| Nick Obergan. 16th May, 2011 - 2:30 pm
 From being traded to Florida, being placed on waivers in attempts to send him to the minors, to a Calder Trophy nomination with the Islanders, Michael Grabner had a whirlwind season in 2010-11. That whirlwind has now officially culminated with a five-year, $15M contract that will keep him on Long Island through the 2015-16 season.
Grabner was the 14th overall pick in the 2006 Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, and made his NHL debut last season by playing 20 games with Vancouver and contributing 11 points; he also had 26 points in 38 games with their AHL affiliate in Manitoba. Vancouver shipped him to Florida on June 25, 2010 during the draft as part of a package for defenseman Keith Ballard.
With the Panthers loading up on youth and ridding themselves of veterans, it was expected that Grabner would be able to get significant playing time and show flashes of what made him a first round pick. Instead, he had a poor training camp with the club, and they opted to send him to the AHL, only to have him claimed off waivers by the similarly-rebuilding Islanders on October 5.
The Islanders gave him the opportunity to play right away, and he rewarded them with a team-leading 34 goals and +13 rating, while his 52 points ranked fourth. His plus/minus is particularly impressive considering the Islanders scored 35 fewer goals than they allowed. Also impressive was his six short-handed goals, which was second in the NHL to teammate Frans Nielsen's seven.
Grabner's hands and speed (he won the fastest skater competition during the All-Star break) make him every bit a threat to score 35-45 goals per season for the next eight years or so (he will be 24-years-old in October). That production, for a player also adept at killing penalties, makes this contract a no-brainer for the franchise but perhaps a head-scratcher for Grabner.
Simply put, the league's best goal scorers make more than $3M per season, which is what Grabner has agreed to. He had three more seasons remaining of restricted free agency, so the smarter play may have been to sign a three-year/$9M deal that took him to unrestricted free agency where he could have cashed in big time (barring his production remaining at the 35-goal level).
The other side of the coin is that this is a discount for the Islanders for showing faith in him, for claiming him and giving him an everyday NHL job and giving him the ice-time and freedom to ply his trade. Don't get me wrong, $3M a year is a lot of money anywhere, but given his production relative to the rest of the league, he looks to be underpaid by NHL standards throughout this contract.
Grade for Grabner: C+
This deal is a clear-cut win for the New York Islanders franchise. Earlier this year I wrote how important it was for the franchise when they locked up Matt Moulson, and this deal shows that the once snake-bitten franchise is slowly but surely turning the corner. Now they have locked up their two best goal scorers, two key parts of their young core, for at least the next three seasons. Add in the news of a brand new arena/sports complex in the works (finally), and this should help keep young star John Tavares past his rookie-level contract and for the foreseeable future. The Islanders are finally getting some breaks their way.
Grade for New York: A
Nick is RealGM's NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan
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