Nashville needs to find a better chain for Mikael Granlund before the spring playoffs, writes Tommi Seppälä, Sport’s NHL reporter.
Assembling an NHL team and finding the right chain line-ups is always hard chess for coaching. The chain should combine the strengths of the individuals so that the internal chemistry of Vitja would emerge and thus best serve the team as a whole.
At the end of this equation, the pilot of Nashville is currently in pain John Hynes.
There are a lot of positive things about the Nashville season, not the least of which are expensive key players Matt Duchenen and Ryan Johansen return closer to the level expected of the duo. In previous years, such a level has certainly not been possible for this duo. Also a spectacular march for young players Tanner Jeannotin as part of the good mood stories of the season in the country village.
At the same time, however, a difficult situation arises with regard to chain assemblies. The biggest concern is Mikael Granlundin from the leading chain. Granlundin, Eeli Tolvasen and Luke Kunin the whole does not work, then not at all.
Granlund is undoubtedly the main striker of his team together Filip Forsbergin but the Finn is stuck in a chain that not only fights with scoring, but gets crushed in overall play.
The trio have made one hit in five to five against nearly a hundred minutes played together, releasing six. Granlund’s seven previous games have a power balance of -10.
Statistics don’t lie: Granlund’s powers have been sacrificed
The situation needs to be looked at through Granlund, although of course the coaching staff is looking for a balance. However, it cannot be the case that Granlund, who practically operated with a point-per-match average in the fall season, is completely sacrificed in five to five goal-scoring games.
By the turn of the year, Granlund had scored 20 points in even-numbered weeks, five since then. While Granlund played six at least two-point matches in the fall, they have become one in the spring season. And not everything goes into the account of the aforementioned chain, but in recent weeks, it’s largely about a lineup that doesn’t work together.
The chain of Gralund, Tolvanen and Kunin have lost five-to-five shots by 58 per cent and dangerous targets by a crushing 63 per cent. The goal expectation ratio is 43 percent. Making a trio is therefore roughly unprofitable through the naked eye and the evidence provided by statistics.
In defense of the chain, it must be said that it has been played from a very defensive angle and the trio has started the game 53% from the defensive area.
The numbers are all crushing.
When Granlund played with Forsberg and Duchene in the fall season and back in the early part of the year, the goal ratio was recorded at 64 per cent in favor of the chain with five against five. In all the advanced statistics, the chain was well over 50 percent, which, of course, was also reflected in Granlund’s personal statistics, which are now beginning to drag on.
Now the situation is the opposite and Granlund, for example, has the weakest ratio of the number of finishers in the first sector in the new year to the whole team, crushing only 39 per cent.
If the power statistics for Granlund, Tolvanen and Kunin for 2022 are added together, the balance becomes -25. The number of the number one chain is +27, so of the so-called triple chain it is +25.
Of course, in Granlund’s case, there is certainly a burden of long-term lyricism. The coach’s main credit striker clearly plays more than any other striker: overpower, underpower, everyone.
While the coaching team is certainly pleased with the balance on the other chains, the current situation is unsustainable for the spring playoffs – as Nashville progresses there. Granlund is, of course, the most important player in the team and the most reliable example of the game, but sacrificing a Finn in this way does not seem very smart in terms of team success.
I say this despite Nashville winning five of their previous seven games. In the bigger picture, Nashville scored more points from the fall season than from the spring season so far. The most important thing from a coaching point of view, of course, is for the team to win, and now that has been the case, but in the spring, Granlund’s power must be able to be unearthed in a more efficient chain.
The only solution is to make some solution
The problem with solving the problem is that there are few alternatives.
Virtually everything condenses into Ryan Johansen, with whom Granlund in a perfect world would swap places in the first place. But have you played well this season, but Johansen, who is prone to laziness in nature, is playing reliably in the lower chain, but at the same time producing something?
What is certain is that Johansen does not enjoy the same kind of confidence in coaching as Granlund.
Of course, the piers next to Granlund could be changed. The question would mainly be young people Jakov Trenin and Tanner Jeannot, who plays a great newcomer. That’s how Kun and Tolvanen would fall Colton Sissonsin next door. Sure, the club leadership could try to strengthen the team before Monday’s transfer deadline, but as a club, it’s not in a situation where it would be worth investing more in the current group.
Whatever the solution, in the end, something has to be done. If Nashville wants to succeed in the spring, Mikael Granlund must also stand in the front row in the direction of attack.