Mikhail Grabovski blasts Maple Leafs, calls Randy Carlyle an ‘idiot’

Mikhail Grabovski, cut loose by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday after a five-year run with the club, is like many talented hockey players. If you ask him a question, he’s going to deliver a straightforward, often blunt answer.

Players in the NHL don’t usually point fingers at one another. They don’t assign blame, they usually accept it.

Grabovski, though, was clearly upset when Toronto bought out his contract and made him a free agent. The 29-year-old from Belarus was particularly unhappy with Maple Leafs Coach Randy Carlyle, a former coach with the Anaheim Ducks, whom he called an “idiot.”

Expletives have been removed from Graboski’s tirade.

“I play in the Russian KHL, I make lots of points and what’s going to happen?” Grabovski asked in an interview with TSN’s Jonas Siegel. “[Carlyle] makes me play on the fourth line and he put me in the playoffs on the fourth line and third line again.

“Yeah, I don’t score goals. I need to work more about that. I know that. But if you feel support from your coach” it’s easier to attain success. “I don’t feel any support from this idiot.”

Grabovski had a lackluster season during the 48-game, lockout-shortened season, finishing with 16 points and nine goals.

“Of course I feel sad,” he added of his upcoming departure. “I played five years here. I’m supposed to feel upset about that. I loved it [here]. Toronto fans are one of the best fans in the world.”

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