Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall has had his sights set on Mikael Granlund for multiple seasons.

Under 48 hours from the official NHL trade deadline, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall made a move to acquire forward Mikael Granlund from the Nashville Predators.

Granlund has only played one game with the Penguins and the jury is still out on if he is going to be worth his contract value, but it was a move that had fans baffled.

Hextall cleared around $6 million in cap space and it was believed he was shooting for a larger prize.

After falling through on trades for Jakob Chychrun or J.T. Miller, Hextall settled for a Granlund in exchange for a second round pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.

Did Hextall actually ‘settle’ for Granlund, though? According to Hextall, the Penguins were one of many teams who had been trying to acquire the Finish forward.

“He’s a guy that we actually tried to get a couple of years ago at the deadline,” Hextall said. “And I talked to three or four GMs today that said they tried to get him the last couple of years.”

So, Granlund has been a hot commodity for general managers around the NHL.

“He was a coveted player.”

Hextall clearly holds Granlund in a high regard if he is willing to pay the remainder of his contract.

For the next two season after this one, Granlund will make $5 million against the salary cap.

Granlund can be a solid player, and should bring some juice to the bottom-six, but that’s a lot of money when there were bigger fish out there.

Hextall had to work and be patient in finally acquiring Granlund; Hextall waited and kept and eye out seemingly since arriving in Pittsburgh, and now he’s got another one of ‘his guys.’

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