Alexander the Great

Ovechkin.

The name inspires defensemen to back off and give him room, and not get beat. It inspires defensemen to close on him fast so as to not get his laser beam shot off and onto the goalie. Basically, he causes so much confusion and frustration for opposing teams. All the while playing the game with a passion that never stops.

Having scored his 41st goal tonight in a hat-trick effort, Ovechkin is head and shoulders above any other scorer in the league. This is all after going scoreless in 10 of his first 11 games. Sure you can read all you want about Ovechkin anywhere else, but it's hard to actually understand how good he is. Realistically, this phenom has 41 goals in 45 games. Extrapolate that over 82 games and you have 74 goals (putting him just under Selanne at 76 and far off Lemieux's 85, Hull's 86 or Gretzky's average season). Also of note he takes about 150 shots more than anyone else each season, but let's not really care about that.

Claude Therrien: fired. Not surprising considering his Penguins sit in 10th in the East, 5 points out of the playoffs (look at it this way, they have just as many goals for as the Leafs). All this with having the league's leading scorer, a hart trophy winner and one of only three goaltenders chosen 1st overall, ever. Needless to say, Hossa and Malone weren't the only reasons this team went to the Finals last year. Therrien is responsible for 207 points over a two year span in Pittsburgh.

In AHL action, the Marlies continued their home ice dominance going 7-2 in their current home stand with weekend wins over Springfield and Grand Rapids. Tim Stapleton has definitely been the Marlies' best offensive player thus far with 50 points in 47 games. However, don't look for Stapleton to do any damage with the Leafs as the Oak Park, IL native is a diminutive 5'9''. Adam Munro played another excellent game for the Marlies, his .910 SVP is far greater than starter Justin Pogge's .894SVP.