Is it hockey blasphemy to bestow the "Grind Line" label to a collection of three players who aren't wearing the Winged Wheel?
Perhaps. But what about when that trio is constructed by a Detroit Red Wings legend?
The fact is that Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman put the pieces in place for the most productive depth line in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs; and Sean Bergenheim, Dominic Moore and Steve Downie have provided the same sort of postseason heart as the Maltby/Draper/McCarty troika would for champions of Red Wings' past.
He got Bergenheim last summer for one year and $700,000; he's responded with a playoff-leading eight goals. He got Dominic Moore for two years and $2.2 million; he has nine points in the playoffs. Downie was a carryover from the previous regime, but Yzerman locked him up for two years and $3.7 million last summer; he has 10 assists and is a plus-9, playing both with the grinders and up with the Vinnys and Martys of the world during the playoffs.
But beyond their offensive production are their minutes: Moore is averaging 18:41 per game, fourth among Lightning forwards. He and Bergenheim are the second unit on the best penalty kill still playing in the postseason.
From Y! Sports columnist Nick Cotsonika's piece on Yzerman, the GM compares Grind Lines before the Lightning and Boston Bruins play Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night:
"The players that I played with in Detroit, they were all extremely competitive guys," Yzerman said. "Your third- and fourth-line players all have to chip in and contribute. … You look through the course of a playoff, the injuries that you suffer, guys that play 10 minutes a game might be playing 15 minutes a game, and guys that play 15 might be playing 20, and that's been the case for our club. The more depth you have, the stronger players you have, you're going to need them, and that's how you advance."
But there's also something intangible about a line like this. From the Tampa Tribune, coach Guy Boucher:
"It's important for the Bergenheims and the Moores and the Downies to understand that the hustling, their reliability defensively, their first-on-puck and the way they battle and bulldoze around the net is key to our team," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said, "not just because they score goals, but mostly because they inspire the rest of the team also.''
As Red Wings GM Ken Holland once said about the Grind Line: "If you're going to win come playoff time, you need skill, you need character, but you also need people who are willing to go to the trenches and do the dirty work."
Yzerman's version of the Grind Line encompasses all of that. It's been a revelation.