HELSINKI – Early 20th century Swedish movie star Greta Garbo disliked publicity so much that it became a thing she’s still remembered for. Whenever any celebrity refuses to give interviews, they’re said to be “going Garbo”.

Mikhail Grabovski, the Belarusian forward who’s spent the last four years with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL, doesn’t seek attention, either, but it’s hard not to notice the number 84 out there, and not simply because he plays a lot, but because he’s always creating something interesting.

Thursday’s game against the U.S. was a perfect example of Grabovski’s game, his work ethic, and his importance to the team. He collected assists to all three Belarus goals in the game, quarterbacked the power play, made plays, and when the team was trying to get back into it, he played almost half of the third period.

In fact, Grabovski may just be one the hardest working men in the tournament.

“Mikhail is a really hard working player, and sometimes he may even try to do too much to help the team, he wants to do everything himself. I’ve tried to tell him that he helps the team most when he just does what he does as well as he can,” Belarus’s Finnish coach Kari Heikkilä told IIHF.com. “My answer to that is managing his ice time: I’ve given him a lot of it. Maybe he’ll get too tired to even attempt to do too much,” he added, laughing.

By Saturday, he had played almost 82 minutes in four games, averaging 20:51 a game, most of all forwards on the Belarus team, and behind only defencemen Vladimir Denisov and Dmitri Korobov. In the game against Slovakia, with the Kostitsyns on the team, Grabovski's ice time dropped to 17:50, still most of all forwards.

Grabovski’s playing in his seventh World Championship, at at 28, he’s approaching the best years of his career. In 2010-11, he scored 29 goals and 58 points in 81 games with the Leafs. This season, his points total went down - he scored 23 goals and 51 points - but his points-per-game average was actually slightly better.

In March, Grabovski signed a 27.5-million, five-year extension with the Leafs, becoming the team’s highest-paid forward.

“I enjoy playing in Toronto. There have been a lot of changes there but I’m sure that if we keep the team together, we’ll make the playoffs. I think the team has a good future,” he says.

A lot of things have changed in Grabovski’s life in the last few years. Besides the new contract, he’s also got married and become a father of two children, a boy and a girl.

“It’s true, I’m a father now. Life is good. I’ve become a Torontonian. That’s life, everything changes,” he says, as if pondering his recent past.

In this tournament, Grabovski has four points in five games, and he leads Belarus in scoring. His minus-1 is tied for second on the team that has just one plus-player, Konstantin Koltsov, +1.)

“Mikhail is a great team player, and simply a great person. He’s very modest, and he’s a true professional in everything he does,” Heikkilä says.

“The fact that he’s also the Leafs’ alternate captain tells a lot about this leadership, the NHL clubs don’t hand out letters to buffoons,” he adds.

Grabovski takes the team first attitude with him wherever he goes which is why, once again, his father Yuri and his grandfather are at the World Championships to watch Mikhail play.

“My dad is my first coach, my best coach, and he made me believe I can make it (to the) big level and stay here for a long time. I'm very appreciative of him,” Grabovski said when he signed his contract extension.

“My grandfather’s 84 years old but he’s in good shape. They always come and try to help and support me,” he told IIHF.com.

That didn’t surprise the coach.

“Family is very important to players that come from Belarus. When they make it big, they always make sure that their families, siblings and parents, get taken care of,” Heikkilä says.

Earlier this season, Heikkilä made sure that the lines of communication with Grabovski worked so made a trip to Toronto to meet with him. It was mostly a courtesy call since the Belarus team desperately needs Grabovski, and since Grabovski practically never turns down an opportunity to play for his country.

“It’s always nice to play with the national team, I enjoy it very much. I’ve played with a couple of guys since the juniors, so we know each other well,” he says.

“Basically, the whole team is from Minsk, they’ve all gone through the Yunost school, there are only a couple of players from some other towns,” adds Heikkilä.

“The problem is that we don’t have enough of those top players,” he says.

But they do have Grabovski. And that's more than a good start.

RISTO PAKARINEN