How They Stack Up

Another brilliant season from Detroit defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom, and his new status as the first Euro to captain an NHL club to the Cup, fueled a discussion during the playoffs as to where he stood in terms of all-time blueline greats.

Now, the retirement of his Red Wing teammate, Dominik Hasek, will have many trying to establish where he ranks among all-star netminders, or at least those of his era.

Trying to rate Hasek against, say, Turk Broda or Glenn Hall is nearly impossible since the game has changed so drastically for those playing goal since the early 1970s, and even more since the 1980s, because of the equipment used to play the position.

So let's stick with this era. Say, the last quarter century.

So where does Hasek rate? Here's the best of the last 25 years:

1. Martin Brodeur.

By early next season Brodeur will own the record for wins by an NHL goalie, and is closing in on Terry Sawchuk's all-time mark for career shutouts. With three Stanley Cups, a historic Olympic gold and three Vezina Trophies, Brodeur sits at the top.

2. Dominik Hasek.

It's the two Hart Trophies that really grab you. While with Buffalo, Hasek was an army unto himself while playing the position as the moment struck him. He won the Vezina six times, stoned Canada and won gold in Nagano and finished up with a couple of Cups with the Wings.

3. Patrick Roy.

Seems crazy, huh? Saint Patrick, after all, redefined the way in which the position was played to many. He won the Vezina three times and backstopped Montreal and Colorado to Cups. Perhaps the absence of significant international success is the only missing piece from his wonderful resume.

4. Grant Fuhr.

He was probably better than most will ever give him credit for while playing behind those magical Edmonton teams. Bouncing around after the Oilers didn't aid his legacy, but he was amazing to watch in his prime.

5. Ed Belfour.

A late bloomer, Belfour put up huge numbers and bested Roy in a couple of major confrontations when Belfour was in Dallas and Roy in Colorado. A prickly character to deal with, Belfour was, along with Brodeur, one of the pioneers of playing the puck among modern netminders.

Thursday Mail Bag

Waiting for Mats Sundin. Waiting for Brian Burke. Now waiting for Ron Wilson.

To be a member of the Leaf Nation, or even a bemused Leaf watcher, is to be patient these days as the MLSE board, Richard Peddie, Gord Kirke and Cliff Fletcher sort through the decisions that need to be made.

But who, pray tell, is making the decisions, exactly?

That remains the question, and one many people in the hockey world would like to have the answer to. For most teams, it’s the owner, or the majority owner, but in the case of the Leafs, the majority owner is the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. The pension fund appoints people to sit on the Leaf board, so they aren’t exactly owners in a conventional sense, and they don’t try to act that way.

Chairman Larry Tanenbaum is sitting in on meetings with prospective president/GM candidates these days, but he owns just 13 per cent of the operation. Peddie doesn’t have a stake, and it certainly seems clear he’s as influential now as he was before despite all of his terrible decisions with the Raptors and Leafs.

All these people don’t want to lead, but they sure want to meddle and make their opinions known. Just ask John Ferguson Jr. about that.

So anybody still interested in running the hockey club tells you these days they’re only interested if they can get an iron clad contract that allows them to walk away with a platinum handshake if the board, or Peddie, tries to interfere.

It still remains to be seen if the board will actually ever sign off on such a deal. Meanwhile, Fletcher, who require no such conditions to be interim GM, seems happily prepared to continue indefinitely.

Clearly, he doesn’t mind waiting.

Now on to this week’s mail bag:

Q: Hi Damien,

'Tis the season for GM/coaching casualties and interviews. With all the speculation about prospects at either position, what exactly is involved in the interview processes for each? I know this varies from team to team, but what sorts of questions are they asked, how long do the interviews last (let's not use the Leafs' situation as our measuring stick, since they seem to be doing out of the ordinary in their search for a coach and GM), who do they provide for references, etc. In other words, how far removed is the interview process for these guys from that for the rest of us?

Reg Sackmann

A: Generally speaking, its not a traditional-type of process, because those doing the hiring usually know the candidates and their experience well beforehand. Often, they’ve known each other for years, or have worked together previously. It’s not like they’re accepting applications, in most cases. Most of the “interview” is usually the president deciding whether he can work with the GM, or the GM deciding if he can work with the coach and likes his general philosophies. Vancouver GM Mike Gillis recently decided to stretch the process out to about a week with coach Alain Vigneault before deciding to keep Vigneault and let his assistants go. So, for the most part, its not really like the real world at all.

Clogging Up The Agenda

DETROIT-It hasn't been easy for the NHL to get the spotlight to itself during this Stanley Cup final in Motown.

For Games 1 and 2, it had to go head-to-head against the NBA Pistons and their playoff games. As well, the baseball Tigers were in town, as was a noisy techno-rock festival situated on the riverfront between the NHL's hotel headquarters and Joe Louis Arena for four, ear-crushing days. Yesterday, the Red Bull air race was on, filling the riverfront area with thousands of fans on both the U.S. and Canadian sides.

With all this competition, the NHL has also consistently clogged up the news file on game days itself.

First, on the day of Game 1, Gary Bettman decided to hold his annual state-of-the-league address. Then came the top prospects conference featuring Steve Stamkos on another game day. Today, with the Red Wings set to clinch the Stanley Cup over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the league will conduct general managers meetings beforehand.

For Canadian media outlets, and particularly those based in Toronto, this means there will be enormous attention paid to the presence of interim Maple Leaf GM Cliff Fletcher, who will be joined at the meeting by 29 other GMs, including Anaheim GM Brian Burke, the man the Leafs really want to run their team but can't get their hands on.

Cozy, huh?

Ottawa GM Bryan Murray will be on hand and the media will be quizzing him on the indentity of his next coach. Presumably, Tampa GM Jay Feaster will appear, although its widely believed the new Tampa ownership team is ignoring Feaster as it makes plans for taking over the team June 18 and has already moved to hire Barry Melrose as the team's new coach. New Vancouver GM Mike Gillis will attract attention, and San Jose GM Doug Wilson will be asked about his team's search for a new bench boss.

As well, there will be lots of discussion, as usual, over rule changes, including it's believed more chatter over no-touch icing, although the GMs supposedly instituted a three-year moratorium on the issue in the winter.

All this is juicy stuff for the rabid hockey fan, of course, and media outlets will be busy gathering quotes, news and analysis.

All of which will clog up the news cycle if the Wings are able to clinch their fourth Cup in 11 years tonight. In Toronto, Canada's largest city, you can bet there's a lot more interest - and angst - in Fletcher and the supposed search for a management team "for the ages" than in a Cup result that has looked to be pre-ordained since Game 1.

Now, there wasn't much the NHL could do about the Pistons, the Tigers, the techno-rock or the air race.

But why would it compete against itself when it comes to news coverage, particularly at a time when many media outlets are using reduced resources to cover major events? Curious.