The Anaheim Ducks announced on the opening day of 2025 NHL free agency that they signed veteran forward Mikael Granlund to a three-year contract that carries an AAV of $7 million.

Granlund (33) is a versatile forward who can play either wing or center position, kill penalties, and create offensive looks for himself or teammates.

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Despite playing the majority of the last two seasons on the San Jose Sharks, the NHL’s back-to-back worst team in the standings, he eclipsed the 60-point mark (60 in 2023-24 and 66 in 2024-25) for the fourth and fifth times in his 13-year NHL career.

“He’s what I consider a hard worker,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said after the acquisition. “He goes to the hard areas, something that we needed more of. He’s not afraid to be a net front presence guy. He’s a guy that hangs onto pucks in the corners for more puck possessions. He’s a very smart hockey player. I would say his skating is above average.”

The Ducks didn’t have many holes in their depth chart with the addition of Chris Kreider, and even with the departure of Trevor Zegras.

They were the worst faceoff team in the NHL, winning a mere 44.6% of their draws in 2024-25, and they needed a center who could provide a positive impact on both ends of the ice.

The analytics community has been critical of the signing since it was announced, stating his defensive metrics reflect one of the poorer profiles among all NHL forwards.

That leads some to question what his role will be with the current iteration of the Ducks’ depth chart and if he’s simply an older, more expensive version of Zegras.

“That’s the beauty of this player,” Verbeek continued.”I think that he gives us a lot of options. Jole and I go through the lineup, and it’s going to give us four balanced lines. So, injuries occur, there’s a lot of things that can happen. So that’s another reason we really liked him.”

Digging into the game tape from his time with San Jose, where he was mostly deployed as a center, often between William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund or Zetterlund and Barclay Goodrow, he was given the opponent’s toughest matchups on a nightly basis. Against the Colorado Avalanche, he was matched up against Nathan MacKinnon. Against the New Jersey Devils, he was matched against Jack Hughes. Against the Vegas Golden Knights, he was matched up against Jack Eichel, so on and so forth.

In those matchups, with those linemates, and with defensemen like Cody Ceci, Jake Walman, and Henry Thrun absorbing tough matchups on the blueline along with him, it would come as no surprise to see Granlund’s underlying numbers near the bottom of the NHL. Granlund could have very well been a product of a poor defensive environment, historically one of the worst defensive environments in the NHL’s salary cap era.

However, on a shift-by-shift basis, Granlund demonstrates textbook defensive positioning, effective battle engagement, and above-average angling techniques.

In defensive zone coverage, he’s always in lanes, using his stick to disrupt, supporting pucks, and winning battles in small areas. He displays quality anticipation skills on the forecheck and in the neutral zone, providing early kills. He’s one of the best in the league when it comes to translating what makes him an impactful offensive player to the defensive side of the puck.

Granlund is a player where the eye test doesn’t match the underlying numbers. If the worst-case scenario plays out, it turns out he wasn’t a product of a poor environment, and he is a negative value on the defensive side of the puck, then a cerebral, detailed, playmaking forward with consistent 60-point potential isn’t a bad way to spend $7 million over three years in the modern environment of the NHL salary cap.

If the best-case scenario plays out, it turns out he was, in fact, a product of a poor environment, and he’s a positive value on both sides of the puck, then the Ducks got the middle-six center they needed, and he will single-handedly insulate the rest of the depth chart.

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Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images