News Article: Brian Burke: ‘Mikhail Grabovski is just a class act’

[exporta]

Not at all, maybe you're thinking of Kadri.

Haha.

Kadri wasn't/isn't going anywhere after the season he had. They wouldn't move Kadri to keep Bozak. Meaning it was three guys, two spots and Kadri has one.

They did however buyout Grabovski days before resigning Bozak.

They could have easily went Grabo, Kadri, Bolland. But they didn't, they used the money spent on Grabo to resign Bozak.

For whatever reason, when Kadri made the team they choose to keep Bozak in the top six, when he was better suited for shut down duties than Grabo.

Its over with, but to think Nonis choice was cut Kadri or buyout Grabo is elementary.

 

[Stephen]

The whining about Grabovski has really turned me off the player. He had some nice Gilmour-lite moments and was fun to watch with his mix of finesse skills and ability to bounce back half concussed, but did the Leafs really give up anything special here? To me, he's just one of those okay third line players who thrived offensively in a Rotten Ronnie environment.

 

[ACC1224]

Haha.

Kadri wasn't/isn't going anywhere after the season he had. They wouldn't move Kadri to keep Bozak. Meaning it was three guys, two spots and Kadri has one.

They did however buyout Grabovski days before resigning Bozak.

They could have easily went Grabo, Kadri, Bolland. But they didn't, they used the money spent on Grabo to resign Bozak.

For whatever reason, when Kadri made the team they choose to keep Bozak in the top six, when he was better suited for shut down duties than Grabo.

Its over with, but to think Nonis choice was cut Kadri or buyout Grabo is elementary.

Kadri took his spot last year which is why they tried him in a shutdown role. When that didn't work, it was inevitable he was leaving. Bolland will now take over his shutdown role.

Bozak was always coming back in the same role.

 

[Mimico]

The whining about Grabovski has really turned me off the player. He had some nice Gilmour-lite moments and was fun to watch with his mix of finesse skills and ability to bounce back half concussed, but did the Leafs really give up anything special here? To me, he's just one of those okay third line players who thrived offensively in a Rotten Ronnie environment.

I 100% agree, where is the value in a player whose best attribute seems to be "good at taking a beating". The Cons outweigh the Pros when it comes to Grabovski.

Pros
-Decent shot (albeit slow release)
-Excellent Skater
-Durable (hence my opening statement)

Cons...
-No vision
-Not physically strong
-Contract (Caphit and term)
-Not happy in Toronto

5.5 million to a player with these qualities spells COMPLIANCE BUYOUT in my opinion and the result was as such.

 

[Stephen]

Haha.

Kadri wasn't/isn't going anywhere after the season he had. They wouldn't move Kadri to keep Bozak. Meaning it was three guys, two spots and Kadri has one.

They did however buyout Grabovski days before resigning Bozak.

They could have easily went Grabo, Kadri, Bolland. But they didn't, they used the money spent on Grabo to resign Bozak.

For whatever reason, when Kadri made the team they choose to keep Bozak in the top six, when he was better suited for shut down duties than Grabo.

Its over with, but to think Nonis choice was cut Kadri or buyout Grabo is elementary.

It is really that simple.

Kadri simply came in and took Grabovski's job. He started out with no ice time and just produced. He put the puck into dangerous places, set up his linemates with with really smart heads up touches and produced in bunches in stark contrast to Grabovski's go go go pacing but no results or chemistry with most linemates.

They kept Bozak because Bozak did his job. It's pretty simple. As much as he's maligned by the advanced stats experts and others for being a terrible number one center, you have to keep in mind that he happens to be the center on the first line, a line whose heavy lifting is done by Phil Kessel, and has produced the 4th most points among forwards.

Why would they go and give a center who finished 9th in forward scoring, who was slated to make more money than Bozak on his new deal when Bozak was doing a perfectly good job?

In the end, Kadri did a better job than Grabovski at Grabovski's own job, and Bozak does Bozak's job better and cheaper than Grabovski could have.

 

[p.l.f.]

http://www.thescore.com/home/articles/1260120-ron-wilson-grabovski-was-a-joy-to-coach

Ron Wilson on Grabovski: "Grabo was a joy to coach. Works very hard, cares about winning and improving as an individual...."
Ron Wilson on Grabovski (2): "... As tough a player as I've had and absolutely fearless

Maybe the Caps could add Ron Wilson as a coach

 

[MarryMarner]

People need to realize Bozak played game 5 with a pretty seriously injured shoulder. Watch his goal..he can barely shoot. Grass is always greener on the other side as a Leafs fan.

 

[HeroNtF]

Is that the first public words from wilson since his firing... didnt know they got interwebs in the depths of the congo.

 

[Lightsol]

I really wish we didn't buy him out. Carlyle should have been told to get along with him or he would be the one let go.

