Grabovski posted a video to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday going through fitness testing with professional fitness coach Matt Nichol.
Grabovski posted a video to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday going through fitness testing with professional fitness coach Matt Nichol.
Could we see former Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski returning to pro hockey?
The 40-year-old posted a video to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, where he went through fitness testing with professional fitness coach Matt Nichol to see if a comeback to the NHL was possible.
"He took me through a bunch of tests. Here he was telling me how much better Kulie (Nikolay Kulemin) could have done with this one," Grabovski joked in the video.
"He read me some old Randy Carlyle quotes for motivation during this one. It worked. He spent some time looking at me with a very concerned face. Not sure what we're doing here. Sometimes I just think he messing with me. Then, he gave me some retirement rattling news.
"I guess it's time for Grabo comeback."
Grabovski played 534 regular season games in the NHL. 340 of those games were played in the Maple Leafs organization. He had 91 goals and 117 assists for 208 points in that span with Toronto.
The Potsdam, Germany native also played 10 games in the playoffs, seven of which were the Maple Leafs in 2013 during their collapse against the Boston Bruins in Game 7.
"I have to tell you, like, first of all, you did great. I didn't think it was going to go that good," Nichol told Grabovski in the video. "The scores of the testing were really, really good. Now, I would say they were average, but, average for any current NHL player. Not for an old retired guy. I think that's a really good sign."
Grabovski was a player who was loved by fans in Toronto. He was a feisty forward who, at the same time, was always one of the fastest players on the ice. Grabovski also loved to do the spin-o-rama in the shootout and was often successful at pulling it off.
The NHL banned the spin-o-rama during penalty shots and the shootout ahead of the 2014 season. That move won't be making a comeback, but maybe we'll see Grabovski back playing soon.
"Brad Treliving, call me anytime," Grabovski said, closing the video.
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