Tyler Bozak is a first-line center you can believe in.

There are a myriad of angles that can be ventured into when attempting to diagnose what went awry in the latest Toronto Maple Leaf crumbling. It's the third consecutive season which ended in a collapse of epic proportions for the franchise. This time with new swagger-filled, front man, Tim Lieweke, overseeing everything macro oriented for MLSE- results-wise, expect heads to fly! Will there be an appropriate scape goat? Possibly, but the problems are too deep-rooted to properly dissect in this platform.

Instead, we'll take a deeper look at one of the Maple Leafs' more controversial figures, 'First Line Centre', Tyler Bozak.

Over his four-plus-year tenure on Bay Street, he's certainly shown glimpses of being a fine young player, both with creativity in distributing the puck as well as a certain offensive flair.

However, many fans, media and pundits alike harbor a degree of resentment to Toronto upper brass for treating him (both financially and TOI-wise) as if he were on the same playing field as first line pivots you might find in Boston, Philadephia or Detroit.

The fact of the matter is, at a cap hit of $4.2 Million, you're actually getting a decent ROI (Return on Investment). With 49 points in 57 games, Bozak has put together a 0.86 PPG pace of production.

Tyler Bozak's Full Time Career Stats with Toronto

This is up substantially from his contract-year rate in 2012-13 of 0.61PPG— rewarding upper management for showing faith in him with his best season to date.

Tyler Bozak's most Frequent Line Combination Generator – 2013-14

I, myself, was for a while caught in the same conundrum for a while, looking elsewhere in the NHL for worse first line centers and I struggled mightily. That being said, his chemistry with Phil Kessel really goes without saying. They not only are pals and roommates off the ice, but that chemistry has clearly translated on the ice as well.

Kessel being the most talented of the group, has lent many to look at Bozak's success as merely a bi-product of Kessel's upper echelon production. Whether or not Phil Kessel is the main catalyst on the line, with James Van Riemsdyk trumping Bozak's importance to the line as well, the trio has performed fantastically as a unit for most of the season. In fact, (injuries aside) they rank a shocking second in the league!

Top 50 Scoring Lines

Click on the table headers to sort your results! Try it out!

Of course, this is a very literal metric, which penalizes those lines who were not kept intact for a myriad of reasons, such as injury or a fluid rotation of the top six, a la Mike Babcock's intense rotational style. But the fact that the list above features those lines who have performed consistently enough to warrant never being split up says a lot about Bozak's importance to the line.

He's been sensational on the faceoff dot, probably one of his most important qualities tying him to his other two more established linemates. He ranks 16^th in the NHL this year, in effectiveness, although he has shown to be truly among the NHL elite placing second to Claude Giroux overall in the lockout –truncated season.

Top 50 Face Off Leaders

Click on the table headers to sort your results! Try it out!

Even defensively, Bozak has proven undervalued, leading the Leafs in takeaways on the season as we enter the final weekend finale of the 2013-14 regular season.

Top 50 Takeaways

Click on the table headers to sort your results! Try it out!

In the end, I must say I've changed my mind on the effectiveness of Bozak. Despite the team's struggles, it is fair to say that Bozak will continue to be a part of the team's core going forward, as he nears the much-ballyhooed point-per-game status. Next year, now twenty eight and entering his prime, we should definitely see a slight uptick over his 0.86 PPG pace of production.  I peg him for 75-77 points in 2014-15.

Give Anthony Lancione a follow on Twitter @Anthisdaman