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The Anaheim Ducks have taken a significant step forward, grabbing one of the top forwards that was available on the free agent market on the opening day of the NHL's free agency period.
Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has announced that the club has signed Mikael Granlund to a three-year contract with a $7 million cap hit, a total of $21 million over the duration of the deal.
Granlund, who split the 2024-25 NHL season between the San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars, is ranked fourth overall in total points and second overall in total assists among all active Finnish players in the NHL; he originally hails from Oulu.
The ninth overall selection of the Minnesota Wild in 2010, Granlund played the first several years of his NHL career with the club. But he would later be traded to the Nashville Predators in a deal that sent Kevin Fiala back to Minnesota in return.
He would be traded twice again in short order, going from the Predators to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who then eventually traded him to the Sharks. Playing with a poor Sharks team in the 2023-24 season, he registered an impressive 48 assists in 69 games. Before being dealt to the Stars at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, Granlund had scored 15 goals with 30 assists in 52 games.
While with the Stars, he would score five goals with five assists in 18 postseason games, including a hat trick against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semi-Final.
After missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek spoke about the need to recruit players to his team in an effort to shift the direction of the franchise back to postseason contention.
“We're going to go about the process, and obviously when you're talking about recruiting, it's no different than trying to recruit a player to go to college for your team,” Verbeek said via NHL.com. “It is no different. It's the same process. Now you're dealing with professionals, and you have to put your best foot forward and try and sell your team. You have to try and sell the players. Ultimately, players make decisions for a lot of different reasons. So we're going to do our best and hopefully things work out.”
With head coach Joel Quenneville, along with the addition of Granlund – and the previous acquisition of Chris Kreider – it's clear the Ducks intend on returning to postseason contention soon.
