The Leafs second-line pivot landed in Russia for much of the recent NHL lockout, playing alongside one of his active idols, Pavel Datsyuk, for the Red Army squad in Moscow. Sharing the same agent, Gary Greenstin, the two have formed a friendship over time; Grabovski even spent a month living with Datsyuk in Detroit years back, his first attempt to pepper the brain of the Red Wings star.
"Right now it's better because that [at] time I'm a little bit young," he noted slyly of those early days alongside Datsyuk.
Suiting up in 29 games with CSKA Moscow - most recently on a line with Datsyuk and Alexander Radulov, the former Predators winger - Grabovski scored 12 times and added 12 assists. He did so while soaking up as much wisdom as he could from his mentor, the two-time Cup champion. "I don't want to give you secrets," Grabovski grinned, "but what he said is you need to work hard every day. I'm looking at him, how he worked; he worked two times before practice, after practice. If you want to be better, you need to work hard." Datsyuk also stressed that "if you want to win something, be closer to your teammates", a lesson that seemed to evade the younger disciple as a Montreal Canadien, but has engrained itself with age in Toronto.
Grabovski has long modeled his game and work ethic after the three-time Selke Trophy winner - often watching game-tape for pointers - committing his efforts toward becoming a stronger two-way force.
