Grabovski: illusion or future difference-maker?

A couple of months ago, I posted a piece asking readers, “What do the Leafs really have in Mikhail Grabovski?”.  (Click on the link to see the earlier story.)

I acknowledged in the piece that, heading into this season, I simply wasn’t a Grabovski guy.  While he obviously had skill, to me he just seemed like a guy who didn’t give his all, all the time.  I had him pegged (unfairly?) as a one-way player, with no size and not enough grit to ever be more than a guy who would look good once in a while, but then dissappear when the going got tough.

Even as he started this season well, I was reluctant to embrace him.  I received a number of e-mails and comments on my post, from readers who really liked Grabbo and others like myself who were still not convinced that he had what it takes—or just simply didn’t much like him as a player.

Fast forward to the present (yet more production in Tuesday night's win against Florida) , and we have a guy who should have been, in my mind at least (and as I’ve stressed here before) the player representing the Maple Leafs at this past weekend’s All-Star game.  He has been the Leafs’ most consistent offensive threat, and someone who has played with more tenacity than I thought he possessed.

Now, it’s true that he has not faced the ultimate test—playoff hockey and the intensity (and defensive attention he would receive) that that entails.  But for a guy I had written off as not likely even being on the roster when this past October rolled around, (and I’m sure he wouldn’t have been if someone had offered to take him in a trade), he is a Leaf who has been a difference-maker, and who has helped create a strong and productive line with Kulemin and MacArthur.

Going forward, though, here's my question:  has he made himself “indispensible” (few players really are) to the Leafs and if so, where do we go from here?  Will he be worth, when his contract comes due, say, 5 million dollars a year for five years? What if he finishes the season with 65 points and leads the team in that category—does that suddenly put him in an elite contractual category?

He is still a young player, in NHL terms.  But at 27, he is already in his theoretical prime as a professional player.  Will he keep getting better and better, or will he get a new contract and settle back into a more complacent style of game?

The way Grabovski is performing right now, he is almost the prototype of what the “new” post-lockout NHL was supposed to enable and promote:  smaller skill players who could make it in an environment with much less clutching and grabbing.  Players who use their speed, smarts and elusive skill set to compete successfully.  And he certainly fits that profile very well.

That said, his track record in terms of productivity is still lacking.  Just OK prior to this year, he has been very good for fifty games this season.  And while his performance has been awfully encouraging for Leaf fans, there is no guarantee he will be a highly productive player for years to come.

So here is the question:  do you see Grabbo as someone who will get better and better, or is he a one-year wonder, someone who has hit all the right notes and won’t have this type of success again?

Do the Leafs look, when the time comes, to extend or re-sign him, or is now the time to get max value for him in a trade?

 Send your comments along.