Mikael Granlund

StaTuesday: Mikael Granlund on pace for Wild season

Published Feb. 7, 2017 12:30 p.m. ET

Ryan Lund

Standing out in 2010, a draft class that also produced Tyler Seguin, Taylor Hall and Vladimir Tarasenko -- two of the league's best scoring wingers, flanking a top-five center -- was always going to be a tall order, even for a second-line forward on a contending team.

Of the top-10 picks, six are currently top-six forwards or top-four defensemen, while Tarasenko -- taken at No. 16 -- is among the league's elite.

And following a three-year career in Finland's top professional league, Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund -- the No. 9 pick -- looked poised to do the same.

After four years of fits, starts and one spectacular diving game-winner, it appears Granlund is finally living up to the high bar set by his peers.

Granlund started the season at his typical pace, posting 14 points in 24 games, right in line with his previous scoring rate of 0.55 points per game, but he seemed to turn a corner during the Wild's 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Since then his production has more than doubled.

Granlund has 34 points since that game -- two more than Sidney Crosby, four more than Alexander Ovechkin -- and now ranks 14th in the NHL with 48 points in 51 games.

His 12-game point streak is the longest in franchise history.

Granlund matched his previous career scoring high with an assist in a loss to Calgary last week, before blowing past it on Saturday, notching his first NHL hat trick and powering the Wild to a road win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Mikael Granlund, Career stats

Season	Age	GP	G	A	PTS	Rating
2012-13	20	27	2	6	8	-4
2013-14	21	63	8	33	41	-3
2014-15	22	68	8	31	39	17
2015-16	23	82	13	31	44	-12
2016-17	24	51	15	33	48	30

His current pace -- 1.25 points per game since Dec. 7 -- would be enough to net Granlund around 87 points on the season.

That would have been good enough for third place last season, behind Patrick Kane and Jamie Benn.

NHL Scoring since Dec. 7, 2016

Player	Team	GP	PTS	G	A
Mikael Granlund	Wild	27	34	10	24
Brent Burns	Sharks	28	33	12	21
Brad Marchand	Bruins	29	33	16	17
Nicklas Backstrom	Capitals	29	32	8	24
Sidney Crosby	Penguins	25	32	13	19
Evgeny Kuznetsov	Capitals	29	32	8	24
Alex Ovechkin	Capitals	29	30	13	17
Mark Scheifele	Jets	26	27	12	15
Jeff Carter	Kings	28	26	16	10
Evgeni Malkin	Penguins	21	26	12	14

After a few years spent in the shadows of his former draft-mates, Granlund now trails Seguin and Tarasenko by just two points overall, and leads Hall by seven.

And nearly 500 games after they were drafted, Granlund is finally closing the cap on the class of 2010.

The 2010 Draft Class, by total points

Drafted	Drafted By	Current Team	Player	Pos	GP	PTS	G	A
2	Bruins	Stars	Tyler Seguin	C	479	405	182	223
1	Oilers	Devils	Taylor Hall	LW	424	363	145	218
7	Hurricanes	Hurricanes	Jeff Skinner	C	468	304	161	143
4	Blue Jackets	Predators	Ryan Johansen	C	403	265	96	169
16	Blues	Blues	Vladimir Tarasenko	RW	311	259	129	130
12	Ducks	Ducks	Cam Fowler	D	468	205	45	160
14	Blues	Blues	Jaden Schwartz	C	288	189	83	106
9	Wild	Wild	Mikael Granlund	C	291	180	46	134
37	Hurricanes	Hurricanes	Justin Faulk	D	370	179	59	120
147	Canadiens	Canadiens	Brendan Gallagher	RW	299	174	83	91
178	Senators	Senators	Mark Stone	RW	227	172	71	101
26	Capitals	Capitals	Evgeny Kuznetsov	C	232	165	45	120
47	Kings	Kings	Tyler Toffoli	C	264	161	76	85
28	Sharks	Wild	Charlie Coyle	C/RW	322	159	65	94
5	Islanders	Wild	Nino Niederreiter	RW	358	155	75	80
30	Islanders	Islanders	Brock Nelson	C	285	135	71	64
131	Stars	Stars	John Klingberg	D	192	129	29	100
19	Panthers	Panthers	Nick Bjugstad	C	250	119	57	62
24	Blackhawks	Rangers	Kevin Hayes	RW	205	116	44	72
45	Bruins	Bruins	Ryan Spooner	C	190	105	29	76
59	Wild	Wild	Jason Zucker	LW	220	99	58	41
21	Red Wings	Red Wings	Riley Sheahan	C	254	92	36	56
8	Thrashers	Coyotes	Alexander Burmistrov	C	307	87	31	56
42	Ducks	Devils	Devante Smith-Pelly	RW	256	75	31	44
51	Red Wings	Predators	Calle Jarnkrok	C	219	73	33	40
6	Lightning	Capitals	Brett Connolly	RW	249	73	37	36
157	Rangers	Rangers	Jesper Fast	RW	196	60	20	40
66	Lightning	Flyers	Radko Gudas	D	244	59	14	45
20	Penguins	Devils	Beau Bennett	RW	169	55	19	36
99	Panthers	Sharks	Joonas Donskoi	RW	120	51	17	34

Statistics courtesy of STATS LLC and Hockey-Reference.com

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Mikael Granlund

Minnesota Wild