Grabovski all grown up now
Centre attributes Habs rift to inexperience
Whenever Mikhail Grabovski plays against the Montreal Canadiens, it’s a chance to look both ahead and back on his career.
While Grabovski “looks forward” to playing the Canadiens, the team he started his NHL career with, his Montreal memories aren’t always happy ones.
His trade to Toronto in July 2008 was precipitated by a string of events in Montreal that left the impression he was a difficult teammate.
“In Montreal, I was young — 23 or 24 or something like that — and I didn’t have much experience,” said Grabovski, who has become a father in Toronto and the Leafs’ best centre. “My first year here they gave me lots of ice time and probably in Montreal I would have done the same things as I’ve done here, but here, people believed in me.”
Grabovski doesn’t talk much about his departure from Montreal, but there is no doubt he thinks his success in Toronto could just as easily have been achieved in Montreal had the organization not lost patience with him.
But controversy has followed Grabovski ever since he entered the NHL after helping the Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal’s AHL affiliate) win the Calder Cup in 2006-07.
The following season, signs of a rift with the organization surfaced after he left the team following a March game in Phoenix in which he was a healthy scratch. He flew to Los Angeles ahead of the team to consult with his agent. He was traded that summer, and in January 2009, got into a scuffle with former teammate and fellow Belarusian Sergei Kostitsyn during a Leafs-canadiens game in Montreal. The two had been feuding since Grabovski’s days with the Habs, and prior to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the head of the Belarusian national hockey program had to sit the two players down to iron out their differences. When asked if Montreal had dropped the ball with him because of the controversies, Grabovski was philosophical. “Not really — I always thank Bob Gainey for trading me to Toronto,” he said with a smile. “A lot of players realize when they don’t play in Montreal they’ll play on other teams. But I have my thoughts about playing there. A lot of people said I did stupid things there but I don’t see it like that. I didn’t have a lot of experience but I have a family now, I’m a family guy.” Grabovski’s agent Gary Greenstin has been in Toronto for the past week, sparking speculation about a contract extension for his client, who is on pace to surpass last year’s career highs of 29 goals and 58 points. It’s believed Grabovski is seeking about $5 million a year on a new deal, but any extension may have to wait until the off-season. At the same time, Grabovski’s production this season has fuelled further speculation that the Leafs might trade him for a nice return. “I don’t worry about that. I think about the games and if something happens now they can talk with my agent. . . . I can think about that (in the off-season),” Grabovski said.
“I always thank Bob Gainey for trading me to Toronto.” MIKHAIL GRABOVSKI ON THE 2008 DEAL THAT BROUGHT HIM TO THE LEAFS FROM MONTREAL