After being subjected to so much garbage and poetic pinning bordering on the ludicrous, I wanted to just write something on why I like and dislike Mikhail Grigorenko. If you go back to the Mock Drafts and so forth, people will know I really liked Grigorenko, I defended him and was one of the few citing his mono as the reason why his play really took a nose dive in the final 15 games. I think he is a top prospect, one with some great strengths and great flaws. Like most top prospects he’ll have a hard road to the NHL and will need to work for it. He’s not 23, he’s not a KHL risk, but he also isn’t NHL ready, let alone NHL ass ripping ready.
Likes:
His size. At 6’3 he’s got great size. Now he doesn’t hit and is relatively a soft player in those regards, but his size gives him the ability to control and protect the puck very well. When you watch him on the boards he loves to control the puck and is hard to take off.
His vision. Grigorenko has shown some good vision, oftentimes some great. He sees the ice very well, which helps make up for some of his weaknesses. You look at the eye seeing passes to Kucherov and that’s all you need to see, those plays are ones you expect from a great playmaker. He does have an issue in over-handling the puck and waiting too long reducing the optimum play.
His One Shot Scoring. This is the kind of skill that makes massive headlines in juniors and makes a great piece of a total resume in the NHL. Very few players can be simply a one shot scorer in the new NHL. Grigorenko has more skills than that, yet his great wrist shot is one of his greatest strengths. He sets it up well and is not one to continually enter the zone and fire. I like that he tries often to place and find room for his shot and not just waste a chance.
His Face-Off Skills. This is something he is developing. He isn’t a specialist and he isn’t the best, yet for a high-end skill player he’s shown some great leaps in face-off taking. He was very good in the WJC’s and had over a 53% there, now in the NHL he’ll take time to actually keep up this progress, but you never expect skill players to do these little things well.
Dislikes:
His speed. Grigorenko has that long stride that makes him look slow as hell even if he isn’t comparatively. He takes few strides and glides; he isn’t a speedster that keeps his feet moving at all times. This is a personal detraction, I wonder how fast he could be if he shot through the zone instead of being the guy trying to set himself up for something. I’d like to see him take more charge.
Defensive awareness. This is the real issue for me and why he needs to stay in the QMJHL. He showed in the WJC’s and throughout the year he has two sets of brains, his offensive brain and his why isn’t the puck in the offensive zone brain. Slepyshev helped mask a lot of mistakes made by the more dynamic and risky Grigorenko/Kucherov, that’s one of the reasons why he was on their line. Grigorenko like many gave up on many plays and with his gliding stride he looked glacial coming back.
Minor Iffies:
Grigorenko needs to improve his plays with speed, he loves to try and slow down the play a la Joe Thornton and that leads to both good and bad plays. There were many times he slowed the play and let players come back into the zone, times where he slowed it down so much he gave it away and he/teammates were standing still. Those plays are important and he does do them well, but he needs to watch that in the ultra-fast NHL.
So all I’m trying to say is don’t hate the player, hate the G. I would like to see him try to lead Quebec to a Memorial Cup where he can actually have a chance to be the “Hottest player in the hockey world.” Good luck to him in Buffalo and don’t force an unready player into the hot seat.
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