While we're at it, why don't we change the team name to the Toronto Mikhail Grabovskis and name the guy captain and the greatest athlete ever to play in this town?

That's just as absurd as what you just said. You don't tell your Stanley Cup-winning Coach to "get along" with a single complaining center when the team is winning AND no one else seems to have any issues with the team direction.

This fanbase is ****ed up. Grabovski had heart? No, guys like Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark had heart; they would go out and win multiple playoff games themselves. Mark Messier had heart. Grabovski is only good if you want your opponent to have a punching bag to wail on, or if you need an extra 30 goal scorer to point to when you miss the playoffs, as the guy never seems to get it going until it's too late.

 

[Covenant]

Liked Grabo skill level and speed. However, was there ever a player who worked so hard and possessed the puck so much and accomplished so little most of the time? How many times did he lug the puck into the offensive end and just pass it over to the opposition?

 

[The_Chosen_One]

^ Carlyle should have had someone like JVR/ Lupul playing with Grabovski. In the current NHL, we're seeing a much larger bias towards skill. Those shut down lines we see on opposing clubs are generally skilled ones.

The fact that Carlyle wanted both Grabovski and Kulemin to produce offensively tells us that. That said, I don't think either were that successful in such a role. On the Senators, Turris was THE scoring centre AND shut down centre when much of the team was injured. Likewise, we eventually saw Brandon Sutter spending time on the top six, because it's easier to prevent goals than producing goals.

 

[Eb]

Liked Grabo skill level and speed. However, was there ever a player who worked so hard and possessed the puck so much and accomplished so little most of the time? How many times did he lug the puck into the offensive end and just pass it over to the opposition?

Answer: Too many.

 

[Ari91]

The whining about Grabovski has really turned me off the player. He had some nice Gilmour-lite moments and was fun to watch with his mix of finesse skills and ability to bounce back half concussed, but did the Leafs really give up anything special here? To me, he's just one of those okay third line players who thrived offensively in a Rotten Ronnie environment.

Amen to that. I'm so fed up of listening to people cry over the buyout. People cry about Kadri...Kadri outplayed Grabo for the spot. It's really as simple as that. Kadri shouldn't be punished for his success just because Grabovski needs to rebound. If you want to earn a promotion, you have to show you deserve it in practice and on the ice. Grabo wasn't terrible but he wasn't good enough to take the spot from Kadri.

While Grabo would have been an offensive upgrade on Bozak as the #1, it would have also been a defensive downgrade. The first line produces without needing to rely on Bozak but his main contribution to that line is picking up most of the defensive slack and his linemates over the past couple of years have constantly acknowledged this about him. Why do people expect to demote one player simply to give another player the opportunity to 'rebound'? Most coaches do not reshuffle their lines for the sake of ONE struggling player.

 

[pcruz]

Are people actually suggesting that a head coach who led the team to a playoff berth, the first one in nearly a decade, should have been mandated to co-operate with and submit to a player he deemed to be third on his and the coaching staff's depth charts?

Are you people mentally insane?

 

[ForSpareParts*]

While we're at it, why don't we change the team name to the Toronto Mikhail Grabovskis and name the guy captain and the greatest athlete ever to play in this town?

That's just as absurd as what you just said. You don't tell your Stanley Cup-winning Coach to "get along" with a single complaining center when the team is winning AND no one else seems to have any issues with the team direction.

This fanbase is ****ed up. Grabovski had heart? No, guys like Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark had heart; they would go out and win multiple playoff games themselves. Mark Messier had heart. Grabovski is only good if you want your opponent to have a punching bag to wail on, or if you need an extra 30 goal scorer to point to when you miss the playoffs, as the guy never seems to get it going until it's too late.

yeah. pretty much this.

 

[Ari91]

Are people actually suggesting that a head coach who led the team to a playoff berth, the first one in nearly a decade, should have been mandated to co-operate with and submit to a player he deemed to be third on his and the coaching staff's depth charts?

Are you people mentally insane?

By the standards of many in here, a sane coach would have messed up two productive lines for the sake of hoping that one particular player found his game. All the while he will conveniently ignore the fact that it's a shortened season so stretches of losses will be almost impossible to recover from.

After all, who the hell cares about playoffs, so long as Mikhail Grabovski scores 30 goals and 60+ points, am I right?

 

[Duke Silver]

- Bozak is WAY overpaid. And the term isn't terrible.

My thoughts on Grabovski are well documented: it's hard to fault him for his struggles this season considering the disadvantageous position he was put in. I won't go into it any more because I'm tired of talking about a guy who isn't even on our roster anymore.

However, with regards to the sentence I've quoted above: if you look at UFA signings within the last 5 years, $4.2M for a guy who has averaged a 50-point pace over the last two seasons is actually the going rate for a player with that level of production. It's sad the league's salary situation has gotten to that point but a quick study of comparable players production-wise shows it's a fair amount.

