Calgary Flames 60 Days Until the Season Starts: #60 Markus Granlund

With 60 days left until the regular season starts up again, let’s take a look at a former Calgary Flames player with that number.

Since the start of August, we’re counting down the number of days left until the regular season starts up again! Everyday until the start of the season, we’ll be talking about a Calgary Flames player whose number correlates with how many days there are left.

Yesterday, we talked about #62 Brett Kulak. So far, all our players are still active members on the Flames roster. Today, this player is an active player still, but he’s not with the Flames anymore.

With 60 days left until the season starts up, let’s take a look at #60 Markus Granlund.

Who is Markus Granlund?

Name: Markus Granlund

Birth place: Oulu, Finland

Position: C

Shoots: Left

Birthdate: 1993-04-16

Height: 6’0” / 183 cm

Weight: 83 kg / 183 lbs

Drafted by: Calgary Flames, 45th overall in 2011

Stats with the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, Regular Season:

Stats with minor teams, regular season

Clearly we can see that when Granlund was playing with the Calgary Flames, he was spending quite a bit of time with their farm team. He did however make his NHL debut on February 27th, 2014 against the Los Angeles Kings and got his first NHL point on March 3rd, 2014. Actually funnily enough, it was against the Minnesota Wild, which is the team his brother, Mikael Granlund plays for.

Granlund has participated in two IIHF World Junior Competitions with Finland and two U18 WJC, but has just one bronze medal to show for it in 2010 with the U18 team.

The Flames in the 2015-2016 season traded Granlund to the Vancouver Canucks for Hunter Shinkaruk who has also spent quite a bit of time with the farm-team. Granlund right now, as you can see with the stats above, has been excelling with the Canucks. Much more than he ever did with Calgary.

This could be frustrating for Flames fans, but I think most people have come to terms with it. At the time he was traded, the Flames were quite far down in the standings (ten points behind a wildcard spot past the mid-season mark) and a trade needed to happen. I don’t like discrediting Granlund because he did have that work ethic and I think if given the opportunity, he could have excelled with Calgary.

As I pointed out in a Q&A with our friend Alex Hoegler over at The Canuck Way, Granlund is averaging about 4-5 minutes more a night with the Canucks. He’s currently one of their top-six guys, whereas with Calgary, he was more of a bottom-six guy. Being given that opportunity for more playing time with the Canucks is exactly what he needed. The Flames unfortunately didn’t have room for him as a top-six with who they have right now, but again, it isn’t to discredit Granlund. If given that opportunity, he could have excelled, and I’m happy he’s finally excelling on a team that needed him.

Next: Juuso Valimaki Named Captain of Team Finland at WJC

Just remember: One teams’ loss is another teams’ gain.

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