The old saying goes “when people are talking about you, your ears ring”.
Mikhail Grigorenko’s ears must have been ringing on Tuesday afternoon. Not from the 30,000 foot altitude of the flight back to Quebec, but from the Sabres singing his praises aloud.
At the same time Sabres President Ted Black and GM Darcy Regier were holding their first official press conference of the season at 2pm EDT, Grigorenko was winging his way back to Q-City.
When his long airline flight landed, Grigorenko spoke with Kathleen Lavoie of Le Soleil, about among other things, the opportunity that awaits him in Hockey Heaven.
"I'm really excited and a little nervous. I'm just waiting to be told when to go there, probably in three days. I'm really excited. I hope to make the team this season”, Grigo told Lavoie after he landed in Quebec on Tuesday night.
Grigo is the most coveted and talked about hockey player in Pegulaville right now, and likely will be until further notice, and, for good reason. The Russian Rockstar has captivated the imaginations of hockey-starved Sabres fans along the Niagara Frontier. Fans that were not as familiar with the highly-skilled pivot prior to the WJCs were able to do their own scouting reports on Grigo as they watched him dominate stretches of important games at the IIHF U-20 championships. He scored two of the most critical goals of the tournament for Russia, and he assisted on four more. He and his line mates Kucherov and Slepyshev owned the puck in the offensive zone as they created a metric ton of offensive chances.
The concensus feeling in Buffalo is that the kid graded out as an “A+”, now the loyalists in Buffalo want to see Grigorenko rocking their #25 blue and gold sweater on opening night on either January 19 or 20.
His brief pit stop in Quebec City will give him a couple of days to catch his breath, take a deep breath and relax after his brilliant performances led Team Russia to the bronze medal at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia.
One zamboni door closes. Another zamboni door opens.
The Sabres got an up-close and personal look at Grigo in last July’s rookie development camp. He played very well in the “Blue and Gold” scrimmage, and left Buffalo having made a favorable first impression on Darcy Regier, Lindy Ruff and the Sabres coaching staff. Based on the brief time spent with Grigo last July, the Sabres have already formulated a baseline set for his fitness and endurance levels. I’m thinking that the Sabres brass will be blown away once they get a chance to monitor his progress day-to-day in the mini training camp setting. Since he left Buffalo last August, Grigo has already played 30 games for his Quebec Remparts. He’s played 7 games and 2 exhibition games at the World Juniors. Factor in his playing and training time at the Subway Super Series, and 8 games (4 games, 4 exhibition games) played at the Canada-Russia Challenge last August in Halifax and Yaroslavl. That’s a lot of high-octane hockey.
