Nikita Grebenkin was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and on Sunday, he made his first showing in front of the Toronto crowd.
And he certainly made it memorable.
The 6’2”, 209 lbs forward had a great season in Russia last year, with 41 points in 67 games.
He’s been with the Maple Leafs this training camp, and during the Maple Leafs’ first exhibition game of the pre-season, against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, he did just about everything to make the Maple Leafs crowd remember the name.
Grebenkin didn’t score or assist in the game, but he fought with forward Adam Gaudette to get his teammates going in the third period. After the fight, he even tried to hype up his new home fans with some celebrations.
When Grebenkin returned to the bench, he earned a fist bump from new head coach Craig Berube and got a lot of praise postgame.
”He’s a young kid. I think he’s showing us a lot in camp here, with his strength, size, ability, and he’s trying to impress,” Berube said.
And he even got some praise from Toronto’s No. 1 fight guy, Ryan Reaves. Reaves also dropped the gloves on Sunday, but after the game, he would rather just talk about Grebenkin’s fight than his.
”I just loved that. New heavy (weight) in town, I love to see that,” Reaves said per the media. ”It’s good to see kids get involved like that. It’s a full team thing.”
Reaves admitted he didn’t know that Grebenkin had that kind of fighting in him, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised.
”The Russians tend to be strong, though,” he said.
Toronto will play five more pre-season games until their season-opener against the Canadiens in Montreal on Oct. 11. But so far, Grebenkin is showing that he might have something to offer that Toronto fans absolutely love.
