{"id":69172,"date":"2020-02-19T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=69172"},"modified":"2022-09-06T17:09:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T21:09:31","slug":"nashville-predators-forward-mikael-granlund-faces-uncertain-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/02\/19\/nashville-predators-forward-mikael-granlund-faces-uncertain-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Predators Forward Mikael Granlund Faces Uncertain Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nashville Predators<\/a> may be getting hot at the right time, but there\u2019s still a cloud of uncertainty on the future of Mikael Granlund<\/a><\/strong> with the club. Granlund is in the last year <\/span>of a contract that sees him get $5.75 million per season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 27-year-old came over last trade deadline from the Minnesota Wild and has struggled for the most part. He only scored once in 16 regular-season games with th<\/span>e Predators last season and once in the post-season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This season <\/span>started slowly for Granlund and Nashville. Many had the Predators playoff hopes as dead and thought the winger would be a prime candidate to <\/span>get dealt for the second straight season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Predators hiring of John Hynes has revitalized the Oulu, Finland native. Granlund has eight of his <\/span>14 goals this season since Hynes replaced Peter Laviolette<\/a> behind the bench.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That production is what has put the Predators within three <\/span>points<\/span> of a playoff spot. However, could Granlund still be on the move?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mikael Granlund Future in Limbo<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Nashville is thankful for the recent upswing in goals, but it has decisions to make about the future. Granlund carries that big cap hit and becomes an unrestricted free ag<\/span>ent on July <\/span>1.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Predators also have to figure out what they’re going to do with other pending free agents on their roster. Craig Smith<\/a>, Rocco Grimaldi<\/a> <\/strong>and Coli<\/strong><\/span>n Blackwell<\/strong> are forwards that become UFAs in the off-season. Smith and Grimaldi have also picked up their game since Hynes took charge.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>defence<\/span> will also have a few free agents in Matt Irwin<\/a><\/strong>, Yannick Weber<\/a><\/strong> and Dan Hamhuis<\/a><\/strong>. <\/span>It\u2019s uncertain on if general manager David <\/span>Poile<\/span> will retain any of these blue-liners.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville has been surging as of late, but Smith, Granlund and Grimaldi will all likely want raises. This would especially be the case if they continue to produce and push the Predat<\/span>ors into the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poile<\/span> has been pretty adept at getting players to take a little bit less to stay with the team. Talented <\/span>defencemen<\/span> like Mattias Ekholm<\/a><\/strong> and Ryan Ellis<\/a> <\/strong>could have gotten more<\/span> on the open market. However, <\/span>Poile<\/span> was able to <\/span>get team-friendly deals with Ekholm getting $3.75 million and Ellis commanding $6.25 million.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The cap gymnastics will get difficult when Roman Josi<\/a> <\/strong>starts getting over $9 million per season, which is more than double his $4 million cap hit. <\/span>Nashville is going to have do some creative accounting to keep their core together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Case for Trading<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Nashville does have a crop of young forwards itching for an opportunity. <\/span>Eeli Tolvanen<\/strong> have already matched their goal total from last season (15) with the Milwaukee Admirals. <\/span>Yakov <\/strong>Treni<\/strong>n<\/span> made a good showing of himself when <\/span>he played, including standing up to Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Phillip Tomasino<\/strong> is having <\/span>a great season with the Oshawa Generals in the OHL as is Egor\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Afanasyev<\/strong> for the Windsor Spitfires. The young talent may be cost-effective and too great for <\/span>Poile<\/span> to ignore. If Nashville does a tear down, <\/span>Tolvanen<\/span> and <\/span>Trenin<\/span> would likely get an extend<\/span>ed look to see if they can both make the roster.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latter two would get a full opportunity to prove themselves at training camp as well as many other prospects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Case for Keeping<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

However, the Predators are only three points off of the second wild card spot held by the A<\/a><\/span>rizona Coyotes. Nashville also has three games in hand on Arizona in the chase for that coveted playoff spot. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wild card looks to be the team\u2019s best option as the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> are eight points ahead of Nashville for the third and final automatic spot in the Central Division. A run of wins <\/span>could put the <\/span>Preds<\/span> right in the mix for post-season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville might want to hang onto its big guns if it wants to make a charge at the playoffs. Players like Granlund, Smith and others have the experience of being in a playoff chase. The younger skaters are talented, but haven\u2019t been deep in a chase.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forwards like Granlund and Smith have seen a resurgence as of late in their respective games. It would be hard to justi<\/span>fy waiving the white flag and giving in on a season when the team isn\u2019t that far off a post-season berth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What it Means for the Future<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s an unenviable position for <\/span>Poile<\/span>. He doesn\u2019t want to give up on the season, but he doesn\u2019t want to have Smith and Mikael Granlund walk away for nothing. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s game against the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> and Saturday\u2019s versus the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> will hold the key on what the Predators might do on Feb. 24.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"NHLST. LOUIS, MO- FEBRUARY 15: Nashville Predators center Mikael Granlund (64) reacts after scoring the winning goal during an NHL game between the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues, on February 15, 2020, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO. Photo by Keith Gillett\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nashville Predators may be getting hot at the right time, but there\u2019s still a cloud of uncertainty on the future of Mikael Granlund with the club. Granlund is in the last year of a contract that sees him get $5.75 million per season.\u00a0 The 27-year-old came over last trade deadline from the Minnesota Wild […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":68824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,2],"tags":[4603,1722,3361,245,3868,1110,1778,1157,243,1547,3777,1546,743],"class_list":["post-69172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predators","category-featured","tag-2020-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-craig-smith","tag-dan-hamhuis","tag-david-poile","tag-john-hynes","tag-matt-irwin","tag-mattias-ekholm","tag-mikael-granlund","tag-nashville-predators","tag-peter-laviolette","tag-rocco-grimaldi","tag-ryan-ellis","tag-yannick-weber"],"modified_by":"Matt Jarvis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}