3 Thoughts: NHL’s Faulty Thinking; Why Didn’t Granlund Work with Penguins?!
There is some revisionist thinking sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins land Wednesday, the day after former, albeit briefly, Penguins forward and current Dallas Stars hero Mikael Granlund humbled the Winnipeg Jets with a hat trick in Game 4, pushing the ‘Peg to the brink of elimination in Round Two.
Since the Penguins unceremoniously bundled Granlund in the Erik Karlsson trade on Aug. 6, 2023, the forward has been nearly a point-per-game player for the San Jose Sharks and a healthy contributor to the loaded Dallas Stars lineup.
Granlund had 60 points (12-48-60) in 69 games last season. He had 45 points (15-30-45) in 52 games for San Jose this season, then 21 points (7-14-21) in 31 games for Dallas after San Jose traded him and defenseman Cody Ceci for a 2025 first-rounder and a conditional third.
It’s a far cry from the revulsion at his acquisition in 2023 and new GM Kyle Dubas essentially salary dumping him in the Karlsson deal, along with fellow cast-offs Jan Rutta, and Jeff Petry.
Combined, Petry and Granlund personified the failed Ron Hextall regime. Players who may have had value in one situation, but zero with the Penguins.
And there begins the questions and revisions.
Recall that Granlund had a whopping five points in 21 games, including just one goal with the Penguins. He was roundly panned before stepping onto the ice in a Penguins sweater and did little to change the public narrative as former coach Mike Sullivan shuffled him around the lineup, trying to find a fit. Somewhere. Anywhere.
Even Granlund admitted it didn’t work.
So, why didn’t it?
Granlund was in the midst of a terrible season with Nashville when Hextall accepted the consolation prize in lieu of his real target, J.T. Miller. Echoes and whispers have bounced off the PPG Paints Arena walls about how close the Penguins came to acquiring Miller. Some say it wasn’t that close, and others will tell you that it came down to Hextall’s decision to decline the final offer, despite Miller figuratively having his bags packed and ready to go.
Also, Granlund was going through some heavy personal issues. He separated from his wife that spring as Nashville traded him to Pittsburgh, and the divorce was finalized in July, according to a Finnish magazine’s feature story on his ex-wife. She moved back to Finland with the couple’s sons, who were five and three years old.
If the personal toll wasn’t enough, Granlund’s east-west game was a terrible fit for Sullivan and the Penguins, who were trying, and failing, to play a speedy north-south game.
Square peg, round hole. Blame the GM, who should have known both mitigating circumstances. It was just another fumble from the Hextall regime that egregiously whiffed on so many things.
Now, the Karlsson trade is another matter for another day, and that postmortem might be finalized later this summer.
2. NHL Schedule
The 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins were the first team to win the Stanley Cup in June. Believe it or not, until then, the NHL actually awarded the Cup in May (or earlier) since the Cup first became the NHL’s prize in 1926.
Hockey fans are forgiven if it starts to feel like work watching hockey into later May. Then into mid-June. And then last season (and probably this season), into later June.
Let’s get this thing moving.
The 1991 Penguins’ championship occurred on May 25. In 1992, a 10-day players’ strike delayed the end of the regular season until April 16 (that’s when the season ended this year!). Despite the Penguins and Chicago storming through the playoffs with seven and 11 victories in a row, respectively, the Cup Final lasted until June 1. The Penguins swept the series (thus also winning 11 in a row), or it would have been later.
The 1992 season began on Oct. 4 and was to end in early April, and the Penguins played nine sets of back-to-backs in 80 games.
There has been talk of the NHL expanding the schedule to 84 games. Absolutely silly. Playoff games make money, not a weeknight game against an out-of-conference opponent.
If the playoffs in 1992 began at the same time as 2025, why in the name of Jim Paek will it take three more weeks?
Ending the season earlier would be a great help. If the solution is more divisional games and abandoning the fan-engaging (yet incessantly complained about) divisional playoff format, fine. Do what needs to be done, but these elongated seasons can’t continue.
The breakneck travel schedule this season to accommodate the Four Nations Face-Off was, at times, soul-crushing, even for the players. Next season, the break will be worse to accommodate the Olympics.
Figure it out. Two fewer games for the Olympics? OK.
Start the season on Oct. 1 every year? YEP.
More divisional home-and-home series? Heck yes!
There are ways around this late June nonsense, but it will take a few important structural elements not commonly found within the confines of hockey or the New York offices. First, don’t listen to social media. Fans will complain. Do the right thing and let them enjoy it later. Second, look at fan responses via the ratings. Fans might complain, but the simple fact is that divisional rivals drive more clicks and TV viewership. Do the math on how many more eyeballs will be available in May vs. June, then do the math on the increased revenues. That’s how much projected revenue the league can sacrifice in the regular season. Lastly, don’t seek consensus. Figure it out and hand down the verdict.
