- Editor's Note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng
PITTSBURGH – Eat your heart out, Pittsburgh.
Last summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins couldn’t wait to send Mikael Granlund packing.
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At last season's NHL trade deadline, a different Penguins regime paid handsomely for Granlund, dealing a 2023 second-round draft pick to the Nashville Predators for the veteran center who had three years at $5 million AAV left on his contract. Pittsburgh, in the playoff race at the time, was counting on Granlund to provide a significant two-way boost.
Instead, and not all on Granlund, of course, but the Pens fell out of the postseason, and their big-name deadline acquisition finished with just one goal and six points in 21 games.
That’s how the 32-year-old, worth a premium pick in March, suddenly became a cap dump over the summer. To extract Pittsburgh’s 2024 first-round pick for reigning (but expensive) Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, the Sharks had to absorb Granlund, Jan Rutta and Mike Hoffman’s contracts.
But something happened on the way to the scrap heap.
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In San Jose, Granlund has found the form that made him so enticing last trade deadline, and he has been one of the few bright spots for the cellar-dwelling Sharks, leading the team with 31 assists. Granlund has 40 points in 51 games.
His game, in particular, has taken off since he returned from an early season lower-body injury, suffered on opening night. Since Nov. 25, Granlund has paced the Sharks with 36 points in just 38 games.
It was on that day, a Sharks' 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, that Granlund really announced himself this season, scoring a coast-to-coast goal that coach David Quinn called ESPN-worthy.
“They didn't have the best gaps," Granlund told San Jose Hockey Now. "I had a little bit of speed."
He went against the grain to beat goalie Casey DeSmith: “That was my plan the whole time.”
It has been highlight after highlight for Granlund since, a statement season for a player thought to be on a sharp decline. His name was even a part of trade deadline rumors once again, a testament to how good a year that he has had.
It’s not just about the highlights, of course.
“Granlund is always in the right place," Quinn said. "He's above the puck, 50-50 wise, he's below it when he needs to be below it. He's just such a smart player.”
On top of that, only five months into his Sharks career, Granlund was just named an alternate captain, a testament to his impact on a young room.
“We were killing a penalty," Quinn said in December. "Him and Zetterlund went out there together. Then the penalty kill ended. Zetterlund went and sat at one end of the bench and Granlund was at the other. Granny stood up and said ‘Zetterlund!’ Patted the bench to say come sit right here, we got stuff to talk about.
“He's got such a great way about him, right? A lot of guys want to talk to people, but they don't know how to deliver it. Granny's got a great way about him, how he understands people, how to handle people, and talk to people. He's got the right to do it because he plays the right way.”
Quinn sees Granlund as a future coach.
Granlund showed those smarts in a chat with San Jose Hockey Now, breaking down some of the better plays, big and small, in his comeback campaign.
Assist in Sharks' 6-3 win on Dec. 1, 2023
Granlund made at least three outstanding plays before this Anthony Duclair goal against the New Jersey Devils, two of them defensive.
First, he matched up with superstar Jack Hughes one-on-one ... and forced a Hughes turnover.
“A lot of times in those situations, a lot of guys are gonna cut through the middle," Granlund said. "I was trying to kind of bait him to go wide there but he still made that play. But my stick was right there.”
How did he bait Hughes?
“Try to stay a little bit behind him [so he feels like he has more space wide],” Granlund said. “He still tried to make that play. Great players, you got to be ready for that.”
Granlund wasn’t done with Hughes.
“We have two guys, he doesn't really have anywhere to go,” Granlund said. “Just trying to make yourself big there. Put your skates sideways, so he can't go through you.”
Having help was the decision-maker for Granlund: “[Without help], he's gonna go around you every single time.”
Duclair called this pass one of the top-three that he had ever received in his life.
Granlund demurred.
“I thought about shooting at first," Granlund said. "Right at the last second, I saw he was open. Honestly, I think it's a basic sauce pass. Nothing spectacular. Just over one stick, it's pretty simple.”
