Mikhail Grabovski

Early life

Grabovski was born in Potsdam, East Germany, where his father, Yury, worked in construction. The family returned to their native Belarus (then a Soviet Socialist Republic) when he was three years old.

Playing career

Grabovski was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens 150th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and played his first NHL game with Montreal on 6 January 2007, against the New York Rangers. He played three games in the NHL before being sent back down to Montreal's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. He helped them win the AHL Calder Cup Championship in 2006–07 season. Grabovski was called up to play in a few games with the Canadiens during the 2007–08 season. He did not see much playing time, however, due to his low position on the team's depth chart. Grabovski recorded his first NHL assist on 20 October 2007, against the Buffalo Sabres and his first goal two days later against the Boston Bruins.

Grabovski was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on 3 July 2008, in exchange for the draft rights to Greg Pateryn and a 2010 second round draft pick. As a 25-year-old, Grabovski went on to finish his first full season in Toronto with 20 goals and 48 points, leading all NHL Eastern Conference rookies in scoring. The Maple Leafs rewarded Grabovski for his rookie season performance by re-signing him to a three-year contract worth a total of $8.7 million, representing an average annual cap hit of $2.9 million. His 58 points in the 2010–11 season was the highest among Maple Leaf centres since Mats Sundin's 78 points in the 2007–08 season. On 6 March 2012, Toronto re-signed Grabovski to a five-year contract worth a total of $27.5 million, with an average annual cap hit of $5.5 million.

Grabovski signed with HC CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on 25 September 2012, in order to play during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. Following a 2012–13 season in which he recorded only nine goals and 16 points in 48 games, Grabovski was unexpectedly placed on waivers and listed to be bought-out by the Maple Leafs on 4 July 2013.

On 23 August 2013, Grabovski was signed as a free agent to a one-year contract by the Washington Capitals. In his first regular season game with the Capitals on 1 October 2013, Grabovski scored a hat-trick in a 6–4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Grabovski completed the 2013–14 season with a respectable 35 points in 58 games as the Capitals failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

On 2 July 2014, Grabovski left the Capitals as a free agent and signed a four-year, $20 million contract with the New York Islanders. His tenure with the Islanders was largely affected by injury, with a lingering concussion ruling him out for the entirety of the 2016–17 season.

On 21 June 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights selected Jean-Francois Berube from the Islanders in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. Berube was selected with the condition that Grabovski's final year of contract be traded to the Golden Knights along with a first-round pick in 2017, second-round pick in 2019, and prospect Jake Bischoff.

Controversies

In March 2008, after being a healthy scratch for a game against the Phoenix Coyotes, Grabovski left the Montreal Canadiens and flew to Los Angeles to consult with his agent. The incident prompted his trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs that summer.

In January 2009, Grabovski was involved a scuffle with fellow Belarusian Sergei Kostitsyn during a game between the Maple Leafs and Canadiens. The two had been in a feud since Grabovski’s days with the Canadiens. Prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the head of the Belarusian national hockey program had to intervene in order for the two players to be able to coexist on the same team.

On 19 February 2010, Grabovski was arrested in Vancouver after getting involved in a street scuffle. He was out of the Maple Leafs lineup with a broken wrist at the time of the arrest and was in Vancouver attending the 2010 Olympics. Court documents alleged that Dylan Richardson was punched in the face and knocked unconscious by Grabovski, who then assaulted Richardson's wife by also punching her in the face.

Grabovski inadvertently ended Chris Pronger's career when he accidentally hit him in the side of the eye with his stick.

On 9 February 2013, Grabovski was accused of biting Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens during a scrum along the boards. The NHL conducted a telephone hearing with the players involved, but could not determine conclusively if Grabovski had indeed bitten Pacioretty. On 20 May 2013, however, more than three months later, Grabovski admitted that he did in fact bite Pacioretty, stating in an interview, "He was choking me and I bit him. Don’t stick your hands where you shouldn’t."

On 3 July 2013, after learning that his contract was being bought out by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Grabovski was very critical of then-Toronto coach Randy Carlyle in an expletive-filled interview with TSN. "I play in the fucking Russian KHL, I make lots of fucking points and what’s going to happen? He make me fucking play on the fourth line and he put me in the playoffs on the fourth line and third line again," said Grabovski. "I don’t feel any support from this fucking idiot."

International play

Grabovski has represented Belarus in international play. He scored four goals and was the first star in one game (against tournament hosts Austria) in the 2005 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Grabovski was selected to play for his country in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. However, he did not play due to injury. He did, however, participate at the 2010 IIHF World Championship as a member of the Belarus men's ice hockey team. Grabovski was named captain of Belarus on the eve of 2011 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia. Grabovski played in seven events for team Belarus.

Personal life

Grabovski and his wife, Kate Van Alstyne, had their first child, a daughter, on 30 December 2010. He missed the Leafs' game against the Columbus Blue Jackets that night to be present at the birth. They had their second child, a son, on 6 December 2011. Grabovski and his wife called their son Jagger after The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.