Considering the new season is set to start a week from Saturday, the timing of the move is peculiar at best. Nevertheless, the Toronto Maple Leafs have decided to go in a different direction as they fired General Manager Brian Burke, the same man who, upon being hired four years earlier, was heralded as the one to turn the fortunes of this hapless franchise.
From his success in Vancouver and then with Anaheim where he won a Stanley Cup in 2007, hopes were high for Brian Burke when he was named the Leafs’ new GM in November 2008. Despite drafting some high-profile players from Chris Pronger to the Sedin twins in the past, Burke’s speciality in the front office was making key trades which made his teams exponentially better. Burke’s trades turned both the Canucks and Ducks into contenders during his respective tenures.
Upon being hired by the Vancouver Canucks in 1998, Brian Burke was taking over a team who had finished dead-last in their division the previous year. Burke was able to trade two of his biggest, albeit most disgruntled stars, Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny away in trades that would improve the Canucks almost immediately. In return, the Canucks received defenseman Ed Jovanovski from Florida and forward Brendan Morrison from New Jersey and the two wound up becoming instrumental pieces in the club’s success for the remainder of Burke’s tenure.
When he was hired by the Maple Leafs, the hope was that Brian Burke could duplicate the same success. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Despite being able to trade away a few of the team’s busts including Pavel Kubina and Jason Blake and even building a promising farm system, which is evident from how great the Marlies have been this season, success was harder to find in Toronto.
Like his predecessor John Ferguson, Jr., most of Burke’s free-agent acquisitions haven’t panned out. Despite success with their previous clubs, defensemen Mike Komisarek and John-Michael Liles have yet to come into their own with the Leafs. Even some of his trades haven’t worked out. The experiment to rekindle some of that Anaheim magic fell through as former Ducks Francois Beauchemin and Jean-Sebastien Giguere had forgettable tenures in Toronto and bruising defenseman Dion Phaneuf hasn’t been making much noise since coming over from Calgary.
Burke’s most memorable trade, however, was so for all the wrong reasons. In September 2009, Burke acquired promising forward Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins and paid a steep price for his services. In exchange, Burke sent Toronto’s two first-round picks to Boston in addition to a second-rounder. Unfortunately for the Leafs, they finished second-last-overall in 2009-10 and because of the trade, it was Boston who was awarded the second-overall pick in 2010 and not Toronto. The Bruins selected Tyler Seguin, who is enjoying a successful tour of duty with the Bruins, which has led to fans and analysts alike asking, “What if?” While fans can long for Seguin for all they want to, Kessel has led the Leafs in goals and points in each of his three seasons with the Leafs, including career-highs in goals with 37 and points with 82 last season. Burke may have had given up a lot but he gained a lot in Kessel and to blame him for that trade is simply unfair.
Nevertheless, with the Leafs, Burke’s record as GM was 129-135-42 and the Leafs’ higher-ups felt that those numbers simply won’t do.
He had an impressive track record before Toronto and it continued while with the Leafs, even if the on-ice product contradicts that belief. From the negative that was the aforementioned Beauchemin’s time with the Leafs, Burke traded him back to Anaheim in exchange for Joffrey Lupul and youngster Jake Gardiner, both of which have played well with the Leafs since coming over with the latter slated to be a key piece to the Leafs’ future.
As far as everything went in Anaheim, it could be argued that it was Burke’s predecessor Bryan Murray who did most of the legwork in building the Ducks into a contender. Murray may have done the brunt of the work in turning the Ducks into a contender but it was key acquisitions such as Chris Pronger and veteran defenseman Scott Niedermayer that put Anaheim over the top and while Murray does deserve credit, Burke deserves just as much.
It’s anyone’s guess as to why the Leafs have suffered through so much futility over the last number of seasons. Some may suggest it’s the quality of players they draft, others may point the finger to Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment while others can find solace residing on the notion that no one can play in the media-capital of hockey. The latter is a copout, plain and simple. The Leafs have been front-and-center in terms of media coverage for decades and they did have plenty of success in the early 90’s. Of course, like the early 90’s, maybe all the Leafs need to do is to make one blockbuster trade.
In January 1992, the Leafs and Calgary Flames completed a trade that reversed the fortunes of both clubs. The Flames, less than three years removed from a Stanley Cup win, traded, among others, veteran defenseman Jamie Macoun and gritty forward Doug Gilmour in exchange for a group of guys led by Gary Leeman who despite playing well in Toronto, never panned out in Cowtown. Gilmour, on the other hand, not only became a driving force in helping the Leafs to back-to-back Conference Finals appearances but was and is still a fan favourite in Toronto.
With Brian Burke now out, his second-in-command Dave Nonis (the same man who succeeded Burke in Vancouver) will take over. In fact, it was Nonis who brought goaltender Roberto Luongo to Vancouver and with all the recent trade rumours involving the netminder, perhaps history will repeat itself. Nonis’ record as Vancouver as their GM was 130-91-25. Those numbers are promising, but we’ll have to see how things pan out.
Of the Toronto Marlies’ 10 leading point-scorers this season, eight were drafted, signed or traded for by Burke. His firing isn’t a sign that the Leafs need to start from scratch. In fact, the Leafs are headed in the right direction.
So, why the move and why now? While Burke has been in Toronto without any significant improvement on the ice, I believe he should have been given this season, especially since it’s an abbreviated one. If the Leafs still missed the playoffs this year then the team doesn’t have to waste time showing Burke the door but to part ways with the man before then is a tad premature.
Dave Nonis is known to be more patient than Burke and much more friendly with the media but whether those differences matter remains to be seen. For the skeptics out there, it’s a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same but for the optimists, Burke’s firing, as surprising as it is, could mean brighter days ahead.
For the last few months, Saturday nights in Toronto have been filled with empty subway rides down to Union Station. That is all going to change come next Saturday and hopefully the fans filling the subway cars en route to the Air Canada Centre will go knowing that their ticket to the game will be money well-invested as they watch (hopefully) a Toronto Maple Leafs team on the rise.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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