Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski. REUTERS/Mike CasseseMIKE CASSESE/Reuters
Let's leave aside Luke Schenn. First-round picks are supposed to get better. Rather, it is Mikhail Grabovski who is the real outlier - a player who has become markedly better on Ron Wilson's watch.
You could see the genesis starting in Grabovski's first season with the Leafs. That's when Wilson was busy getting rid of what he sometimes called "weeds" - players of faint heart and talent. On Jan. 29, 2009, the Leafs had just finished a morning skate at the Pepsi Center in Denver and Wilson was talking about the importance of not throwing out the babies - Schenn and Grabovski - with the bathwater. Wilson drew a comparison between the two, noting that the team had to be more patient with Grabovski (who hadn't scored in 11 games at that point) than Schenn because Grabovski's game was all about making plays while Schenn could make up for a frustrating game with a big hit.
Wilson spoke about rookies needing "an open mind" when a game started and "letting it collect experiences." Grabovski, he said, needed to learn how to "stomp on a loose puck in the offensive zone."
Stomp on this: Grabovski is the Leafs' leading goal scorer heading into Saturday's game at the Air Canada Centre against the Washington Capitals, matching his career-high with 20 goals in 45 games. His 37 points is 11 points off his career high, set in his first season with the Leafs.
This is a team without a first line, but it does have a useful trio in Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur and Nikolai Kulemin. Call it the default first line, but the way MacArthur sees it, they have developed a strong working relationship based on complementary skills.
"I like to play a north-south game, straight ahead, make little plays," said MacArthur, who has been a revelation this season with 15 goals and 25 assists. "All [Grabovski]does is just shoot right through the middle of the ice all game long. If they don't want to take him, he's open. If they do, I have some extra space." MacArthur paused. "Funny," he added, "but it's like every little tidbit we try in practice … I find that I'm seeing it in games."
Plus-minus statistics are hardly the final word in overall player analysis, but if you accept that they have some merit, then it is telling that Kulemin and Grabovski are among the three players on the Leafs in the plus category.
Grabovski credits his teammates and Wilson, the latter for providing him ice time, which for the coach of a team like this one is really all you can do to reward a player. But general manager Brian Burke sends plaudits the player's way too, calling Grabovski "a serious athlete … a gym rat."
Who would have thought this would work out? Grabovski was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens by Burke's predecessor, Cliff Fletcher, and came with a reputation that was just a shade unsavoury. Strange: There are three Belarussian players of note in the NHL - Grabovski and the Kostitsyns, Andrei and Sergei - and whenever they meet, Grabovski seems to be hated to a degree that verges on the pathological. I mean, they carve each other up.
The Leafs gave Grabovski a three-year, $8.75-million (U.S.) deal after his rookie year and then he broke his wrist and was limited to 59 games last season. Named to the Belarussian team for the 2010 Vancouver Games, he couldn't play due to the injury but did spend a night in jail in the city for a minor street altercation that Burke called "stupid."
Yet here he is, nearing the all-star break as a new father and one of the few positive things upon which Wilson can hang his hat. Leafs fans don't know about The Monster or Gunner or Tyler Bozak, and god help us but don't get us started on Naz, okay? But they do know about Grabovski, and wonder of wonders, they like what they see.