I’ve been taking something of an informal poll of those of my friends who I would credit with a healthy (i.e. unhealthy) amount of sports knowledge in the past couple of days and, I have to say, I’m a little bit disappointed.

I know that the NHL is a mess right now and that the playoffs are still a round away from being really exciting and that Mike Danton’s scaring everyone by running around hiring FBI agents to knock off his male lovers (allegedly …) and that a lot of people have just soured on the sport as a whole, but the fact that no one seems to understand my concern for Pat Burns’ health is disturbing.

The fact that no one seems to be able to identify the man at all is just straight-up wrong.

So here’s a little refresher course for those of you who have missed the chance to watch one of hockey’s best at his best.

Pat Burns’ career as a professional player isn’t much to be impressed with. Burns played one season in the obscure OHA for the London Knights, appearing in only three games and scoring one point in the 1975-76 season.

Realizing that his career wasn’t exactly blasting off, Burns moved to Hull City, Quebec, where he became a police officer after his season with the Knights. But it wasn’t long before he found himself back in the rink. In 1984-85, Burns showed up as the head coach of the Hull Olympiques, a QMJHL team.

In his first season with the Olympiques, he guided the team from 20 games below .500 to just one game less than even. In his second season, the team finished 36 games over .500.

By 1988 Burns had made such a name for himself in semi-pro leagues that the storied Montreal Canadiens franchise decided to take a chance on him. The Habs weren’t exactly struggling as a team, but after winning 10 championships in 15 years under legendary coaches Scotty Bowman and “Toe” Blake between 1965 and 1979, they had been to the finals just once in the nine years since Bowman split for Buffalo. It was time for a change.

It didn’t take Burns long to rectify the situation. In his debut season (1988-89), he led Montreal to a 53-18-9 record — finishing 27 points better than the second-place Boston Bruins — and a Stanley Cup appearance. Burns was given the Jack Adams award as the top coach in the league.

In 1992, Burns jumped ship, heading to the rival Maple Leafs after four seasons with the Canadiens (during which time he was the winningest coach in the league). In his first season, Toronto improved by 28 games over their 1991 total in the win column. Burns was rewarded with his second Jack Adams award.

Are you noticing a trend?

In 1997 Adams moved on to his third NHL team: Boston. In his first season with the Bruins, the team improved by 30 wins. He won his third Adams award — a record for an NHL coach — in just his ninth NHL season (for a bit of perspective, Bowman, generally regarded as the best coach ever, has the second-most Adams awards — with two in 30 seasons).

After being fired by the Bruins just eight games into the 2000-01 season, many hockey experts said that the 52-year-old had gotten too old and would have a tough time finding himself another coaching job.

Just two years later, Burns found himself behind the bench for the New Jersey Devils en route to his first Stanley Cup championship.

The secret behind Burns’ success is elusive. In spite of winning coach-of-the-year honors in his first season with three different teams, he had fallen out of graces with those same teams after just four years in every case.

But all accounts of the man — from players, analysts, fellow coaches and writers — cite the same strengths: intelligence, determination, toughness and straightforward grit. He self-proclaimedly does not have the capacity to smile.

Scott Stevens was recently quoted, saying of his coach, “He’s a tough guy.”

When Scott Stevens, the toughest human being this side of Rocky Balboa, calls you tough, you’re tough.

Pat Burns represents everything that makes hockey a great sport, without submitting to the rest of the nonsense that’s weighing the sport into the ground right now.

So when he didn’t show up for two practices during the Devils’ playoff series with the Flyers last week, everyone knew something had to be pretty wrong.

“We didn’t notice anything until he didn’t come to a couple of morning skates,” defenseman Scott Niedermayer told ESPN.com. “Then we knew he wasn’t feeling well.”

Last Sunday — one day after his Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs — Burns announced that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He said that he plans to fight the disease aggressively and will go into treatment five days a week immediately.

“For those who know me well, I’ve never backed down from any fight,” Burns told the press in a prepared statement. “And I’m not going to back down from this one.”

Burns’s future with the Devils will be determined by the progress he makes in the next few months.

Pat, the thoughts of Devils’ fans, hockey fans and sports fans everywhere are with you. We’re all hoping to see your face behind the bench again soon.

Until then, I’ll miss your scowl.