Toronto Maple Leafs

Can Stajan and Grabovski Keep Scoring?

Ok I admit it, I’ve been a regular Stajan basher in the past.

He has had a rough go of it, and found it obviously difficult to produce points in the NHL.  Perhaps I was harsh on the kid, and perhaps it was just a matter of placing him with the right line mates, but now that he’s finally blossoming into an offensive presence, I’m finally coming down on the supportive side of the fence.

Stajan was in a funk early on this season, but since his benching, a fire has been lit under his butt like none before.  Since his return and his promotion to top line centre between Antropov and Ponikarovsky, Stajan has been scoring… a lot.

He first joined the large ex-Soviets in a game against Anaheim back on October 21st, that the Leafs lost 3-2 in a shoot out.  In the 12 games since that change, he has managed to score 4 goals, and 12 assists, for all 16 of his points this season.  He is also a combined +8 over that stretch.  He has had two scoring streaks of 5 games, with a one game break in between; the 6-4 loss to the Hurricanes in Carolina.

Not only has he been producing for himself, but his line mates have improved too.  Antropov had 2 assists and 1 goal before entering that game against Anaheim, but since then he has scored 6 goals, and 6 assists for 12 points over the same 12 game stretch.  Ponikarovsky has looked like a decent player to boot, with that Anaheim game starting a stretch of 5 games with a point.  Since the addition of Stajan, he has provided 4 goals and 6 assists, for 10 points.  He had a quiet stretch of 4 games without a point in the middle there, but he seems to be producing again over the last 2 or 3 games.

This is where things start to get crazy:  Stajan is actually on pace to produce 102 points this season…

That’s right.  102 points.  I know, he didn’t score at all over the first 5 games this year, and he was benched in a game - but he has 16 points in the 12 games since he came back and joined the top line, which works out to 1.33 points per game.  There’s 65 games left.  That means he could score 86 points over the remaining 65 games.  If you add that to his current total of 16, that gives him 102 points.

Now, I’m not SAYING I think Stajan will score 102 points… I’m just letting everyone know that he is producing at that pace right now… and he has been for 12 games straight, which is a pretty lengthy stretch in NHL terms.  If he ended up with 102 points last season, that would have ranked him 3rd in the NHL last season, ahead of Iginla, Datsyuk and Thornton.  So obviously I don’t think that’s likely to happen.  What I do think is quite possible though, is him putting up 80 or so points, if he can stay healthy.

Guess how many 80 point seasons Mats Sundin had in his tenure with the Leafs? Four.  Out of 13 years.  If Stajan just gets one, I still think it earns him a lot more stature on this club and with the fans.

Which brings me to my second discussion point: Mikhail Grabovski.  Grabovski has been on FIRE this November.  While sporting the finest head of hockey hair seen in these parts since the loss of Sergei Berezin, Grabovski has done a wonderful job of bringing some Soviet flash and dash back to Toronto.  Luckily for Leafs fans, this isn’t a regular reprisal of good ole “Sergei Time” in which Berezin would attempt to deke out the entire opposing team en route to scoring one of his 30 or so goals… while ignoring most of his team mates. Grabovski seems to be a better team player, and even got into a jawing match with half the Canadiens team (at least the ones that speak Belarussian) and managed to upset Carey Price and convinced captain Saku Koivu to try and kick him in the head (I’m not sure anyone remembers why… I’ve already forgotten!).

In all of the Leafs 10 games through October, Grabovski looked dangerous every time he was on the ice.  Unfortunately he couldn’t translate that into points in the early going, and he ended up with only 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points to go along with a not so hot -6 rating.

This month he’s turned that frown upside down, and lit the Leafs offense up.  Alongside Hagman and Kulemin he’s begun to give the Leafs a very legitimate 2nd line scoring threat.  In 7 games so far this month, he has managed to score 7 goals, and 3 assists, for 10 points.  He is in the midst of a very pretty 6 game point streak, and for the month, he is a nice and defensively tidy +4.  He was -3 in one game (against Calgary) which has held down those numbers.

As a 2nd line centre, he’s also pulling along his line mates.  Hagman has managed to produce some points, throwing in 4 goals of his own to go along with 3 assists this month.  He is also a +4 for the month of November.  Kulemin is still finding his way a bit in the NHL, but he’s managed to rack up some nice assists alongside Grabovski, with 5 of them in November alone.  He also scored his 3rd goal of the season the other night in Edmonton, giving him 6 points for the month.  Kulemin has also gone from being a combined -5 in October to a combined +3 in November, for a nice improvement in his overall level of play.

Overall it looks like the Leafs top 2 offensive units are being productive, and seem to be doing a reasonably decent job of holding up their end of things.

Let us look forwards to a further improvement in their overall level of play as time progresses.