FanHouse Larry Murphy

Before Bobby Orr entered the NHL way back in 1966, the idea of a defenseman scoring 100 points would have been considered lunacy. After all, forwards were rarely coming within spitting distance of the century mark, and defensemen were never really used as offensive weapons. Orr, of course, changed all of that, and not only became the first rearguard to ever lead the NHL in scoring, he eclipsed the 100-point plateau an unthinkable six times.

Only four other defensemen have ever accomplished the feat (Paul Coffey, Al MaCinnis, Brian Leetch and Denis Potvin) while only Coffey did it more than once (five times).

Will we ever see another one?

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HOMESTEAD, Pa. -- Phil Bourque spent eight of his 12 NHL seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, helping the team win two Stanley Cups in the early 1990s. Since the 2003-04 campaign, he's worked as an analyst for the Penguins radio network, and we had an opportunity to catch up with him at the team's Championship DVD release on Monday night.

Among the topics discussed: How do the current Penguins compare to the teams he played on, which current Penguin is the modern-day Phil Bourque, and why are hockey players the most approachable, fan-friendly athletes in sports?

For years, Chris Osgood hasn't gotten the respect that he deserves. Despite backstopping the Red Wings to three Stanley Cups -- twice as the starter -- there have always been questions about Osgood's abilities. It's almost unprecedented for a goaltender to win as much as Osgood as and not be given the respect he deserves.

Granted, Osgood has always played behind great defenders in Detroit be it the likes of Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy or Chris Chelios. Since the Red Wings reached the Finals in 1995, they have perennially been one of the most star studded teams in the NHL. And without a doubt, Osgood is one of those stars.

Our esteemed leader asked me a simple question: "Between Pittsburgh and Detroit, who can rightly claim to be the 'Team of the 90's?'"

While blurting out "Detroit, dummy!" was my first instinct, I decided to look deeper into the question and come up with the best answer.

While Detroit has been a powerful team for the longest and Pittsburgh went through some very lean times (and near bankruptcy) before Sidney Crosby came to the rescue, let us not forget that the Pittsburgh Penguins were once scarier than the prospect of washing Lindsay Lohan's puke-drenched toilet.

Imagine a Power Play unit with Ron Francis, Paul Coffey, Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, and Larry Murphy? Yeah, I bet a lot of goaltenders were wearing adult diapers in the early 90s.

Let's do a little comparison shopping, shall we?

STANLEY CUPS: 2 apiece. The Penguins opened up the 90s with two consecutive cup wins, and then the Wings pulled off 2 straight cup wins of their own later in the decade.

OVERALL RECORD: Detroit wins this one by 27 wins.
Pittsburgh: 411-279-90-6
Detroit: 438-248-98-2

So, how much fun was it for me the other night to watch the Leafs self-destruct yet again in the 3rd period while holding a multi-goal lead against their nemesis, the Buffalo Sabres?

Pretty damn fun.

To cap off a game which answered some questions about which Sabres would step up and be the 'difference makers' that Drury and Briere were (the answer is, "most of them"), it was no one other than Bryan "I'll Retire if There's a Salary Cap" McCabe converting an Ales Kotalik slapper off both posts with less than 4 seconds remaining in OT that won the game for Buffalo.

The moral of this story though is that it's only now that the delusional fans in Toronto have woken up to the fact that Bryan McCabe is a bad defense man. We've known it for years, and laughed amongst ourselves in message boards and around water coolers at the thought of this guy making that kind of money. We knew that that contract (and the one for Pavel Kubina) would come back to bite the Buds in the behind. The booing of McCabe at home started during camp and with his gaffe on Monday it's beginning to reach a fever pitch. A quick perusal of the headlines from yesterday create a pretty vivid picture of what's happening in Budville.

It would have been better if he'd just struck out.