3. Copy Cat?
Every year, a new idea, style, or wrinkle emerges that has the media, fans, and even teams thinking about adopting it for next season.
Last year, the Florida Panthers’ physicality was a topic du jour. The year before that, the Vegas Golden Knights ascended to the top with a veteran lineup full of trade acquisitions and free agent signings with nary a home-grown draft pick.
The 2025 Western Conference Final might become a case study of two very different ways to build a roster. The Dallas Stars are one of the deepest teams in years. The forward lines are packed with players perfectly suited to their roles, but absent superstar players (unless you count Mikko Rantanen?).
The Edmonton Oilers are all about star power. It overcomes spotty goaltending and defensive deficiencies.
The Eastern Conference Final will likely be the terminally hard-working and unique man-on-man system of the Carolina Hurricanes against star-powered Toronto or tough Florida.
Will more teams try to emulate Carolina and Dallas? It sounds like an easy choice, and the faster choice to return to Stanley Cup contention, but most hockey people would prefer the star route.
Traditionally, star power wins out.
Categorized:Penguins Penguins Analysis
Unfortunately, the NHL is full of players who didn’t work with the Pens, but have gone on to be very successful with other teams…makes you really wonder why? The Pens are a revolving door to futility.
Culture. Almost every veteran player that comes here doesn’t work well, or work at all. Eller, smith, Perron, Granlund…..
It’s not culture. Do you think Sidney Crosby would be sticking around in a toxic or unpleasant team/organization culture? Towards the end of GMJR’s tenure and Hextall/Burke they made some questionable trades for players who did not fit well. That problem is league wide. That’s why the other 31 teams also make trades. You can never know for certain how a trade will work until a player wears the new jersey and you see them in several games.
Sully
I think this is the next fan narrative that doesn’t withstand scrutiny. Perron played only briefly for Sullivan. Granlund was a poor fit with some things to deal with. Reilly Smith didn’t light it up with NYR, either. He wanted to be back home, that seems even more obvious now. And Lars Eller worked perfectly here. He was a leader and scored at career norms.
You laid it out well. I’m surprised Brassard wasn’t mentioned. If the new HC is a good hire, they acquire a pair or three of players that fit well, and the team competes next season – the narrative will change. When things aren’t going well, every facet of a team/organization comes under scrutiny. Some legitimate criticism is warranted about the state of the Pens, but more often than not it is overblown.
I’m not super sympathetic about Granlund’s family issues. If I used that excuse for poor performance at work, you know what that would get me? A ‘gee that’s tough’ if I’m lucky. He’s a professional. He can show up and do his job like the rest of us.
You have every right to be unsympathetic, but Granlund got the NHL equivalent of a slap in the face, demotion, or transfer to the worst and most underperforming office in the company. He got unceremoniously dumped to the worst team in the league amidst questions of whether his career was doomed. Good on him for rebounding.
Maybe others will list Sprong, Noesen, DOC, Ruhwedel, Brock McGinn, and countless other veterans who don’t work out. It’s not like these guys left and lit the league on fire. One of the only people that Pens fans should be mad about leaving in the last 3 years is Jake Guentzel. And even then, he wasn’t going to re-sign here and Dubas got a haul for him to play 28 games in Carolina
Woah woah woah! Back the bus up on Ruhwedel. 🙂 He did everything asked of him, at a dirt cheap rate and was invisible. He was a solid player for the Pens.
Yes and no. Eller was exasperated in post game interviews. The timing of his trade was odd.
Well aware of Eller’s emotions. He was my postgame go-to…
Interesting how all of those were never a certain someone’s fault…
Did Sullivan break up Granlund’s marriage? Sounds like a great story. Do tell.
Sully
Spot on Pete!
The list of players who did not work here but went on to success with other teams is LONG-one reason-SULLY!
i’m so glad you wrote this about Granlund….i wondered why this wasn’t working and seeing how is playing now….good for him and another Hextall failure.
The Penguins seem to hire GMs who lack patience and make deals for the sake of making deals. This is the case with Granlund.
Can’t agree more on the number of games and how long the season ends. “YES!” to everything you said. Give me a way I can tell that to the NY Office, and I will!
Dumb thought – why do all 4 lines have to play the same way. Again, the Sully is a great coach concept, find a way to maximize the strengths and fix some of the blind spots. Not – do it this way or else. I’d say his failure and a couple of others lay at the feet of SULLY. The “He might be the best coach” narrative is so blown out of proportion. He was an AHL coach who got lucky enough to coach the big 3 with some massive help from HBK and Tocchet. The 3 RW were Dupuis,… Read more »
Teams haven’t been that loose since the drinking days and coaches tossed a bucket of pucks on the ice for practice.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see one know-it-all Pens fan picked by lottery coach the team for one year and see how he does?
