Mikhail Grabovski and Phil Kessel Snipes

[The Blue Devil]

Just wanted to make an observation for that guy who likes to say Grabovski scores goals when it doesnt matter.

8 tying goals, one late in the third.

1 OT goal, and a thing of beauty.

2 goals when trailing by one.

6 goals when down by two goals, four in the third period (two of those late third).

3 goals when up by one, one of those very late in the third.


Just last season. Most of those goals showed a lot of skill. Some seriously disgusting corner snipes, and a few of those he scored off passes that were very hard to handle.

I love how a lot of his goals are placed perfectly in the top corner, out of the goalies reach. He may not have the quikest release but the accuracy of his shot is elite.

 

[Stephen]

I like Grabovski, I always liked that he showed a nice skillset with an willingness to get tangled up in the rough stuff. That said, he's not really a first line player, and for all the nice things he shows us on the ice, he's not a guy who's good enough to do it consistently. And his ineffective forechecking leaves a ton to be desired. I feel like he's overpaid because he's the best of what we've got.

 

[The Blue Devil]

I like Grabovski, I always liked that he showed a nice skillset with an willingness to get tangled up in the rough stuff. That said, he's not really a first line player, and for all the nice things he shows us on the ice, he's not a guy who's good enough to do it consistently. And his ineffective forechecking leaves a ton to be desired. I feel like he's overpaid because he's the best of what we've got.

No one really argues this.

 

[4evaBlue]

If we could replace Bozak and Connolly with 2 more Grabos, I honestly think we'd be a solid playoff team, even without a legit starting goalie:

Lupul - Grabo - Kessel
JVR - Grabo - Mac
Kulemin - Grabo - Frattin
Kadri - McClement - Brown

Funniest post of the thread.

Derick Brassard is the Blue Jacket's best center by a wide margin. maybe they should consider cloning him for all of their top 3 lines. They would probably become a playoff team instantly, too.

Man, people aren't even trying anymore. This lockout needs to end.

 

[Duke Silver]

Just wanted to make an observation for that guy who likes to say Grabovski scores goals when it doesnt matter.

8 tying goals, one late in the third.

1 OT goal, and a thing of beauty.

2 goals when trailing by one.

6 goals when down by two goals, four in the third period (two of those late third).

3 goals when up by one, one of those very late in the third.


Just last season. Most of those goals showed a lot of skill. Some seriously disgusting corner snipes, and a few of those he scored off passes that were very hard to handle.

This man speaks the truth.

The King of Bar-Down.

 

[4evaBlue]

Just wanted to make an observation for that guy who likes to say Grabovski scores goals when it doesnt matter.

8 tying goals, one late in the third.

1 OT goal, and a thing of beauty.

2 goals when trailing by one.

6 goals when down by two goals, four in the third period (two of those late third).

3 goals when up by one, one of those very late in the third.


Just last season. Most of those goals showed a lot of skill. Some seriously disgusting corner snipes, and a few of those he scored off passes that were very hard to handle.

And to top it off, the majority of which happened within a stretch of 6 weeks. If we could just synchronize his "periods" for the playoffs, we could have a real warrior on our hands.

 

[NoVe]

Only the odd hockey Pejorative Slur would disagree with you. Grabo is clearly one of the best players on the team, and definitely a good #2 C. There are a tonne of problems with our team (no #1 C, no #1 goalie, no dman with high end skill who is also reliable in his own end, a general lack of defensive ability and toughness, etc.), but Grabo as the #2 C is definitely NOT one of those problems, he's one of our strengths. Looking at playoff teams last year, Grabo would easily have been the #2 C on Chicago, Washington, Ottawa, Nashville (arguably #1), Phoenix (arguably #1) and Florida (arguably #1), and would arguably have been the #2 C on NYR, St. Louis, NJ and Philly. He's clearly a good #2 C, and good enough to be a #2 C on a contender, even if he isn't one of the absolutely elite #2 Cs (like Malkin, Zetterberg, Mike Richards, Kesler or Bergeron). He was easily a top 10 2nd line centre in the league last year, and was better than a handful of 1st line centres as well.

