Mikhail Grabovski recorded 35 points (13g, 22a) in 58 games for the Washington Capitals during the 2013-14 campaign before departing in free agency the following summer. The German-born, Belarusian forward signed a four-year, $20 million deal with the New York Islanders in 2014.
However, Grabovski only played two years of that contract before being dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2017 Expansion Draft and never playing another professional game in part due to post-concussion symptoms. He recently spoke with the “Hockey Varka” YouTube channel about his decision to leave the Capitals.
“I just made a mistake,” Grabovski said per a transcription by sports.ru and a translation by Google Translate. “Somewhere my pride played a cruel joke.”
The 2013-14 Capitals under head coach Adam Oates missed the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. Oates was quickly fired and general manager George McPhee’s contract was not extended.
Washington’s turnover on the bench and in the front office led Grabovski to consider other options. He also bought into the popular narrative spread all over the hockey media landscape that the Capitals in the Alex Ovechkin Era were doomed to never succeed in the playoffs.
“Maybe it was a mistake in my career that I accepted the Islanders offer because they had a coach,” Grabovski said. “In Washington, it’s not even known who the coach was.
“It’s not about money, as many people say, that I left for the Islanders because of money. But that’s not true. The Islanders had a very good team that made the playoffs and still makes it with the same players. We lost in Game 7.”
The next season, under new bench boss Barry Trotz, the Capitals faced off against the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. Grabovski went scoreless in the three games of the series he played and the Capitals prevailed in Game Seven on home ice to eliminate New York.
The Islanders would advance past the first round the next season but went no further and then missed the postseason two straight years. Washington would go on to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup during what would have been the final year of Grabovski’s NHL contract.
“I just wanted to win,” Grabovski said. “A lot of people tried to talk me out of staying in Washington. ‘[The Capitals] will never win, what are you doing there, go, we have a team, etc.’ The Islanders had a really cool team with [John] Tavares. I made the decision to leave.”
Grabovski’s decision to leave the Capitals also seemed to impact his relationship with Ovechkin. The two were close friends during the year they spent together in DC.
“Sasha and I spent the summer together before my transfer, before I signed the contract,” Grabovski said. “I think he was left with the impression that I’ve gone out of sight. I congratulated him when he won.”
Since officially announcing his retirement in 2019, Grabovski has served as an assistant coach with the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk. Grabovski’s playoff struggles have unfortunately continued as Dinamo has been eliminated in the first round of the Gargarin Cup playoffs for four straight seasons.
