Interestingly enough, Grigorenko isn’t new to postseason exploits – he topped the league in scoring in CSKA’s first triumph back in 2019 when he had 13 goals and 21 points in 20 games, but that year, MVP honors went to goalie Ilya Sorokin. This season, instead, despite a fierce competition by his teammate, goalie Adam Reideborn, Mikhail Grigorenko was awarded best-in-class after he conquered his third Gagarin Cup title. However, as it has been said, he’s not new to excellent post-season performance, just would be enough remembering, for example, the 2019 finals, which CSKA won in four games over Avangard, and where he scored in three games and recorded the first-ever Gagarin Cup finals hat-trick (in the opening game of the series, including the game-winning goal). Among this year’s top performances, we can certainly remember a hat-trick in game five against SKA, that propelled CSKA’s eventual victory in the Conference Finals, and the game winner in the third period of the second showdown against Lokomotiv in the second round – it’s not a case that he was awarded as the elimination stage’s top player.
Mikhail Grigorenko was born in Khabarovsk, on May 16, 1994. He soon moved to Moscow, as he started playing for CSKA in young age. He had his pro hockey debut in 2010-2011, where he impressively showed an early offensive touch, contributing 17 goals and 35 points in 43 regular season games. That same year, he posted an even more impressive 18 (4+14) points at the U18 WJC playing on a formidable top line with Nikita Kucherov and Nail Yakupov. With Andrei Vasilevsky standing on goal, the Russians were among the teams to beat that year, but lost to Sweden in the semis to then defeat Canada in the Bronze Medal game.
In June 2011, Grigorenko was picked second overall in the CHL Import Draft by the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In his first season in the QMJHL, he led all rookie players in the league in goals and points and was second for assists to capture the Michel Bergeron Trophy as the top offensive rookie of the season. Grigorenko was chosen in the first round, 12th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres as a top-rated forward prospect for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Soon after, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Sabres. Due to the 2012-13 NHL lockout delaying the start of the season, Grigorenko began the season with the Remparts where he played 32 games and scored 50 points. He was leading the Remparts at the time and ranked fifth in the QMJHL with 29 goals, while his 50 points were second on the team. The lockout ended in January as he made the roster with the Sabres.
In his first season with the big boys, he scored one goal and four assists through 22 games, and he will play the next two seasons with the Sabres with mixed success. Following his three-year campaign in Buffalo, he moved to the Colorado Avalanche. In the meantime, he helped Team Russia winning a silver and a bronze medal at the WJC level.
Following two seasons in Denver, with 50 points accrued in total, the forward returned home and signed with his hometown club, CSKA Moscow. He was a force for the Muscovites since the first season, when he was also called to the Team Russia roster for the 2018 South Korea Olympics, where he won the Gold Medal.
He then followed with strong performances at the 2019 IIHF WC in Slovakia, where he added a bronze medal to his already impressive hardware. But the best was yet to come for Grigorenko. He spent all the next season with CSKA, except for a year with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he conquered three Gagarin Cups for the Muscovites. Danis Zaripov is still far and beyond with five titles, but Grigorenko is still young and has plenty of time to catch him up.