Sully's player evaluation skills are utter dogshit, and his insistence on running two shutdown 4th lines with zero offensive potential as his bottom-6 is aggravating as all hell.
What a difference he's making for the *checks notes* 27th place San Jose SharksAnyone watching Granlund can tell it's not because he's "on a bad team". Dude is a real difference maker out there for the Sharks at all situations.
It's pretty obvious we used him like Nick Bonino because we need a Nick Bonino and a Matt Cullen.
He's having a good year. I don't think that changes what he is. He's not going to produce like that on a team where he's not getting 20+ minutes a night with tons of powerplay time.Only 50 seconds more TOI/G than Sid with more points in fewer games.
In a vacuum, I don't give a shit about Granlund. I wouldn't have re-signed him.
I'm mad that Mike Sullivan doesn't understand lineups, player strengths, player chemistry, potential, matchups, special teams, or the game in general.
It really seemed like Hextall just panicked and traded for him at the last second so that he could say he did something.I still think Granlund is a "good player on a bad team" type of player, but the acquisition by the Penguins in the first place was stupid both in what Hextall paid for him and the intended role he was brought in to play. I wouldn't say he definitely would have panned out here, but bringing him in to play RW with Crosby would have been a lot more likely to work than playing as a defensive 3C.
In hindsight, they should have never done the Karlsson trade and just played Granlund in their top-6, especially after the Guentzel deal. I feel like Granlund-Crosby-Rust would have been an effective line, at least in the sense of getting Crosby points.
I guess the question with that would be whether or not Sullivan had any input on personnel moves that Hextall made.Also not as a defense of Sullivan's usage of Granlund, but Granlund was brought in by Hextall to be a 3C. That wasn't Sullivan being some clay-brained idiot and deciding himself to play him there, the Penguins already had Guentzel-Crosby-Rust and Zucker-Malkin-Rakell as their top-6 and Granlund was explicitly being brought in to play 3C. It's totally fair to criticize Sullivan for how he used him, but:
1. The GM brought him in for that role as well.
2. The Penguins didn't have the open spot in the appropriate role for Granlund, meaning his acquisition in the first place was stupid.
I guess the question with that would be whether or not Sullivan had any input on personnel moves that Hextall made.
Dubas has been pretty clear that he utilizes Sullivan's input/feedback on moves that he makes. Hextall was pretty close mouthed with the media so who knows if he did the same. But most GMs do value their head coaches opinions so I would assume he did. I know Yohe and Rossi wrote hatchet job articles implying otherwise but not sure how much I trust them.
If Sullivan had any say at all on Granlund I would say that absolving him of blame is letting him off the hook too easily.
We already know what we have on the roster is crapI’m glad we still are talking bout granlund.
Really great roster talk. Dude has been talked about more this year than in the 20 games he was a penguin.
Some people need to move on.
I’m glad we still are talking bout granlund.
Really great roster talk. Dude has been talked about more this year than in the 20 games he was a penguin.
Some people need to move on.
EK would put up 100 points again in Edmonton. There's enough to Jarry that if his head was ever consistently on straight he'd be a really good, but not great starter. Not much else jumps of the page for potential.Who is the next Granlund on our roster?
Anyone watching Granlund can tell it's not because he's "on a bad team". Dude is a real difference maker out there for the Sharks at all situations.
It's pretty obvious we used him like Nick Bonino because we need a Nick Bonino and a Matt Cullen.