From the Top to the Bottom

Since Brian Burke arrived in Toronto, nearly everything he has said has been speculated, torn apart, and gone into more than Elisha Cuthbert at an NHLPA meeting. Burke arrived in Toronto with a clear agenda regarding what he wanted his team to be. Burke preaches three things, primarily:

1) Player Accountability
2) Team Toughness
3) Top Six/Bottom Fix Format

He's said it time and time again: "I build my team top six and bottom six". The general idea is that the skilled players make up the top six (Anaheim: Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry) and six players who are hard-nosed, responsible players make up the bottom six (Moen, Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer). Since Burke arrived, we've spent the summer looking over our forwards and classifying them as top six/bottom six. So let's go right ahead and categorize the players who have any shot whatsoever at making the team.

Top Six: Grabovski, Bozak, Kulemin, Stalberg, Tlusty, Stempniak, Blake

Bottom Six: Wallin, Hanson, Orr, Primeau, Mayers, Mitchell

Yes, that's only thirteen forwards. And between Bozak, Kulemin, Tlusty, Stalberg and Hanson, I'm guessing at least two of them are heading to the Marlies. Not to mention if I have to watch Lee Stempniak float around with Harry Potter's invisibility cloak another year I'm not going to be pleased. Not to mention my irrational hatred for Jamal Mayers. To hell with Jamal Mayers. I'd trade him for Bryan Berards left eye. I've placed three in the grey area.

Grey Area: Alexei Ponikarovski, Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan

These are players that are; on a decent team, third liners. However, they have the ability to step up to the top two "skilled lines". Bozak, Kulemin, Blake, Hanson, and even John Mitchell could potentially be in this area but they're more clearly defined. But to take a look at those players, I'd consider them to be three of our top performers last year. So, do we limit their icetime because they play a harder style?

This brings me to my point. Burke builds his teams top six/bottom six. That doesn't mean that Ron Wilson makes his line combinations built on that. If you ask me our best five proven forwards and our six forwards most likely to be considered "top six material", it looks like this.

BEST: Blake, Poni, Hagman, Grabovski, Stajan

TOP6: Grabovski, Blake, Kulemin, Tlusty, Bozak

Of course, this is all opinion based... but the theory is there: the top six players are not always the best six players. And the "top six players" may not necessarily be logging the most ice time or even be playing on the same lines. While I feel roughly half of Burke's forwards nails and the other half hammers, it's up to Wilson if he wants to make a line with a hammer and two nails.

And if Colton Orr comes out every night and scores three goals, you better believe he's going to be playing on the first line.

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L&L