Mikael Granlund to Miss One Month Following Surgery

Things keep getting better for the Minnesota Wild. The team announced Monday afternoon that first line center Mikael Granlund has had surgery on his wrist and will miss at least a month of play. It was announced earlier that the team placed Granlund on IR as well.

Granlund was injured after taking a big hit from Winnipeg Jets forward (err… defenseman?) Dustin Byfuglien in Saturday’s OT loss. Granlund left the ice immediately and later tried to return to the ice, but was taken out of the game after that.

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The Wild put out a short release Monday that said that Granlund underwent surgery on Monday and will miss around four weeks. Here’s the full text of the release:

"The Minnesota Wild announced center Mikael Granlund underwent successful surgery today at TRIA Orthopaedic Center to repair a fractured left wrist suffered in Saturday’s game against Winnipeg. Granlund is expected to make a full recovery and return to play in approximately four weeks."

And here’s the hit. Looks like he injured the wrist when he landed.

Granlund hasn’t been the player many hoped for this season after seeing the huge strides forward following the Olympics last season. He does have a positive Corsi For for the first time in his career, but that can largely be attributed to being tethered to possession monster Zach Parise all season and having a 13.2% ZSO%Rel.

It’s going to hurt the team to be without him though, even if he hasn’t been the superstar many foretold of.

The first game he’s going to miss in Monday night in Winnipeg, a game where Mike Yeo has announced he will be scratching third line center Erik Haula to send a message. Haula has also failed to look like the player we saw late last season. However, sending Haula to the AHL isn’t an option with his potential and the requirement to pass him through waivers.

That makes space for two players to take over center positions Monday night and at least one to take over a spot for the next month. Expect to see Charlie Coyle in one of those spots regularly. He has the chance to earn a regular center spot if he plays well, considering Haula’s ability to shift over to wing or take the fourth line center spot from Kyle Brodziak or Ryan Carter (depending on the night).

The other open center spot, at least for one game, will be filled by Tyler Graovac who has been fantastic at the AHL level (as I’ve said over and over through the last six weeks). Graovac might just be getting his cup of coffee, but with Haula and Justin Fontaine‘s patchy play of late, he does have the opportunity to prove that he deserves a spot on the roster. It’s a tricky situation with the team not wanting to waive some of their key young players, but they’re struggling enough that if Graovac proves he’s a big asset, you can’t afford not to have a player like that on the active roster.

Next: Tyler Graovac and Brett Sutter Recalled by Minnesota Wild