Canucks head coach Travis Green has been able to get through to a lot of the younger players on his roster. Markus Granlund hasn’t been one of them.

Speaking to the media after practice today, Green said of Granlund “I think he’d be the first to admit that he’s not totally on top of his game.” Granlund has just three points so far this season, and one of them is an assist on an empty-net goal. His ice-time is in free fall after weeks as Green’s most oft-used forward.

To say that Granlund has fallen short of the lofty expectations that followed his first full season as a Canuck into this one would be an understatement. And worst of all, his defensive results and play between the blue lines seem to be in steady decline, too.

Assuming that some of this is deployment-related (or not), I asked the CanucksArmy staff what they would do to get Granlund back on track. As always, they didn’t disappoint.

4th line. on a good team. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I would look to use Granny in the 2C slot right now. Van currently does not have someone who can step in behind Bo next season as the 2C… or supplant him as the 1C should the twins not come back. Not sure I want Sutter or Gagner taking that role next year, so they might as well see if Granny can perform there. Give him Vanek on his left and Jake on his right for a good run of games and see if the trio can produce offence.

Believe me when I say that I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m saying this, but I think if the Canucks are dead set on keeping both Derek Dorsett and Brandon Sutter in the lineup, that’s where Granlund should be. Their effectiveness has been greatly overblown, and the popular conversation seems to be centred around dubious claims regarding quality of competition, but the reality is that they’ve been relatively competent at evens. Their raw Corsi % looks rough, but improves drastically when adjusted for score and venue. More importantly, without Markus Granlund, Brandon Sutter and Derek Dorsett have floundered at evens, barely cresting 40% shot and goal percentages in their time with other players. Maybe it’s chemistry; maybe it’s just that Granlund has a positive impact on his linemates, but whatever the case, if you’re going to have all of these players in the lineup the early goings show that this is probably the way to get the most out of all of them.

The only problem with going in this direction is that, with Eriksson healthy, it means neither of Virtanen or Gaunce are in the lineup. That’s another conversation, though. Realistically, Sutter and Dorsett aren’t going anywhere, so the best way to mitigate the damage they can do at even strength is to play them with Markus Granlund.

In a perfect world, Sutter and Dorsett are healthy scratches, and the Canucks can experiment with a Virtanen-Gaunce-Granlund fourth line, but c’mon, folks. Let’s live in the real world.

I️ agree with Jackson. I’m never a fan of “use the good player to salvage the bad one”… but if a team insists on keeping the underperformers, at some point something has to be done to keep them afloat.

I like the idea of playing Markus Granlund alongside Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek on the third line. Granlund can cover for some of the defensive deficiencies of Gagner and Vanek, and hopefully, they can help get Granlund going in return.

In general, I just want to see Granlund play with someone other than Brandon Sutter. Playing with Sutter is the kiss of death for generating offence.