Granlund had a goal and four assists at the Worlds. (Getty Images)

Is that a light coming through the woods of the wild? Why yes, yes it is.

The Minnesota Wild signed 2010 first-round pick and No. 9 overall pick, Finnish forward Mikael Granlund to an entry-level contract on Wednesday. Like all entry-level deals it is a three-year contract. It calls for Granlund to get $2.7 million but has a lot of potential incentives according to the Star Tribune's Michael Russo.

The Wild didn't have a great season. They started as the best team in the league for a good portion of the season and then fell off a cliff, nose-diving to near the bottom of the league when the 82 games were done. The biggest culprit -- and it's not even close -- was the lack of offense. Now Granlund is under contract and will hopefully help them take care of little issue.

That's operating under the assumption that Granlund makes the team. That's a very safe assumption to make.

"Mikael's a world class player," Wild GM Chuck Fletcher said Wednesday. "He's shown that within his age group, and also among men."

Granlund, a star in his native Finland, was one of the very rare young players to actually excel in the Finnish Elite League with grown men. He led his team in scoring this past season as a 19-year-old with 20 goals and 31 assists in 45 games. That's pretty unheard of production for a player that young in that league. It's why the guy is a mega star in Finland, something the Wild are hoping translates to the NHL.

Here's a little scouting report from Russo:

The ninth overall pick in 2010, Granlund can fly up ice, handles the puck beautifully and almost nonchalantly creates offense. He’s as good a distributor and a shooter and could give the Wild a bona fide Rookie of the Year candidate next season along with maybe even Charlie Coyle and certainly the Rangers' Chris Kreider.

The naysayers say he's too small, his footwork needs to be better. "I'll never be the biggest, fastest player. I've got to be the smartest," Granlund said last year.

As Russo notes, Granlund joined Coyle as an impressive and promising rookie for the Wild, hoping to find some cornerstones to move forward with that can provide them a bit more scoring.

Another bonus with Granlund is that he and team captain and fellow Finn Mikko Koivu have become pretty tight. The two recently played together on the Finnish national team at the World Championships. That kind of comfort can be huge when a player is coming to the NHL from overseas.

Now Wild fans, I leave you with this to dream of.

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