It is though the trickiest to pull off. You need your skilled players, you need your grinders and you need your combination of the two, players like Shanahan or Nolan for instance. The Leafs actually have that good combination I think. They need a proper number one and two defencemen and to shut their whinny yaps about the ridiculous penalties they take. The team has had flashes of brilliance over the past few years. It's a shame they have never really managed to keep that up.

Nasty, grind it out defensive hockey and nancy-boy all-skill hockey is boring. Good examples are watching Minnesota play Jersey and the All-Star game. Bleah!