87 TOTW Granlund Review

Mikael Granlund: 5'10, 184lbs, shoots left, naturally a center

Synergies: Passing Playmaker, Wicked Wrister, and Tape to Tape.

11 games played. 7 points (4-3). All games played as 3RW with base Backstrom centering the line and base Kessel playing LW. All synergies were active.

Skating: 9/10- As expected, this little dude can flat out fly on the ice. Fresh off the bench he is comparable to base MacKinnon to me. The thing that stands out with Granlund is how long he can maintain top speed. He routinely out skated everybody near the end of a shift making him that much more valuable. Whenever I decided to make a change with the puck in my opponents end I always kept Granlund on while the others changed simply because he could pester the other team long enough to finish the change. His 86 endurance seems low to me based on what I found while using him.

Shot: 7.5/10- Having wicked wrister activated certainly helped this, but his shot was not that bad. For obvious reasons, I never took a slap shot with him, but he was quick enough to score from good spots on the ice with a strong, but not overpowering, wrist shot that got where it needed to go. I didn't find myself shooting the puck into the goalies chest or pads often at all with him. To summarize, he scores the chances he probably should, but don't expect him to be a sniper.

Hands: 9.5/10- This is where Granlund turned into a solid player into a guy that will probably stay on the squad for a while. He has unreal hands offensively and defensively. Passing was crisp and on point, deking was made simple and he routinely could get to good spots on the ice, and his stick lifts and poke checks were always on point. Obviously, having tape to tape and passing playmaker active helped his passing a great deal, but he really is a standout player in this regard.

Checking: 4/10- Just don't ever do this with him. Don't. His small frame and lightweight are not built for it. The only reasons he was not a 0 in this category is because he can body up Johnny hockey and for a little guy he doesn't get thrown around the ice like he probably should. Steer clear of contact with him and he will treat you well.

Defense: 8.5/10- This is where Granlund pleasantly surprised me. He is very strong defensively. As mentioned above, his poke check and stick lift worked at a very high success rate and he would routinely take the puck away from the opposing team to give me possession again. His 86 defensive awareness seems a bit low to me personally because he was never out of position in my end of the ice. The big thing for me was that in the 11 game sample he didn't take a single penalty and I even tried him out on the penalty kill after realizing how effective he could be and he worked out there as well. Very strong defender which results in an effective two way game without sacrificing offensive output.

If you can find a way to fit Granlund into your lineup and have all of his synergies active, I'd say go ahead and try it out. He is going for 15-17k on PS4 and I'd say he is worth the coins. I'm not a player who scores a lot with one player (don't have a single player averaging a point per game with over 10 games played) so having a guy like this on the 3rd line is a huge boost to my game. It lets me roll out three scoring lines without dumping a ton of coins into guys who won't get a ton of ice time. Granlund was a pleasant surprise for me and I would recommend him to anyone who can play with the speedy, small players.