Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
Let's see... Granlund played 2 years in the WJC .... the 2nd year at the same age as RNH he had 5 goals an 7 assists in 6 games .... RNH coming off of solid NHL: rookie year had 15 pts in 6 games in that tourney.
Granlund was able to play 2 years after he was drafted because he is 7 months younger than Baertschi
So after that he comes over to the AHL and playing in a smaller ice surface totally without compliant or problem adapts and 46 pts in 52 games.
The older Baertschi, after 2 years in the CHL was only able to put up 26 pts in 32 games in his equivalents season.
The brief NHL success of Baertschi gave him such a big head that he felt slighted to play in the young guns tourney and did not take the opportunity to show case his dominance of the young players.
The biggest highlight from Baertschi last year was him providing advice to Monahan on how to handle the fame and high expectations.
Meanwhile Granlund just was doing what he needed to be prepared for the NHL.
If the Flames are going to go with 3 small forwards: Hudler , Gaudreau and either Granlund or Baertschi I would want the mentally tougher Granlund given the first chance. He has progressed while Baertschi seems to have fallen back .... possibly due to the high expectations.
Marcus has really been keeping up with his more famous (higher drafted) older brother..Mikael.
2 years ago Mikael had 30 pts in 34 games in his first look at the smaller AHL ice surface.... eerily similar to Markus's 51 pts in 56 games... (including playoffs in both)
Last year Mikael had 41 pts in 63 NHL games.
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Good summary of the two.
I definitely have more confidence in Granlund over Baertschi. Hate to say that expectations resulting from early hype may have contributed to Sven's falling off this past year, but even something as seemingly small as the Young Stars tourney (and Development camp before that) showed how he got ahead of himself mentally, and approached those as if he were too good for them... instead of going in and SHOWING he was on another level. If a player wants to belong in the NHL, they have to endure the rigors of the stepping stones to get there, and show some humility in doing so, while proving yourself again and again, if that's what it takes. I think Sven may have thought he was beyond that, because of his abilities which once stood out in our prospect pool. But no player is, and that's in part I think a maturity thing. And hopefully he figures it out soon.
Meanwhile Granlund is going through the motions of the north american transition, and passing with flying colours in doing so. Seems set on doing what it takes to belong at the next level, whether his brother plays a part in that or not, but I can imagine it's got to be good motivation to get there.