The following year, he improved to 32 goals and five assists over 23 games, while also debuting with EC VSV's men's team in the Austrian Hockey League.

In the subsequent off-season, he was selected 22nd overall by the Spokane Chiefs in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft.

[3] Grabner believed that playing major junior in North America would help his goal of making it to the NHL.

He had been exposed to Chiefs general manager Tim Speltz through a connection with his head coach in EC VSV, Greg Holst.

[4] Grabner left Austria to join Spokane for the 2004–05 WHL season, but suffered a broken collarbone in his first exhibition game.

Playing in his NHL draft year, he competed in the CHL Top Prospects Game and scored a goal and two assists.

Grabner was admittedly surprised to be chosen in that position of the draft, as he was projected to be a late first-round to early second-round pick.

The following season, on 26 February 2009, Grabner was recalled by the Canucks to replace Pavol Demitra who suffered a fractured finger the night before.

After eliminating the Toronto Marlies and Grand Rapids Griffins in the first two rounds of the 2009 playoffs, Grabner scored the series-clinching goal in the sixth game of the semifinals, a 3–1 win over the Houston Aeros.

[15] After a quick start with the Moose, however, scoring four goals in five games, he was called up by the Canucks on 14 October 2009, to replace injured star winger Daniel Sedin.

[33] On 21 October 2013, Grabner was suspended for two games for an illegal check to the head of Carolina Hurricanes forward Nathan Gerbe.

[37] Throughout the year, Grabner failed to score at his previous pace as with the Islanders, but was a decent addition on the penalty kill and had some hot streaks.

[42] Grabner is the 11th player in NHL history to complete the "Hudson River Triple" (being a member of the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils), joining the likes of Sergei Nemchinov, Kevin Weekes, P. A. Parenteau among others.

[43] Grabner was unable to replicate his offensive numbers with the Devils down the stretch of the regular season, contributing with just 2 goals and 5 points in 21 games.

As a free agent from the Devils in the off-season, Grabner agreed to a three-year, $10.05 million contract with the Arizona Coyotes on 1 July 2018.

[46] Grabner made his international debut with Austria in Division I play of the 2004 IIHF World U18 Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

[49] Austria finished in fifth place out of six teams in Group A, coming within a loss of being relegated to Division II for the next year.

Austria participated in Division IA, the second tier of the World Championships, and earned a promotion to the elite level for 2013.

[citation needed] On 31 March 2011, Grabner's wife Heather, whom he met while playing in Spokane, gave birth to a baby boy.