Ron Hextall Shuffled Deck Chairs on Sinking Penguins Ship
Ron Hextall acquired Mikael Granlund, but it wasn't much of an improvement for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
A lot of fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins are more than upset over the move to acquire Mikael Granlund from the Nashville Predators.
Fans are angry, and rightfully so, but did the Penguins improve by adding Granlund to their bottom-six?
In fairness to Ron Hextall, yes, Granlund is an improvement to the bottom two lines, but it’s marginal.
And that’s about all the slack Hextall deserves in this situation; he shuffled deck chairs.
Granlund comes to Pittsburgh with nine goals on the season and 27 assists; with 36 points, he is automatically the sixth highest scorer on the Penguins and leader among bottom-six forwards.
The real sticking points on why this is a bad move from Hextall center around Granlund’s age (31-years-old), contract ($5 million annually), and term (this year, plus two more).
Granlund is also slow, undersized, and certainly won’t throw the body; everything from the age, price, term, speed, size, and toughness are the exact opposite of what the Penguins need.
The positive attributes are there with Granlund, but they’re slim.
Maybe (emphasis on maybe) Granlund can be a decent enough play-making winger to rejuvenate Jeff Carter’s scoring touch.
Maybe (again, emphasis) Granlund adds a jolt to the Penguins power play that continues to look worse with every passing game.
Maybe (…) Granlund turns out to be a good, useful addition to the bottom-six, but that doesn’t mean Hextall is out of the woods.
Hextall had $6 million of cap space to work with after seeing Kasperi Kapanen get claimed on waivers, dropping Brock McGinn and Mark Friedman to the AHL, and trading away Teddy Blueger.
What did he do with that $6 million? It wasn’t go out and outbid teams for a top-line defenseman; it wasn’t acquiring a young forward who has a bright future ahead; it was immediately set on fire with a player full of maybes.
Absolutely nothing against Granlund as a player; he might still have a lot left in the tank to be a solid NHL player, he was just forced into a very heated situation.
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