Luke Johnson can admit he didn’t know much about Nikita Grebyonkin upon arriving in Magnitogorsk for his first-ever season in the KHL.
The KHL is littered with young players pining for a shot in a league dominated by veterans. That was Grebyonkin — an overaged 2022
Toronto Maple Leafs fifth-round draft pick — in the eyes of Johnson when the winger was just 20 to start the season.
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But that’s not who Grebyonkin is anymore.
“Every shift he’s doing something that catches your eye,” Johnson told
The Athletic of Grebyonkin.
One season can change a lot, including Johnson’s perception of the hard-nosed Grebyonkin, now 21, and his possible
NHL future.
“For a young guy to be where he’s at now, I think what impresses me the most about (Grebyonkin) is his motor,” said Johnson, former
Chicago Blackhawks and
Minnesota Wild centre. “He’s always looking to make something happen. He’s always willing to challenge guys one-on-one. And he’s a competitor as well. He plays the game physical, he gets in guys’ faces and that’s a pretty good combination.”
Ahead of this season, Grebyonkin remained a question mark in the Leafs prospect pool. His experience was mostly in Russia’s junior league, the MHL. When he did graduate to the KHL after his draft season, on loan with Amur Khabarovsk, the ice time came but there were still gaps in his overall game. Would he improve enough by the time his contract with Magnitogorsk ended after the 2023-24 season to warrant a look in North America?
With 19 goals and 41 points in 67 KHL games making for one of the best seasons by a Leafs prospect in recent memory, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound Grebyonkin has answered many of those questions. Grebyonkin’s 0.61 points per game was third among all KHL players 21 and under. The only players ahead of him were 19-year-old phenom and 2023 No. 7 pick Matvei Michkov and 2022 first-round pick Danila Yurov.
That’s decent company, but the production only tells parts of the story: Grebyonkin’s willingness to play a physical game against men is what has Johnson believing he could have an NHL future.
“He is always in guys’ faces,” Johnson said. “He had a really good scrap for us this year. That was surprising.”
The surprises now seem over for Grebyonkin in Russia. In one season, Grebyonkin may have changed his trajectory as a future Leaf for the better.
“The word that came back to us on him was machine-like.”
That was how Leafs director of amateur scouting Wes Clark first succinctly described Grebyonkin after the 2022 draft. What was clear was that the Leafs were continuing to add the type of players Clark wanted: skilled and with ingrained, constant competitiveness necessary to have any chance of advancing in professional hockey.
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His 16:40 ATOI in 2022-23 in the KHL was a good start, but came on an Amur team that finished second-last in the KHL’s Eastern Conference. While its counterparts in Sweden (SHL) and Finland (Liiga) regularly give ice time to teenagers, the KHL is about as far from a development league as possible.
This season, Metallurg Magnitogorsk was one of the best teams in the KHL’s Eastern Conference. Development opportunities seemed slim as new head coach Andrei Razin took over the team heading into this season.
“(Razin) is a hard coach, too. If you don’t play the right way, you’re not going to play,” Johnson recalls noticing during Magnitogorsk training camp.
And Grebyonkin didn’t play. Regular games and ice time weren’t coming. Grebyonkin’s ice time fell as low as 4:04 during a late September game as defensive assignments were being missed.
It’s not uncommon for young forwards to struggle defensively in professional leagues. But what is uncommon: Young forwards dealing with limited ice time and a possible lack of confidence from the coaching staff and then making necessary adjustments to their game and coming out the other end with even more gusto.
That’s what Grebyonkin did this season. He’s regularly getting top-six minutes on a Magnitogorsk team that finished on top of their conference.
“Over time, (Grebyonkin’s) learned how to gain the coach’s trust and play more minutes for us,” Johnson said. “And he’s been one of our best players and a big part of our success down the stretch here.”
That success has come thanks to a mindset that undoubtedly attracted the likes of Clark to Grebyonkin in the first place: Despite being a young player on Magnitogorsk, Grebyonkin craves the responsibility and the demands that come with the puck on his stick. He’s shown that when he’s playing with confidence, he’s not afraid to use his frame to power toward the goal and then use his stickhandling skills to find teammates in the right places.
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