The San Jose Sharks’ offense was led by one player in 2023-24, offseason acquisition Mikael Granlund. As a result, he seemed like a fitting candidate to lead off our player grades for the campaign.
Granlund’s Season Breakdown
There were minimal expectations for Granlund when he joined the Sharks from the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the Erik Karlsson blockbuster trade. However, now former head coach David Quinn had a lot of hope for him. Early in the season, Logan Couture and Granlund were out with injuries, and in a post-game press conference, Quinn mentioned how the team would perform much better if they didn’t have two of their three best players on the shelf, referring to those two.
Although Couture had a minuscule impact on the season, the same certainly can’t be said about Granlund. After the trade deadline, especially, he was undoubtedly the Sharks’ best player – the only player who came close was Tomas Hertl, who was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights in March.
Granlund made his Sharks debut in the season opener against the Golden Knights on Oct. 12. However, he was injured during the game and missed the next two weeks. He returned against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 29 but failed to record a point in his first four games in teal.
Granlund added only a single assist in his first seven games with his new team. However, a two-point night against the Florida Panthers on Nov. 14 put a bit of wind in his sails. He wasn’t consistently getting on the score sheet in November, but the gaps between points were short. The beginning of December is when the Finnish center truly found his stride.
In the first four games of the month, he recorded nine points and was named the NHLPA’s Player of the Week as a result. He cooled off a bit after that but still posted eight points in December’s ten remaining games. He continued to play well in the first half of January but suffered a shoulder injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 16.
After almost a month on the shelf, Granlund returned to the lineup on Valentine’s Day against the Winnipeg Jets during a Canadian road trip and picked up right where he left off with strong performances. The highlight of the second half of the campaign is undoubtedly his 13-game point streak that began on March 23 and ran through the final game of the season against the Calgary Flames on the road.
Grading Granlund
After a disappointing stint in Pittsburgh, it was difficult to decide where expectations should fall for the 32-year-old. Even those with sky-high expectations had them met, though. The only “bad” part of Granlund’s season was his opening seven games, which simply turned out to be an adjustment period for a player joining a new team. But it does give him a little bit of a knock because it wasn’t a perfect season, although it came as close as possible for a player on a rebuilding team.
Granlund’s 48 assists and 60 points through 69 games led the team in both categories, and it wasn’t close. William Eklund was second in both categories with only 29 assists and 45 points. The fact that Granlund was nearly a point-per-game player on a team that struggled to find offense is impressive. He was also named the Sharks’ Player of the Year in their annual media awards – deservedly.
Grade: A-
Ultimately, I decided on an A- because although it was a very good season, it wasn’t perfect despite being as close as you can get on a team like this season’s Sharks. If he had a little more consistency in the first month, the grade likely would have gone a little higher, but overall, it was a phenomenal season for a player who desperately needed something positive to reflect on.
Although Granlund’s future in San Jose is murky, considering he’s entering the final season of his contract, he brought excitement and, for the most part, consistency to a fan base that had little to cheer for otherwise. His 2023-24 season will certainly be remembered fondly, regardless of what happens moving forward.
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