Vancouver Canucks fans had been hoping for a big trade for a long time. Just maybe not this kind. Instead of shipping out a pending unrestricted free agent — aka Dan Hamhuis, Radim Vrbata or Brandon Prust — the Canucks decided to get rid of Hunter Shinkaruk, a former first-round selection and one of the organization’s top prospects. For what?
His name is Markus Granlund, he is 22 years old, born in Oulu, Finland, and can play any forward position. And, unfortunately, he is not the Minnesota Wild’s Mikael Granlund. Oh well.
The main concern fans have with shipping out Shinkaruk is that he is a natural goal scorer while Granlund might be nothing more than a third liner.