Calgary Flames Need To Move Granlund To The Wing

Calgary Flames center, Markus Granlund is a confounding player. At 22 years of age he still has more time to develop into a useful player in the NHL.

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However, with Sam Bennett potentially moving to center next year, and the Calgary Flames depth down the middle, time is running out to make an impact.

Markus Granlund has proven himself as an offensive threat in the American Hockey League where he averaged close to a point per game in parts of three seasons.

For the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League however, he simply hasn’t been able to play with the same consistent offence, instead relying on a two-way prowess on most nights to stay in the line-up.

As I mentioned earlier, Granlund is no longer a fresh-faced rookie, and the clock is ticking for he and the Calgary Flames to find out what he is at the NHL level where he has 25 points in 79 career games.

Decent offensive totals for a young player, but certainly not eye-popping in the Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan era.

Can he produce offence at the NHL level?

Maybe, but it won’t be at his current position.

Granlund just can’t play centre ice in the NHL. He isn’t good on face-offs, around 43% wins this year, contributing to the Calgary Flames being one of the worst face-off teams in the NHL at 27th overall.

The fact that he doesn’t have the size you want in a center-man, also hurts his chances at being a successful player when he’s going up against the likes of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton and others in the Pacific Division.

His offensive pedigree and defensive anticipation show promise for a young Calgary Flames player, but he often leaves you wanting more, wondering how good he could be if he put all his tools together. Sven Baertschi anyone?

But unlike the “Swiss miss”, Granlund has been given good looks by Calgary Flames head coach, Bob Hartley playing almost all of December with Bennett, and now is on a line with Jiri Hudler.

Both are strong offensive players for the Calgary Flames, and yet he hasn’t scored at the level you need to be playing with those guys.

In fact, Sam Bennett started going beast-mode almost immediately after he stopped playing with Granlund.

Now you have a few options with Granlund:

Option 1: Trade him. Granlund is young enough and has enough pedigree to generate interest among NHL teams, particularly the Minnesota Wild where Markus’s brother Mikael plays. If a team is willing to give up a player of a similar status, or say a 2nd round pick, it would be something the Calgary Flames would have to consider.

Option 2: Move him to Left-Wing. Here Granlund will have less pressure to play his two-way game, and more freedom to expand upon his offence at the NHL level. Moving him to wing will also open up the middle ice for a player in the Calgary Flames system like Derek Grant. Someone with size and the best face-off abilities in the organization are sure to come in handy in games when you need a draw won.

Option 3: Do nothing: Simply letting Granlund play more NHL games at center and continuing his evaluation isn’t a bad thing either, he gets a chance to continuing improving his face-offs and his offence while playing behind two established centres in Backlund and Monahan. If he blossoms, great, if he doesn’t, well then you know he’s not an NHL center.

With prospects like Mark Jankowski, Bill Arnold, Freddie Hamilton, and Drew Shore, the depth and competition at centre is high in the Calgary Flames organization.

Not to mention the Stockton Heat’s MVP and face-off ace Derek Grant in the pipeline, who has shown he can play in the NHL.

Moving Granlund to wing will allow him to further develop his offence and move a better suited player to improve the Calgary Flames face-offs totals, which will only help the Calgary Flames in their play-off push.

Next: Flames Rookie A Shot At Calder Trophy?

Should the Calgary Flames move Granlund to the wing? At what price do you trade him? Sound off in the comment section below.

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