Instant impact: Mikael Granlund finding consistent success on ice amid crazy past few weeks

As a professional athlete, the trade deadline is always accompanied by a calculated dose of uneasiness.

Whether you’re the top name on the block of a selling team or a player lumped into the return package of a blockbuster deal, there’s a level of processing and quick reacting required in the craziness. Heck, even if your name is floated around but no trade ever materializes, there’s still a certain amount of forward-thinking needed to keep your balance.

Most of the time, everything goes relatively smoothly. But every once in a while, the situation becomes just downright wacky.

Just ask Mikael Granlund.

The recent Stars acquisition has been rolling at a seemingly nonstop pace since being traded by San Jose on Feb. 1. He boarded a flight for Dallas along with fellow teammate Cody Ceci that afternoon and made his Stars debut the following night. The two had their first official practice and flight with the team the next day as they traveled to California for a three-game set. Immediately after the trip concluded, Granlund flew to Montreal for the 4 Nations Face-Off. And after Team Finland wrapped up tournament play on Monday in Boston, he will meet the Stars in Manhattan on Friday as they resume play with a three-game road trip up north.

In other words, he will spend a mere handful of hours in his new home of the DFW metroplex during his first month with the organization. It couldn’t get much more chaotic than that, right?

“Well, my first time when I got traded from Minnesota to Nashville, my firstborn baby was born the same day. This feels way easier than that,” Granlund said with a laugh.

Such is the life of a professional hockey player.

“It is what it is, I guess,” he said with another chuckle. “There’s nothing you can do about the schedule.”

This is the fourth trade of Granlund’s career, and it has a pretty good chance of being the most significant. The 32-year-old (who will turn 33 next week) has played 875 career NHL games for five different teams, posting 172 goals and 593 points over the span. It’s been an impressive run for the veteran who has also logged 59 playoff games.

But he has only made it out of the First Round twice, doing so back in 2014 and 2015. That’s a pretty big deal when you consider the Stars have been to the Western Conference Final in each of the past two seasons and three of the past five overall.

And while this is his first time playing for the Stars, his path has interwoven with Victory Green during some of the biggest moments of his career. He spent his first seven NHL seasons with the Minnesota Wild, including in 2016 when they were bested by the Stars in the First Round of the playoffs. Three seasons later, he was with the Predators when they lost in six games to Dallas in the 2019 First Round. He also played for Nashville in the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl. All in all, he’s played 49 games against the Stars, which is tied for the most against any opponent.

“I’ve been playing in the Central Division for almost my whole career, so they’re a really familiar team,” Granlund said. “I’m excited to be here and it’s a really good team. They’ve been doing well for years.”

Four games into his Dallas tenure, the results have been immediate and influential. Granlund has posted four assists and a plus-4 rating through his first week with the Stars. That includes three primary helpers. He also had five shots on goal, 10 shot attempts and five hits in 17:23 average time on ice.

Stars general manager Jim Nill referred to Granlund as a ‘Finnish Army Knife’ because of his ability to fill just about any void on the ice. He can play center or wing, plug a hole on any of the four lines, build quick chemistry with teammates, and contribute both on the power play and penalty kill. In 52 games with the Sharks this season, he led the team with 30 assists, 45 points and 3:17 average time on ice on the power play. He also led Sharks forwards in both total average time on ice (20:51) and while shorthanded (1:57).

Through four games with Dallas, he’s averaging 1:04 on the power play and 0:11 shorthanded. Those numbers should only rise as he gets more comfortable in the Stars’ system.

“I’m proud of that,” Granlund said of his versatility. “I have some experience and I think one of my biggest strengths is that I’m a pretty smart player out there. I can quickly adapt, fit in with different roles and play every single situation. That’s one thing I’m really proud of in my game.”

And while it can sometimes take even the biggest names in the sport a few weeks to fully acclimate and adjust to a new team, Granlund seems to have found a niche.

“It’s always a little bit different,” Granlund said about each trade. “It’s a new team with a new system and new guys. But I have to say this one feels a little bit easier. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been traded before midseason, but I think it’s more because I know a lot of people from here. There are a lot of familiar faces that I’ve played with, some of the guys and a few Finns.”

Granlund has played with fellow Stars Matt Duchene (in Nashville) and Matt Dumba (in Minnesota) in the past, and also joins a strong Finnish congregation made up of Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Roope Hintz. He got to spend plenty of time with the latter two over the past two weeks in the midst of 4 Nations action.

“We Finns are always tight,” Granlund said. “When you have some Finns on your team, you know you’ll get along with them.”

That certainly seems to have been the case. In the three round-robin games, Granlund had three goals, four points and six shots in 16:46 average time on ice. He is tied for the third-most points in the tournament, trailing only Team Canada’s Sidney Crosby and Team USA’s Zach Werenski. His first goal was the OT winner against rival Sweden, and he followed it up with two tallies in 23 seconds against Canada late in the 3^rd period on Monday.

If you combine the NHL regular season and the tournament, Granlund has 16 points in his last 13 games with three different teams. That’s a pretty good stat line to boast as he prepares for the homestretch.

The 9^th overall pick in 2010 is on pace to hit both 900 games and 600 points before the regular season ends. He’s also in line to play a pivotal role in a vaunted Dallas attack as the Stanley Cup Playoffs come into focus. The Stars have a knack for bringing in the right player at the right time, and the hope is that Granlund will be a main part of the next chapter as Dallas continues its chase.

Not too shabby for a guy who hasn’t even donned a Victory Green jersey yet.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Josh Clark is a writer for DallasStars.com. Follow him on X @Josh_Clark02.