Mikael Granlund - from overhyped prospect to underrated nhler?

[urho]

Remember all those thousands of posts about Finnish Baby Jesus? Granlund was the first legit NHL prospect from Finland in 10 years. Finns worried so much about their future as a hockey country that when they finally got someone with real talent they went absolutely nuts. That's why Granlund was compared to Crosby etc.

Granlund didn't exactly light up the NHL when he finally came over and even the most fanatic MiG-fans realized that maybe their favourite player wasn't really the best player in the world after all.

Expectations were absurd and MiG has had a lot of trouble at making his style of play work in NA hockey. Smart player that he is, he's been able to overcome those difficulties: he improved his skating via figure skating coach, worked on his shot and studied the defensive side of the game as well as he could. He always had a very high hockey IQ and was a fantastic playmaker.

Last year he finally broke out. He got to play wing (he's always been winger in the national team as well) and with his improved qualities he has been shining ever since. 69 points last year and 20+ goals which many doubt he would ever score in this league. With 36 points in 41 games this season he's proving it wasn't a fluke.

He really looks fantastic out there: he's dangerous every shift and creates scoring chances from a very harmless looking situations all the time. Since that was his "original strength", I've been most impressed by his defensive abilities. He's a very good penalty killer and he's positioning in the defensive zone is one of the best I've seen.

Your thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[Howie Hodge]

Must have been the opinion of him in Finland, because I don't remember much discussion about him in North America. He was rated as an NHL prospect, yes; but not as someone who was anywhere's near generational.

Unless I just missed the critique on him - and that's possible.

Interesting perspective, thank you for sharing.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I'd like to see him with Kaprizov on the same line.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Must have been the opinion of him in Finland, because I don't remember much discussion about him in North America. He was rated as an NHL prospect, yes; but not as someone who was anywhere's near generational.

Unless I just missed the critique on him - and that's possible.

Interesting perspective, thank you for sharing.

There were a lot of discussions back to then, who was a better prospect, him or Tarasenko.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Granlund was compared to Crosby? HAHAHA
Even though I was 12 in 2011, even I didn't rate him that highly. I don't think you could find people on record with that exact quote.
Adding to that, Finnish players are busts until proved otherwise here in Finland. You would find a lot of people telling him to go onto the 1st train back if he isn't PPG after the 1st 10 games he plays in the NHL.

 

[sr edler]

He’s still FBJ in our hearts.

I have a hard time believe people seriously compared him to Crosby though. Not everything said on a message board is 100% serious.

 

[Howie Hodge]

There were a lot of discussions back to then, who was a better prospect, him or Tarasenko.

Again; both these players were on our radars, and seen as potentially very good. However; neither received the hype of a Crosby, McDavid or Matthews, in North America.

 

[Lapa]

He was very hyped after WHC 2011. He was meh for a while in the NHL, but he and Staal are pretty clearly our two best forwards.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Again; both these players were on our radars, and seen as potentially very good. However; neither received the hype of a Crosby, McDavid or Matthews, in North America.

Of course, but he was considered the best prospect in the world before coming to the NHL. That's a pretty big hype.

 

[sr edler]

There were a lot of discussions back to then, who was a better prospect, him or Tarasenko.

Why is that so crazy? Yeah, Tarasenko has done better so far in the NHL but prospects aren’t a linear science. Granlund was a 9th overall pick, Tarasenko a 16th overall pick.

 

[absolute garbage]

In this and last season, Granlund is 26th in the league in points. 105 points in 122 games (0.86 P/GP, 28th in the league). Similar to guys like Seguin (0.89), Panarin (0.88), Stone (0.85) and, gasp, Matthews (0.87).

Definitely underrated, but that's fairly normal playing in a not-very-sexy smaller market team.

 

[57special]

He is still hyped by his fans, but is finally deserving of the praise. He looks to have turned a corner in regards to shooting and scoring. I mean, he's no Laine out there, but he is looking for a shot now at least some of the time.

