Mikael Granlund: What the Hell Does HIFK Stand For?

Today, we continue on with our five-part series looking at the Top Five Targets for the Ottawa Senators in this year’s upcoming NHL Entry Draft, on June 25th, 2010. The first player was Emerson Etem, now here is the next Teemu Selanne.

They say you can find goal-scorers off trees, but complete two-way players in heaven. Well, what about kid who has the potential of both? Mikael Granlund, playing in the elusive HIFK Team in Helsinki, Finland, has realized both. He’s a got a super snipe shot, and a way with the puck. “His skills with and without the puck are tremendous”, according to CSS Director E.J. McGuire.

From what I have watched of Mikael, he seems to be guy hungry for the puck every time he steps on the sheet of ice. He has great puck-handling skills, and at 17-years old was the assistant captain for his hockey club. I can’t talk about leadership skills, but it’s darn good to know he’s in a team where he’s a leader off and on the ice.

The only thing that I can see is his skating abilities. You hear it all the time, even with 1st overall pick John Tavares last year. And he worked out pretty good, hey? But it seems to me that, and from what I have heard, Granlund doesn’t have the speed that may teams want. The NHL has shorter ice though, than in Europe, but Ottawa needs to start developing speed as a factor early and can’t get guys stuck in mud, now matter how much they are skilled.

We have 25 days left, and still I have no sense of what type of forward Bryan Murray wants. Power guy, or skilled? It’s hard to know, but atl east we have a Top 5 to get a general sense.