Toronto Maple Leafs Mikhail Grabovski: The Best Leaf So Far This Year

Mikhail Grabovski may never be a super star player, he may never even be a star player, but if work ethic could automatically translate into results on the score sheet, he would likely rival the leagues best.

On pace to shatter last years' numbers, to say that "Grabo" has exceeded the expectations of most fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs would be like saying that Phil Kessel hasn't, pretty much a no-brainer.

After 59 games last year, Mikhail Grabovski had scored just ten goals and chipped in with 25 assists for 35 points, which is funny given that he is considered by most as a selfish kind of player who likes to try to do too much on his own.

While assists can be influenced by a number of factors, for example, if the puck hits your leg and then your teammate scores, you may end up with an assist. For the most part, you actually have to be part of the play.

On pace to score 28 goals and 30 assists, the projected point total of 58 would easily eclipse his career high of 48 set two years ago. He also leads the team in plus minus with a +1 rating.

Game in and game out, he is arguably the hardest working player on his team and though one could argue the merits of a Mike Brown or a Tim Brent, Grabovski's overall game is progressing well beyond our expectations.

While setting career highs two years ago with 20 goals and 28 assists, Grabovski also set a career high in penalty minutes with 92.  In all fairness to him though, it's likely that 75 of them were against his former club the Montreal Canadiens.

During the last two years, Grabovski has been injured, arrested, ridiculed, and sued. Despite all of these ups and downs he has managed to grow as a person and hockey player and is one of the few genuinely pleasant surprises on the current Leafs Roster.

Last season, the team only had one player with 20 plus goals, that was of course Phil Kessel. This year, oddly enough, there are five or six forwards who could to eclipse the 20 goal mark.

With the Leafs top five in goal scoring projected to look something like thisGrabovski 28,  Kessel 30,  Versteeg 26,  MacArthur 23, Kulemin 25, one has to wonder what could possibly be wrong with these numbers.

The truth is, there is nothing really wrong with the scoring up front. Yes, it would be nice to have a Stamkos, Crosby or Ovechkin, but the Leafs scoring up front is okay.

It is secondary scoring that is the Achilles heel of the team, strangely enough, it is secondary scoring that many saw was all Grabo was capable of.