If we could replace Bozak and Connolly with 2 more Grabos, I honestly think we'd be a solid playoff team, even without a legit starting goalie:

Lupul - Grabo - Kessel
JVR - Grabo - Mac
Kulemin - Grabo - Frattin
Kadri - McClement - Brown

Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Franson
Liles - Komi

Reimer
Scrivens

Grabo as our 1C 2C 3C.!!! Hahahhaa it's he triple threat..lol
That's awsome. Maybe we can get another 4th Grabo to be our Tendie.!!

 

[bunjay]

And to top it off, the majority of which happened within a stretch of 6 weeks. If we could just synchronize his "periods" for the playoffs, we could have a real warrior on our hands.

During the stretch you're talking about, 12 of the 13 goals he scored were within our conference.

 

[Seventeen Twos]

wicked wrister.. almost as good as kessel

 

[Bravid Nonahan]

wicked wrister.. almost as good as kessel

The difference lies in the release, Kessel has an insane release - lightning quick

 

[Hero]

Just wanted to make an observation for that guy who likes to say Grabovski scores goals when it doesnt matter.

8 tying goals, one late in the third.

1 OT goal, and a thing of beauty.

2 goals when trailing by one.

6 goals when down by two goals, four in the third period (two of those late third).

3 goals when up by one, one of those very late in the third.


Just last season. Most of those goals showed a lot of skill. Some seriously disgusting corner snipes, and a few of those he scored off passes that were very hard to handle.

Though I agree that Grabo isn't a junk scorer, I don't think your analysis is a good one to show that.

You said 20/23 goals rather from

Down by 2, Down by 1, Even, Up by 1.

So 20/23 goals come when we're rather not up by 2 or more or down by 3 or less.

That's a really large range, and player scores the majority of his goals between those two values.

 

[bunjay]

wicked wrister.. almost as good as kessel

Not really, lets be realistic. Grabo has the power and the accuracy but not the release.

Though I agree that Grabo isn't a junk scorer, I don't think your analysis is a good one to show that.

You said 20/23 goals rather from

Down by 2, Down by 1, Even, Up by 1.

So 20/23 goals come when we're rather not up by 2 or more or down by 3 or less.

That's a really large range, and player scores the majority of his goals between those two values.

That was directed at one particular person who likes to go on and on about how Grabo doesnt get a lot of 'game winning goals' (itself a useless stat, but thats a whole other story) and scored 'worthless' goals in games that are already won or lost.

I agree with you completely, I just wanted to say definitively that Grabo scores the vast majority of his goals when the team needs them, at points in the game where they give his team a much improved chance to win. If there's a better way to show that than tracking the score when his goals happen then I'm unaware of it.

And to further that point, you even see how little he cares about scoring in games that arent close. The goal he scores in the third period in Boston to make it 6-2 he doesn't even celebrate his goal the tiniest little bit. One of his linemates even starts raising his arms in the air, sees Grabo not reacting at all, and cuts that **** right out

 

[showtime8]

Its almost funny to watch Grabo after scoring a goal. Its kind of like he doesn't know where he is or what he's just done. He almost skates around all nonchalant and just gives an odd high five. Its actually pretty funny because he does it each time.

 

[Byron Bitz]

the last one was filth

 

[mapleleaf979]

That 5th goal, the one against the Devils, was off one of the nicest passes I've ever seen. Gardiner's something special.

Also, I'm very surprised by how many of these goals seemed to occur when Grabovski and Kessel were on the ice at the same time. Considering Wilson never really tried them together over his entire tenure, maybe it is actually about time to put them together on a line. Kessel could create that extra half a second Grabovski needs to get off that shot of his.

I like that Idea. Wilson always said he wanted to keep Grabovski with Kulemin. Kulemin got alot of rope for a guy with 7 goals. Im not sold on him yet and I personally get frustrated over the major drop and rise of Kulemin from one game to the next. U never know what he will bring. He has so much talent. Kulemin has one of the best shots on the Leafs, sometimes he appears to want to be anywhere but the Ice rink.

