MVN - Most Valuable Network

Habs And Leafs Make Trade

When he Leafs traded exclusive negotiating rights to the Montreal Canadiens it wasn’t revealed who the Habs were going to part with if they were able to sign Sundin before July 1^st. We are still in the dark but this latest move is a confirmation of sorts. The Toronto Maple Leafs traded a 2^nd round pick in the 2010 draft and the rights to  Greg Pateryn to the Canadiens for Mikhail Grabovski.

According to reports earlier in the season Grabovski was supposed to be part of a deal that would have sent Mats Sundin to the Canadiens at the trade deadline. If that is true, and if Grabovski was the player involved in the negotiating rights to Sundin than Fletcher really pulled all the stops to grab this speedy center.

It may also explain why the Leafs drafted Mikhail Stefanovich in the fourth round, as both Stefanovich and Grabovski are Belarusian players who have played together in the past.

In his North America career Grabovski had been plagued with injuries; most of them sustained in the AHL where he spent most of his time. This past season Grabovski was tired of playing the AHL and voiced his opinions to the Canadiens front office; forcing their hand into moving him.

Grabovski, who is listed at 5’11 but seems much smaller, is blessed with blazing speed and although he has yet to be successful in the NHL has been able to put up good numbers for the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The way Cliff Fletcher has built the team heading into next year Grabovski could finally hit his stride. The Leafs have enough big bodies back on the defense to protect Grabovski; he could be a good fit playing with a big player—albeit a tad timid—Nik Antropov.

Grabovski is a very entertaining player to watch; with his speed and skill level, the only knocks on him is that he is very easy to knock off the puck and knock off his skates. To be successful at the NHL level Grabovski is going to have to improve his faceoff skills.

He’s still a young player; the next few years will be a learning experience for him; much like it will be for the entire Maple Leafs team. Overall this is a good trade for the Leafs who acquire a young player who should be able to crack the roster for a 2^nd round pick. Fletcher must have obviously seen something in him to try and trade for him 3 times.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Mikhail Stefanovich, Mikhail Grabovski, Greg Pateryn, Cliff Fletcher, Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, NHL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.