If he keeps it up this year and into next year then I would call him underrated, maybe. Would help if the Wild actually went somewhere in the playoffs to give him some exposure.

 

[urho]

He looks to have turned a corner in regards to shooting and scoring. I mean, he's no Laine out there, but he is looking for a shot now at least some of the time.

That's worth noting. He's scoring at exactly the same pace as last year (26 goals over 82 games) thus far this season. He has an accurate wrist shot and I wouldn't mind him shooting even more than he is currently, even tho he's a good passer and often makes the right play.

 

[57special]

He is not a good passer. He is a GREAT passer. One of the best in the league. Superb vision, imagination, and technique.

 

[rynryn]

he was overhyped before he arrived, delivered a reality check his first year, showed progress but nothing warranting that 1rst round selection for the next few, then when they gave up trying him at C he looks like a former top 10 pick. We drafted him to be a #1C, so in that sense it's a touch disappointing but really nothing to complain about his performance at this point. he's still underrated defensively IMO. all around very good player.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Mikael Granlund was the best player at the 2016 WHC and should have won MVP IMO. No slight on Laine who played a great tournament but Granlund was simply phenomenal.

 

[urho]

He is not a good passer. He is a GREAT passer. One of the best in the league. Superb vision, imagination, and technique.

But don't those saucer passes flutter, tho?

 

[Jugitsu]

He was way overhyped in Finnish media and in Finland general. He was supposed to be the next Kurri or Selanne to the Finnish hockey. He was the poster boy, they even made an official stamp of him.

Not so much in NA, especially in Minnesota. I remember most posters in here were quite reserved in adding another small playmaker to the system (Bouchard 2.0 vibes) that had concussion issues.

Good to see him play well now, especially with the rough start that he had.

 

[Soundgarden]

Yeah, there were some multiple threads about him in the prospect forum, the Finnish Gretzky, 100 point potential, etc.

 

[Laineux]

He had similar hype in Finland as Laine has had recently. Which is a lot.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

He is an excellent playmaker and a solid two way winger.

 

[behemolari]

He WAS the best prospect in the world before Yeo ruined him, took two years to do so, technique and vision is still par with anyone other. Just didn't exactly pan out in the wrong system.

 

[boyko10]

He WAS the best prospect in the world before Yeo ruined him, took two years to do so, technique and vision is still par with anyone other. Just didn't exactly pan out in the wrong system.

Yeo.. But twenty pounds would've been good too. Scary because he plays like a big boy out there, I've feared he'll break himself one day ever since his first liiga games. He's not exactly built for taking hits

Could have worked earlier on his muffins too it feels.

 

[rynryn]

Yeo had nothing to do with it. JFC people. Granny couldn't stay on his skates to save his life his first year here. He admitted it was a problem and worked on it the offseason. He was physically unprepared for the NHL. Simple as that. He was always willing--too willing--to throw his body around but it didn't do him any good. And he didn't have any concussion history when we drafted him...they started accumulating while he was playing overseas though and it sure was worrying.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

He was understandably overhyped by a lot of Finnish posters here.. Like the OP said he was our best prospect in a long time and helped us win the WHC gold first time since 1995, as 19 yr old kid he was one of the tournaments best players. Also probably the best forward in Liiga.

But when he came to the NHL, he was relatively slow and very weak physically, losing a lot of 1 on 1 battles. I still remember Granny saying he was surprised how tough the NHL is, and realized he has a lot of work to do.

And, it took him the next 3 years to work on his physique, skating and obviously gain more experience. These days he's actually quite buffed for a guy of his size/body shape.

Now he's doing what he was basically doing back in Liiga as a 18-19 yr old. He put in the work to get in great shape in NHL standards and it's paying off. The talent never goes away, and he's always been a very responsible team player.

Obviously when his production jumped so much last year and the Wild had the type of year they had, i wasn't sure if he was going to keep that kind of production up. But he's on a pace for 72 points, so basically he's continuing where he left off last year (69 pts).

Right now he's a legit 1st line player, basically meeting any hopes/expectations anyone could've realistically had.