 

[pcruz]

By the standards of many in here, a sane coach would have messed up two productive lines for the sake of hoping that one particular player found his game. All the while he will conveniently ignore the fact that it's a shortened season so stretches of losses will be almost impossible to recover from.

After all, who the hell cares about playoffs, so long as Mikhail Grabovski scores 30 goals and 60+ points, am I right?

I'm not sure who you're talking about, but the Grabovsky who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens has never scored 30 goals before, and based on his past performances and current trend, is unlikely to ever get to that benchmark.

 

[mr grieves]

Cons...
-No vision
-Not physically strong
-Contract (Caphit and term)
-Not happy in Toronto

5.5 million to a player with these qualities spells COMPLIANCE BUYOUT in my opinion and the result was as such.

1. No vision = show me how his first assists weren't up to snuff when he was used as an offensive center? What vision does the current 1C possess again?
2. Agreed. Not as crafty as Kadri to compensate for smallish size, but -- again -- he is stronger on the puck and better at puck retrieval than Bozak.
3. Contract = 50-60 point centers get between $4.5m and $5m a year. Slightly overpaid, yes. And overpayments are a problem in a year when the cap went down. I'd have applauded the move had Nonis (a) used the savings to lock up his core RFAs (until Franson and Kadri are signed, I'm not comfortable), (b) upgraded at center or (c) somewhere else we needed upgrading (top-4 D), or (d) not immediately go on to sign other guys to overpayments. But he didn't do anything smart with the money he freed up, so I can't give credit for freeing up the money.
4. Not happy in Toronto = again, show the proof. I've already shown that there's no evidence that he was unhappy in his checking role, except when his coach told the media that a checking center should also be putting up 50 points a season (28 or so, the 48-game equivalent).

It's really just this: GM is building a team for the coach, and coach finds less talented players 'better fits.'

 

[The Blue Devil]

Glad to keep a warrior like Bozak, great player, great guy. Can't say the same about Grabo, unfortunately.

When has Bozak ever done anything to be considered a "warrior"?

 

[pcruz]

1. No vision = show me how his first assists weren't up to snuff when he was used as an offensive center? What vision does the current 1C possess again?
2. Agreed. Not as crafty as Kadri to compensate for smallish size, but -- again -- he is stronger on the puck and better at puck retrieval than Bozak.
3. Contract = 50-60 point centers get between $4.5m and $5m a year. Slightly overpaid, yes. And overpayments are a problem in a year when the cap went down. I'd have applauded the move had Nonis (a) used the savings to lock up his core RFAs (until Franson and Kadri are signed, I'm not comfortable), (b) upgraded at center or (c) somewhere else we needed upgrading (top-4 D), or (d) not immediately go on to sign other guys to overpayments. But he didn't do anything smart with the money he freed up, so I can't give credit for freeing up the money.
4. Not happy in Toronto = again, show the proof. I've already shown that there's no evidence that he was unhappy in his checking role, except when his coach told the media that a checking center should also be putting up 50 points a season (28 or so, the 48-game equivalent).

It's really just this: GM is building a team for the coach, and coach finds less talented players 'better fits.'

This is the issue here. With all that talent, and the style of play that the player in question was best suited for, and a role that suited him just fine, the team did what? Finish 29th and 25th?
With a new coach with a contrasting style of play and who utilized the same player in roles not necessarily suited for him, the team did what? Made the playoffs and took the Stanley Cup runners-up to within 2 minutes of elimination and subsequent overtime in game 7 of a bitterly played playoff round?

All things considered, I'll take the coach with the "less skilled" players and "terrible" coaching style and "outdated" playing style over the opposite provided that the team makes the playoffs and competes as opposed to finishing in the bottom 5 of the league.

And I'll take that every single day. All day. Regardless of the people in question.

 

[Ari91]

I'm not sure who you're talking about, but the Grabovsky who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens has never scored 30 goals before, and based on his past performances and current trend, is unlikely to ever get to that benchmark.

I know he's never scored 30. I took his best season and rounded to the nearest 5

 

[pcruz]

I know he's never scored 30. I took his best season and rounded to the nearest 5

Man, imagine this place and these people if the Leafs had traded Wayne Gretzky to the L.A. Kings? I think the suicide and psychiatric help rates would balloon to thousands of times their normal rates in the GTA.

 

[The Blue Devil]

I'm not sure who you're talking about, but the Grabovsky who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens has never scored 30 goals before, and based on his past performances and current trend, is unlikely to ever get to that benchmark.

Current trend? Are you talking about this past shortened season as a trend? The season before he was on pace to hit 55+ points and the season before that he missed the 30 goal plateau by 1 and 60 points by 2. But yeah, he's never gonna come close to that again because of one shortened season.

 

[hockeyfanz*]

When has Bozak ever done anything to be considered a "warrior"?

Ummmmm....never?