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

The Greatest Goal In the History Of Hockey

If there's one thing that ticks me off a little bit (okay, there's more than one), it's the amount of times I've had to watch that Ovechkin goal. I'm not going to link to it, but you know the one I'm talking about.

Ovechkin cuts down the ice, blazing with speed, giggling at his teammates as they call for a pass. He moves in, dives onto his knees to ensure that this will be a highlight goal, and is clipped by a Coyotes defenseman. He spills onto his back and as a last ditch effort, throws the puck aimlessly towards the net. The shot gets by Vezina trophy candidate Phillipe Sauvé as he slides out of position, wondering if Gretzky will ever come out of retirement to centre their first line.

Sure, it was a fun goal, and kudos to Ovechkin for his "never say die" attitude towards hockey (and his "never look in the mirror" style of personal grooming), but I've heard people proclaim this as the best goal in the history of hockey. It's just not. One; It's a lucky goal, two; scoring a goal against the Phoenix Coyotes is the equivalent of a hole in one playing mini-golf, and most importantly, that honor belongs to our very own Nik Hagman...

This goal is fantastic. Watch it. If you've seen it before, watch it again. Eight or nine times. Is this the greatest goal in the history of hockey? Maybe. Here's why I think it just might be.

1. Matt Stajan: Okay, this is a prologue to the goal, but Matt Stajan is fantastic. He's not great, he's not flashy, and he gives the dullest interviews: if the Leafs were a 100 Flavour Ice Cream Parlour, Stajan would be "Vanilla". (Kyle Wellwood is "Cookie Dough". Colton Orr would be "Blood 'n' Guts". Jamal Mayers is chocol...nah. Let's not say that). But with Stajan, you know what you're getting. Get on the ice, do your job, and change it up. I hope we can fit him into the line-up because I'd love to see him win a cup with the Leafs one day.

2. Four seconds into the clip, Hagman gets drilled by the linesman like he's cutting across Scott Stevens' blueline. As he attempts to get up, he takes a knee to the head. Directly afterwards, a shot from the blueline takes a deflection, hitting him in the face (I'm laughing as I write this) and he angrily swats it away.

Let's recap. A man with a history of concussions takes a bodycheck, a knee to the head, and a puck to the forehead in 2.8 seconds. I timed it.

3. Hagman gets up and clearly has no idea where he is. He begins to skate towards the bench as the announcer claims "Hagman's hurt". Hagman apparently hears this and takes it as a personal slight because he does a 180 and heads back into the corner.

4. At the :30 mark, the announcer says "Stempniak looks for Hagman". This is ironic as the Leafs spent the rest of the year looking for Stempniak.

5. At :35 he says "Stajan tries a wrap-around, nope". Stajan obviously decided against using such an exciting maneuver. Maybe someone in his family has a heart condition and he doesn't want to be overstimulating.

6. Hagman regains the puck three seconds later, dangles aimlessly with his helmet over his eyes, beats three guys and calmly undresses the goalie before sliding it into the net.

7. The best part about this goal, maybe, is the celebration - or lack thereof. Hagman scores the best goal in the history of sport and reacts like he just scored an empty netter in a pre-season game. He looks like a child walking home from school after failing a test.

And off-camera, somewhere in the midst of the Leafs bench, Jason Blake is pumping his fist like there's no tomorrow.

L&L