Nikita Grebyonkin Is Ready To Jump Into Maple Leafs Roster

Nikita Grebyonkin preparing to his NHL debut. Credit: metallurg.ru

Nikita Grebyonkin is the mysterious rookie of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 21-year-old Russian forward signed an entry-level contract last spring but was unable to play for the Leafs in the playoffs due to injury. Grebyonkin played for Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the KHL last season and scored 41 points (19+22) in 67 regular-season games. He scored 6 points (3+3) in 23 playoff games. He won the Gagarin Cup and left for Toronto immediately after celebrating the championship.

Preparing for the Season and Injury

“I’ve been in Toronto for two months now,” Grebyonkin said in an interview with RG. “As soon as I arrived in Canada, I started going to the gym. I didn't skate for three months, and today [August 6], I took the ice for the first time. Preparation is going according to plan.

My legs are in pain, as well as my back. My whole body is in pain. But that's normal when you don't skate for a long time. Even if you don't skate for a month, your body will still feel pain. I'm used to it. But I've never had such long breaks in my career before this, never longer than two months, and it happened when I was a small kid. Our coaches told us we shouldn't skate in the summer but focus on other team sports: football, basketball, and volleyball. This is necessary for all-round development, to be creative players.”

Grebyonkin played in the Gagarin Cup playoffs with a serious injury. He went out on the ice in the final against Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl), risking his health. After the season ended, he immediately started the recovery process.

My shoulder was aching, but the main injury was in my lower body. I'm currently in the recovery process. In Toronto, the coaches and medical staff are watching me closely. They give me constant guidance on training, provide nutrition advice, and tell me what to avoid. All I can focus on right now is practicing and getting back in shape."

Adaptation in Toronto

The Maple Leafs selected Grebyonkin with the 135th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Two years later, he’s preparing to make his NHL debut for the team, but first, he needs to get used to life in another country. He came to Canada without knowing English.

"I understood that I would go to Toronto anyway, and it wouldn’t be as fun here as in Russia. There are no relatives nearby. I had been preparing for this for a long time and came here with the understanding that it would be like this: I would work. Everyone here is positive, and even with my bad English, everyone is friendly to me. I study English four times a week for an hour and a half. I try to talk with the coaching staff, players, massage therapists, and other staff members. Everyone gives me advice, understands it’s hard for me, and tries to help. Even if I don't understand something, they explain it using gestures. When I arrived, I only knew how to say my name and "Nice to meet you." Now everything is much better."

Grebyonkin will be the only Russian on the Toronto roster this season. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who played for the Leafs for two years, left the team in the summer and signed a contract with the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Ilya and I called each other, talked, and we keep talking. It would be much easier for me if he were here. He could help in some moments. But if it happened, then it had to be this way. I’d learn English faster. I asked Samsonov a lot about how everything is arranged here, and he helped me a lot.”

In addition to Grebyonkin, many professional hockey players are already practicing in Toronto.

“We have two groups of seven to eight people. There are guys from the main team, there are guys from the AHL, there are guys from other teams. It turns out that there is a rule that if someone in the NHL drafts you and you are in the team’s system, then you can train at any NHL arena. I saw guys from Chicago here. I have already met head coach Craig Berube, we even laughed. He asked how and what I was doing, but I can’t say that we talked for long.

I saw that Matthews, Tavares, and Marner also trained in Toronto. But, as far as I understand, they have their own program. They come two or three times a week and then disappear for a week. They train in other places. We have already met, but it is still difficult for me to communicate in English.

Here, the players pay more attention to technique, and there are more exercises for this, more tests that I have never done, and many exercises with coaches. It is all very interesting, but I do not always understand what this or that exercise is for. Then I come home, and my muscles hurt—it means I am doing everything right."

Nikita has a photo on Instagram with Niagara Falls in the background. The hockey player admitted that he was not impressed by what he saw.

"I wouldn't say that I have a 'wow' impression, but for general development, it's worth going. I went with Danila Ershov; we communicate a lot in Toronto; he was a video coach for the Russian national team, and then he moved to Canada and opened a hockey academy here. We are friends. He takes me everywhere, shows me everything, and tells me everything.

