Five players have reached double-digit goals this season. One of those players is Michael Grabner.
Scoring a pair of goals versus the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, Grabner picked up his ninth and tenth markers of the season. He now stands among Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, David Pastrnak, and Sidney Crosby as players who have found the back of the net 10 or more times this season.
One of these players is not like the others.
What's more? All 10 of Grabner's goals have come at even strength. He leads the NHL in that category. This isn't a player with inflated production thanks to a strong power play.
Grabner is perhaps best known for his blazing speed - in 2011, a time of 14.061 seconds won the fastest skater challenge at the NHL skills competition.
The knock on Grabner has been that his hands don't match his feet; he hasn't been able to put it all together.
A former first round pick of the Vancouver Canucks, Grabner was later flipped to the Florida Panthers before being claimed on waivers by the New York Islanders in 2010. He had a breakout season that year, scoring a team-leading 34 goals. League wide, just seven players outscored the Austrian winger.
But it wasn't sustainable. Through his next three seasons on Long Island, Grabner's totals fell from 20 to 16 to 12 tallies. Then, in 2014-15, he appeared in just 34 games and his production fell to eight goals.
It was time for new surroundings, as Grabner moved on to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a rebuilding team who hoped to recreate the one-time scorer into a trade-worthy asset. But it never happened, as Grabner finished last season with just nine goals.
He's already surpassed that number this year, and he's on pace for a career-high 51 goals. Of course, it's early, and, with a shooting percentage of nearly 28 percent, things are likely to take a dip. Still, Grabner and fans of the Broadway Blueshirts will enjoy the ride while it lasts.
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