The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly in the mix to sign free agent forward Mikael Granlund, according to Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest.
Carolina and CBJ (among other teams) remain two potential landing spots for Mikael Granlund. #Preds also interested in both him and Hoffman but have much better chance of landing Hoffman than they do Granlund. #Canes#CBJ
Heading into the offseason, Granlund was one of the free agents I had talked about as an option for the Hurricanes. He’s coming off a down year but back with the Minnesota Wild, he was a key part of the team’s offense. He had back-to-back seasons around the 70-point mark (2016-17 and 2017-18) and could do some damage playing left wing on Carolina's second line.
That said, if Granlund was to be added, it means someone certainly has to be moved. The Hurricanes have virtually no cap space remaining and Ryan Dzingel and/or Jake Gardiner would have to be dealt to free up some room. Considering this market, that could be somewhat of a challenging task.
Strickland also mentioned, however, that the Columbus Blue Jackets are in the mix as well and there’s also the potential that Granlund could still re-sign with the Nashville Predators. So obviously, this is far from being a sure thing.
However, Granlund is likely to come at a fairly cheap price for the value he could bring, after being on pace for just 39 points (per 82 games) last season. There’s also the chance we see him take a one-year deal, like we saw with Taylor Hall, and try to drive up his value, then re-enter the market when teams are willing to give out more money. If this is the case, signing Granlund would come with minimal risk.
There would have to be some moving parts if the Hurricanes did sign Granlund but if they can find the cap space to do it, this would be a good addition for the team. They need a top-six winger and Granlund could certainly have success playing alongside Vincent Trocheck and Martin Necas.
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Here’s today’s poll questions (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How long would you hope the contract is if the Hurricanes signed Mikael Granlund?
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