Assist in Sharks' 5-4 win on Dec. 5, 2023
Granlund, again, didn’t think much of his pass.
But it was the process getting there which was telling – there was a lot going through his mind in overtime against the New York Islanders.
“I was looking at the clock," Granlund said. "I was just trying to push everybody back. It's a long shift too. I was not at the best energy anymore.”
But regardless, he was in attack mode.
“Once I got this puck, I had a lot of options," Granlund said. "Do I pass it now? Barzal was skating over there. He didn't really want to play me. I could get to the middle and not go wide. [Eklund and I] both could have speed, I could have passed it earlier.”
But Granlund held and charged in.
“I was able to get to the middle," Granlund said. "Just try to push their D down. That pass, it's just a drop.”
Assist in Sharks' 6-5 win on Dec. 7, 2023
In a year of lowlights, this might have been the highlight of the Sharks’ season.
Down 4-0 in Detroit in the second period, San Jose scored four unanswered to tie it. Then, down 5-4 with less than two minutes to go, Tomas Hertl would tie the game, which led to a Granlund OT winner.
But like it often goes for the best players, it was small play that would lead to the big plays.
Up a goal and with the Sharks’ net empty, Robby Fabbri was about to ice the game for the Wings.
Except Granlund wouldn’t let him.
“It was one of those situations, he had way more speed coming down the ice," Granlund said. "So awkward situation. Kind of just tried to protect the puck. Put it somewhere behind the net or something. If that would be just a straight race to the puck, he would get there first. So you got to put your body in front of him.”
Was Granlund worried about an interference penalty?
“Certain point of games, you play long enough, you get away with a little bit of stuff,” Granlund said. “I don't know if that's a penalty either way.”
Because Granlund was able to hold off Fabbri, the Sharks were able to get an offensive zone faceoff with 1:35 on the clock.
After the game, Quinn gave credit to Sharks goaltending coach Thomas Speer for the heads-up about the liveliness of the Little Caesars Arena boards.
But it’s one thing to know something, it’s another thing to put your knowledge into action.
“I knew about the boards,” Granlund said. “Honestly, before the faceoff, that wasn't the plan. But then [our player got] wrapped up and there's a player fronting you there. There's no chance you're gonna get that to the net. I knew we had two guys inside.”
Remember, Granlund is doing all this on the fly.
“So I was just like, 'OK, let's go wide here,' " Granlund said. "Maybe someone tips it, if it doesn't [happen], it's gonna come back right in front of the net.”
NHL hockey is one of the world's fastest sports, and you have to process a lot, and quickly, to flourish.
“6-on-5, you're gotta get pucks inside, try to outnumber them," Granlund said. "A lot of times, it's tough. So many players fronting the puck. You can't shoot it straight to the net. It's impossible. So you gotta find a way to get it there somehow.”
“We don't have a smarter player than Granlund,” Quinn said.
All this is why Quinn feels good about the Sharks’ future, even with alternate captain Hertl traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on March 8.
Hertl was a model player, on and off the ice – and so is Granlund.
The new alternate captain put his body on the line to prove it last Saturday, the Sharks’ first game of the post-Hertl era, sealing a 3-2 victory with a painful shot block.
“That’s Granny," Quinn said afterwards. "He’s been doing that his whole career. He’s the ultimate team player. Ton of respect for him as a player and a person.”
What a way to finish a milestone game for Granlund, the 800th of his career.
“Obviously, I've played a lot of games in this league," Granlund said. "Some of the younger guys, they look up to you. They look at, What do you do? Off the ice? On the ice? Do you try to do the right thing? Do you battle every single night? All those little things. I hope I can help them. It's what you do, your example every single day. I don't know if you can say culture, but it's what do you bring every single day? You try to do the right things, you try to be as professional as you can be.”
Of course, there’s no try, only do – and Granlund does it.
“Our organization,” Quinn said, “is in good hands when you got people like him leading.”