 

[Bodybr3ak]

Look at Gardiner on half of these plays, so many great rushes and set ups.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Pretty good discussion on the Main board in the polls section, seems Grabo is down to 58% in the top 6 Center poll. I suspect the number will be even lower moving fwd.

Also he has lost polls to Henriques and Plekanec by a substantial margin.

Now saying that, I don't think he is a bad 3C, just not a top 6 on a contender.

And that is what I have been saying all along.

 

[The Blue Devil]

Pretty good discussion on the Main board in the polls section, seems Grabo is down to 58% in the top 6 Center poll. I suspect the number will be even lower moving fwd.

Also he has lost polls to Henriques and Plekanec by a substantial margin.

Now saying that, I don't think he is a bad 3C, just not a top 6 on a contender.

And that is what I have been saying all along.

Except they were terribly worded polls meant to twist things in your favour.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Except they were terribly worded polls meant to twist things in your favour.

The only poll I initiated was The Henriques vs Grabovski one, who would you prefer as your second Center was the wording.

What was terrible in this wording?

 

[The Blue Devil]

The only poll I initiated was The Henriques vs Grabovski one, who would you prefer as your second Center was the wording.

What was terrible in this wording?

It was stated many times in the thread.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

It was stated many times in the thread.

The point of the tread was who would you take Henriques or Grabo, that's the objective point. Not THE question, only Grabo fans seemed to object to this, because they all knew Henriques is a better player.

Who would you prefer meaning, Who is the more attractive player, usually the critaria of wanting a player is if they are better, infact this is the biggest reason by far.

Last I checked over 85% thought Henriques was better than Grabo.

 

[BonMorrison]

While we're on the topic of filthy shot:



MacArthur has the dirtiest slap shot on the team.

 

[bunjay]

Pretty good discussion on the Main board in the polls section, seems Grabo is down to 58% in the top 6 Center poll. I suspect the number will be even lower moving fwd.

Also he has lost polls to Henriques and Plekanec by a substantial margin.

Now saying that, I don't think he is a bad 3C, just not a top 6 on a contender.

And that is what I have been saying all along.

You suffer from a total lack of perspective, which put less politely means you really don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Not a bad 3C?

Show me all the third line centers in the league ranked by even strength icetime per point.

Henrique is younger and just broke 50 points in his rookie season. It is not at all unreasonable to prefer him to Grabovski as your #2 center. And in fact it would shock me if HFBoards voted any differently, as the overwhelming theme on these forums is that potential reigns supreme. How does this reflect poorly on Grabovski? Henrique could very well turn out to be a top notch 2C or even a legitimate first line center in the NHL. He could also regress. One season is enough to get excited about but not enough to actually draw conclusions. Let us not forget that Grabovski produced a very similar point pace in his own rookie season, a couple years older but also on a much worse team.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

You suffer from a total lack of perspective, which put less politely means you really don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Not a bad 3C?

Show me all the third line centers in the league ranked by even strength icetime per point.

Henrique is younger and just broke 50 points in his rookie season. It is not at all unreasonable to prefer him to Grabovski as your #2 center. And in fact it would shock me if HFBoards voted any differently, as the overwhelming theme on these forums is that potential reigns supreme. How does this reflect poorly on Grabovski? Henrique could very well turn out to be a top notch 2C or even a legitimate first line center in the NHL. He could also regress. One season is enough to get excited about but not enough to actually draw conclusions. Let us not forget that Grabovski produced a very similar point pace in his own rookie season, a couple years older but also on a much worse team.

The bolded is funny(couldn't find a better word) how you assess a player's value, even strength icetime per point? 3rd line Center's on most team's are checking, 2 way role players, they kill Penalties and win faceoffs. They rarely get PP time or are put in a position of scoring. So maybe I actually errored in my comment that Grabvoski would be a good #3C since he can't kill penalties or win faceoffs. 44.5, 49.8, 48.4, 51.5 during his time here, most of it not even against the other team's best face off man.

The reality of it and HF boards knows this judging by how many times Grabs loses polls to Plekanec, is he is a very mediocre #2C regardless of whatever evidence you think you can dig up. Really this is your argument? points per mins for 3rd line C'S?

 

[bunjay]

You're actually barely literate.