It would be better than another barely ex-player who has no management skills whatsoever, but feels that the game he was never equipped to play passed him by.
But you do you – and learn how to spell.
Would be entertaining to see a player smoking a cigarette on the ice, taking on a bucket of pucks. An NHL version of the Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn.
I have seen it in the minors. I won’t say who, but…I’ve seen it!
And would that have been any worse than the team looked for 40% of the games this season. They had no finish, no structure on D for sure and no accountability. Not sure I see the difference.
Exactly!
Two words: Mike. Sullivan.
Of the 18 skaters Pens have 3 under achieving, 3 too old, and 3 knuckleheads, Granlund did not seem to fit the pattern.
Crosby doesn’t fit in any of those buckets 🪣.
Too old to be one of the 3 best players in the NHL?
No one other than McDavid or MacKinnon fits into his bucket.
I feel like the media/fans have a significant role here too.. As you mentioned Granlund was panned before taking the ice and in MANY articles thereafter.
The PHN poll from the fans on his trade had only 5% excited about it with most people openly against it. Who would be excited to step into that? And clearly a 2nd rounder wasn’t wild, he just fetched a first.
It seems like a pattern where if we don’t like the trade value for the player, we just make it really hard for the player.
When Granlund got trade to the penguins he was going thru a divorce. So maybe that hurt his play at that time?
Bingo! Dan essentially answered his own question.
4th thought.. it’s probably the awful goal song! It’s gotta be bad luck by now, surprised Sid hasn’t caught on!? For real what about the new sleepy elevator music between plays? It’s laughable for a hockey game.
It’s almost like Sully wasn’t nearly as good of a coach as everyone made him out to be. He inherited a cup winning team and then it slowly degraded more every year despite changing every piece of the roster multiple times outside of the core, 2 GMs, 1 pres of Hockey Ops, etc. The only common denominator was Sully.
Yep
Anyone who says he inherited a Cup winning team wasn’t here from 2012-2015.
…was Sully (and the Big Three).
Granlund barely had a chance. I also learned he was going through a rough divorce when he was here.
I got torched back then for saying what a good player he was and how his contract was totally appropriate. A lot of good productive veterans have come through here and been bad though.
We could have kept Granlund and Kulikov instead of getting Karlsson and signing Graves, and been a lot better off.
A lot of ex-pen players are doing things in this playoffs. Was that Kasperi kapenan last night scoring the winning goal for Edmonton?
Another guy who got a bad rap here, his stats were almost identical to another guy who was making 5.5, Kappy was making 3.2, all we heard was how Kappy was killing the cap. Also, little known fact, he led the Leafs with 4 short handed goals one year, was never put on PK here, also Pens were like 2-12 in OT the one year, he was a fast skilled offensive player(perfect for 4 on 4), but Sully never gave him a chance in OT, preferred Jeff Carter!!!
Meh on 42. Just because former players blip into the news years after they were on the team, suddenly we miss them? We got a gift when 42 was picked up on waivers. An absolute gift.
Funny how it’s only the fans that engage in “revisionist history? I can recall quite a few articles….
None by me that asserted Mikael Granlund was a good fit and mistakenly traded.
Granlund was just such a terrible move by Hextall. He wasn’t big, wasn’t fast, wasn’t young, and wasn’t a finisher, which were the things the Penguins needed. Instead he was moderately sized, moderately aged, with average speed, and a playmaker. The Pens had a surplus of those, and better. Even now, his goal totals aren’t great, just pretty good. The Penguins need someone who can score 30 while also averaging around a point per game. Now, the fascinating “what if” is Miller. If Hextall had pulled the trigger, could it have saved his job? Obviously no Karlsson trade, but what… Read more »
Knew before I even read the article it was going to be the players fault somehow, someway.
After getting served up softballs for the last 9 years or so I’m going be real curious on how Sullivan handles the NY press.
It’s not going to be yes Mike, no Mike and handle with baby gloves like in PGH.
Yeah, it usually is on the players. they are the ones…playing. Some of you are just impossible.
If the Rangers should win a lot more games next season and even win a round in the playoffs it will obviously be the result of the players ability to
succeed despite the atrocious tutelage provided by their HC.
Credit to the players.
On the other hand if the Rangers plummet to the depths of the league by losing more games then they did this past season the blame for the players failures of course is obviously on Sullivan.
How come everyone can’t grasp this intuitively?
Team wins because players played great; team loses Sullivan failed the players. Duh 🙄