Intro to Bone's Bud Blog

I've been a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs since I can remember. I've never lived through a cup, I missed Mahovolich, Sitler, Horton, Salming, and Keon. Instead, I was brought up watching Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Dave Andreychuck, and the brief time the Leafs had Brian Leech and Ron Francis under contract.
I've had a short time as a fan of the team in comparison to many others in Leafs Nation, but what separates this blog from the crowd is my location in the heart of Habs territory. I can see the bias that I hold, which gives me the ability to step back and observe the Leafs in relation to the rest of the NHL.
Before I start, I have to list my biases as a Leafs fan and fans of specific players in the league.

1) Steven Stamkos - I have been following Stamkos since he played for the Markham Waxers in the OMHA. I heard about him from one of my team mates while I played in Toronto and started following the team on a regular basis. I consider the Tampa Bay Lightning my "second team" but that is mostly because of my like for Stamkos and his ability as an all around hockey player.

2) As a hockey player myself, I play a very different style of hockey from Stamkos. I am not at all an all around player but am myself solely an offensive-minded grinder. However, since I've struggled with that problem all my hockey career as a defensive sieve, I for that reason watch hockey focusing on the structure of a defensive breakout and a team's penalty kill. So, my bias is that I love defensive teams. Ron Wilson excited me when he was brought into the administration because of his penalty kill with San Jose that ended up at 1st in the league.

3) Along with Stamkos, I'm a sucker for prospects. Although it's fun to watch veterans like Iginla or Scott Niedermayer, I become enthralled by the younger players such as Crosby, the Staals, Tavares, Hedman and Duchene.

4) In the battle between Ovechkin and Crosby, I'm a Crosby man. What I have against Ovechkin is mainly his late hits and his long shifts. I enjoy his off-ice antics and love his ability to put the puck in the net. I deny the fact that Ovechkin is the bigger hitter that many call him, because most of his hits are either finishing his check or late hits. Finishing one's check may be part of the game, but when that is the large majority of the hits a player makes, their defensive awareness has to be looked at more closely.

5) I have a large bias towards Canadian players as opposed to European players. This is based on the more hitting-prone, fighting-in-the-corners style of Hockey.