't think any Preds fans are upset with the trade at all. And that was with us using Granlund in basically a supra-optimal role for him. So there's something going on with Granlund this year just beyond his utilization also. He's only 31 and as far as we know entirely healthy, so he should be able to get back on track. Possibly bumping him into a different role on the Pens, like a Zucker-Malkin-Granlund line would do the trick. But also possibly not. I do agree it would be a worth a try, for sure. But no guarantee of anything. :dunno:

He definitely has skill but he's a terrible fit for the Pens both as a 3rd line centre or as a top 6 winger. I can see why the Preds fans were fine with dealing him, he's a soft 50 point winger who is past his peak and while his contract isn't terrible it certainly isn't enticing.
 

Porter Stoutheart

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He definitely has skill but he's a terrible fit for the Pens both as a 3rd line centre or as a top 6 winger. I can see why the Preds fans were fine with dealing him, he's a soft 50 point winger who is past his peak and while his contract isn't terrible it certainly isn't enticing.
If there is any small amount of solace/hope to extend... he wasn't really "soft" per se back when he was good for us before this year. He was actually pretty feisty and energetic. Which is part of what endeared him to Hynes, probably. And that's a pretty good way to gauge if you've got the Good Granlund or the Bad Granlund. If he's playing soft and uninvolved, as he did this season for us too, it's the Bad Granlund. The Good Granlund is still small and can be outmuscled, but he would certainly go into traffic and dig hard despite his physical limitations.
 
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Rebels57

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Just another stupid trade by the worst general manager the penguins have had since Esposito.

Hextall was a bizarre choice from the get-go. The Penguins can't afford an overly patient GM with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang nearing the end. Hextall should have had another chance at being a GM, but for a rebuilding or expansion team.
 
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eXile3

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Hextall was a bizarre choice from the get-go. The Penguins can't afford an overly patient GM with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang nearing the end. Hextall should have had another chance at being a GM, but for a rebuilding or expansion team.
Well this stint has proven he should be on the couch watching. Crosby, Malkin, and Letang are the ones carrying the garbage they’re surrounded by.
 
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Richard

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Hextall was a bizarre choice from the get-go. The Penguins can't afford an overly patient GM with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang nearing the end. Hextall should have had another chance at being a GM, but for a rebuilding or expansion team.
Based upon his trading and cap decision, Hextall shouldn't be a GM in the NHL.
 
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Zbynek

Jarry friggin sucks dude
Jun 6, 2011
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Incredible that Nashville got rid of this contract with still two (!) years left on it. And not only didn't have to pay but got actually a valuable pick. This guy has been on the decline for a while now. What a puzzling trade for Pittsburgh.

hextall.gif

"I held onto our 1st round pick this year. That is a win right?"
 
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MMC

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1 goal, 4 points in 18 games as a Penguin, advanced stats showed he was having a much worse season than his production indicating, looks like that's being matched in Pittsburgh? Or is he just snakebit?
 

wej20

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1 goal, 4 points in 18 games as a Penguin, advanced stats showed he was having a much worse season than his production indicating, looks like that's being matched in Pittsburgh? Or is he just snakebit?

He's played the vasy majority of his time as a defensive 3rd line centre/defensive 3rd line winger, which obviously doesn't suit his game. He gets 2nd unit PP time but the Pens run their top unit for 1.15 min so the 45 secs the 2nd unit isn't much to walk with by the time they get set up in the zone.

His linemates have mostly been Ryan Poehling (having a decent season but is a 4th liner with good speed) and Danton Heinen (having a crap season). They occasionally have a nice shift but it isn't a well constructed line. Granlund has a OZ% of 28.9, heavy defensive minutes which he's clearly not suited for. It seems like a complete failure of strategy and communication between Hextall and Sullivan. The fact that Granlund has 2 more years left just makes it worse.

Granlund works hard on the ice but he lacks speed and strength so he's not bringing much to the table when he doesn't have the puck He's a pass first player who hasn't established chemistry with anyone on the team and he is playing with linemates who have a combined 13 goals on the season. He's guilty of overpassing and overhandling the puck at times, when he'd be better off shooting for a rebound.

A spot could open up in the top 6 next season with Zucker moving on but I don't see him as a fit there as Guentzel and Rust are soft, small wingers. He's also never going to get on the top PP unit when the team is fully healthy.

TLDR: Granlund hasn't been good and a big part of why is he's a bad fit for this badly constructed Pens team.
 
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herzausstein

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Aug 31, 2014
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1 goal, 4 points in 18 games as a Penguin, advanced stats showed he was having a much worse season than his production indicating, looks like that's being matched in Pittsburgh? Or is he just snakebit?
Almost half his production in nashville comes on the powerplay. Are the penguins using him there? He was a rather ineffective producer at 5v5
 

Extra Texture

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Its very clear he is snakebitten, has the yips, something is going on with him. He doesnt look like a credible bottom six player at all right now. And is constantly flubbing the puck, making piss poor decisions, deferring to the point of absurdity. I mean, look at this (from an article on SB nation)




Burke and hextall should be fired for this trade. Worst move at the deadline easily.
100%. He's just the worst deadline pickup I can remember the Penguins getting since Brassard. Except Brassard actually made sense and was bust, since he was at the time one of the best depth Cs out there, and just fell off a cliff after the trade. Granlund never really made sense for that role, at that cap number, any of it.

When I think about the fact that Hextall cleared McGinn and Kapanen for basically nothing, and then turned around and wasted ALL of the cap space on this dud for 2 more years, its maddening. It was high risk, low reward all the way. A 2nd rounder, no retention, for a vanilla player who is the opposite of what the pens needed (not a finisher, not a physical player, kind of useless w bottom six minutes, a playmaker for lines where there are zero finishers, about as vanilla as it gets). Hextall already needed to go, but that was the final nail in his coffin. In fact, getting Hextall fired might be Granlund's best contribution to the Pens.

I know its just fans talking and not the actual real world, but when I think that Vancouver fans on here were okay with a 2nd rounder+ for Brock Boeser who was younger, better, and signed for the same amount of time at about a million more, I get even angrier.

Almost half his production in nashville comes on the powerplay. Are the penguins using him there? He was a rather ineffective producer at 5v5
He is on the second unit. Which is usually him, Carter, Zucker, Rust, Petry. And Carter and Rust have both been varying levels of putrid, so not much help there.
 
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