Grigorenko to reunite with Datsyuk
Back in the day, the 2003 World Championships to be exact, Igor Grigorenko skated on Russia's top line with Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk. He also was the MVP of the 2003 World Junior Championship final game, leading Russia to the gold medal. Grigorenko added Top Forward and First All-Star Team honors to his World Junior gold medal and MVP trophy.
Returning to his Russian Elite League team, the 19-year-old Grigorenko, drafted 62nd overall by the Wings in 2001, led Lada Togliatti with 19 goals and 10 assists for 29 points in 47 games.
The future looked very bright for the 5-foot-10, 200-pound right winger, but a May 2003 car crash left him with two broken legs and other serious injuries. He developed a life-threatening blood clot in his lung while in the hospital. For a player whose game was based on skating, the crash was a career-threatening event.
Grigorenko made his return to hockey in Russia's third-tier league that December, but required several more surgeries. He returned to Lada Togliatti the next season but couldn't keep up with the top players, augmented by several NHL players during the work stoppage, and was traded to Ufa's Slavat Yulaev, where he had 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games.
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Grigorenko to reunite with Datsyuk
Grigorenko to reunite with Datsyuk
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