In general, it's hard to surprise me. During the development camp, we were taken to the locker room of the NBA team to their training base. I was amazed by the equipment and how beautifully everything was done there. It was interesting to see how basketball players prepare for training. Their approach, of course, is different from hockey. I never really followed basketball, but I was always interested in how everything was arranged there. They have their exercise machines; we don't have anything like that. I also went to a baseball game, but I can’t say I was thrilled. I just ticked off the fact that I went there. There are many people, everyone is having fun, and there is a cool atmosphere.”

Grebyonkin admits that he likes living in Toronto but still needs to get used to the big city.

“I have never lived in a big city in my adulthood. I lived in Yekaterinburg for a year as a child but don’t remember anything. A big city like Toronto is still very unusual for me after Magnitogorsk. It’s cool here; I live in the very center; life is in full swing, but it takes time to get used to it.”

Nikita has a small problem, though. He doesn’t have a driver’s license, so he can only travel by taxi.

“As for housing and other everyday issues, the club and the agent helped with everything, and I didn’t have any problems. The only difficulty was with transportation. I didn’t even have a driver’s license in Russia. I get around here by taxi. I understand that I need a car, and it would be worth getting a license. But getting a license here is not as easy as in Russia. In Russia, you study, pass the exam, and get a license.

In Canada, as far as I understand, there are several categories of driver's licenses, and you can't drive on the highway right away unless an adult with a license accompanies you. And for me, to get to training, I need to drive on the highway. Plus, I can't drive in the evening. How will I get home after the games? So, I don't yet understand whether there is any point in getting a license, but if we take the financial side of the issue, it will be much cheaper than taking a taxi—it is very expensive here.

“It takes me about 30 minutes to get to the arena. I don't know whether I will stay here for the whole season. In Toronto, the training and main arenas are in different places. They are 30-40 minutes from each other without traffic jams. With traffic jams, getting there can take more than an hour."

Grebyonkin can't wait to make his debut for the Maple Leafs. However, he doesn't know whether he will be ready for the rookie tournaments, which start in mid-September. "I don't know, honestly, what the plan is; I haven't looked that far ahead or asked. I live for today, I know that tomorrow is practice and what I'll do, and what happens next—we'll see. I was told that my main task is to prepare for the season, and exhibition games don't play such a decisive role. The main thing is that everything is fine with my health."

He refuses to describe himself as a player, saying that Leafs fans will have to draw their own conclusions about him.

"It's wrong for an athlete to describe himself. People should do it. Fans should see my game for themselves and describe me. I will go out and prove on the ice and in the arena that I am ready and that I can play at this level. I know it's difficult, but it's all in my hands."

The Amur and Metallurg

Grebyonkin graduated from the Metallurg Club, but he was not able to play for his home club right away. In the 2022/23 season, he was loaned to the Khabarovsk Amur, where he finally got to play in the KHL.

“It was such a key moment when I was sent on loan, and they gave me playing time there. I want to thank the coaching staff of the Amur separately. It was a good time. It was a boost in my career. I felt that I could play in the KHL, act creatively, and not just work on defense. I played in the MHL, VHL, and KHL that season, and I realized that I had outgrown the first two leagues.”

The following year, Grebyonkin was already on the roster and became one of the team’s leaders.

“I can't single out one moment. The whole season was very difficult. First of all, in a psychological sense. Physically, it's normal, although I played 90-odd games. The only thing is that I played in the playoffs with an injury. It was difficult."

Grebyonkin is a creative forward who can create a moment out of nothing. He is confident in himself and very emotional.

"Sometimes emotions overwhelm, and they interfere. I think every athlete has this. At Metallurg, the guys would give me advice, and in general, we had a close-knit team where everyone helped each other. But I’m not a little boy anymore. I have my head, and I must understand what is possible and what is not. I’ll watch the older and more experienced guys, and how they behave. Hockey in the NHL is different from the KHL. I haven’t played here yet, so I’ll need time to adapt.