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?
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?