"Mikael is a versatile forward, able to play either wing or center, and contribute offensively," said Hextall. "He has experience on both the power play and penalty kill and can add options to our lineup."
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound forward is in his 11th NHL season and has recorded nine goals, 27 assists and 36 points in 58 games this year with Nashville. His 27 assists this season are the third most on the Predators, while his 36 points rank fourth on the team. Granlund ranks second on the Predators, and leads all forwards, with 176:59 minutes of power-play time this season, and ranks third on the team with 12 points on the man advantage (1G-11A).
Granlund has played 729 career NHL games, split between the Minnesota Wild (2012-19) and Nashville ('19-23), and has recorded 144 goals, 335 assists and 479 points. His best NHL season came in 2016-17 when he recorded a career-high 26 goals and 69 points, including seven power-play goals and three shorthanded goals, in 81 games with Minnesota. The forward has hit the 20-goal plateau twice in his career (26 in 2016-17; 21 in '17-18), and has surpassed the 60-point plateau three times (69 in 2016-17; 67 in '17-18; 64 in '21-22).
Prior to turning professional, Granlund played in Liiga, Finland's top professional league for parts of four seasons from 2008-12. In 129 career Liiga games, split between Karpat and HIFK, he recorded 41 goals, 86 assists and 127 points.
The Oulu, Finland native has represented his home country internationally on several occasions, including two World Under-18 Junior Championships (2009 & '10), three World Junior Championships (2009, '10 & '12), six World Championships (2011, '12, '13, '16, '18, & '22), one Olympics (2014) and one World Cup (2016). Granlund has won two World Championship gold medals (2011 & '22) and one silver medal (2016), as well as a bronze medal at the 2014 Olympic Games, where he was also named to the All-Star Team after leading Team Finland with seven points (3G-4A) in six games.
Granlund was originally drafted in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Granlund played with Penguins' teammate Jason Zucker with the Wild from 2012-19.
