Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski missed only one game last season and it appears that he was lucky not to miss more as the forward admits he may have suffered a concussion after being hit by Zdeno Chara in a game against Boston on Feb. 15.
In an interview with Dmitry Chesnokov from Yahoo! Sports this week, Grabovski spoke about the injury.
"Well, I think I had a mild concussion," he told Chesnokov. "But I recovered pretty quickly. And now I am feeling absolutely fine."
At the time of the incident, the Maple Leafs stated that Grabovski did not suffer a concussion after twice being hit into the end boards by Chara in a game Toronto won 4-3.
"He would not have been allowed to return to play had he exhibited any symptoms of concussion," wrote Toronto president and general manager Brian Burke in an e-mail to the Globe and Mail after the game.
On the second hit early in the third period, Grabovski had trouble getting to his feet and skated slowly off the ice. He returned to play later in the third period and eventually scored the winning goal with just over a minute remaining.
In comments made right after the game, Grabovski acknowledged that he didn't mind the physical style of play from the Bruins.
"I like play like that," Grabovski told reporters that night. "I like when defencemen play hard against me. It gives me motivation and I play harder and faster."
Grabovski scored 29 goals and 29 assists last season, and finished third on the club in scoring.
