BRIAN BURKE'S TORONTO MAPLE Leaves

[Arachnid]

..hey, hey now, none of that allowed..

Leaves SUCK (and all that rot)...

sheesh spidey fix that up will ya...

Done and Donner Donnie, sorry, must been the quoting software EPC uses

[dbr]

You jest?

Partially, yeah. Don't get me wrong, I never thought Burke would get that value for Kaberle the way he was playing - and I never thought Chiarelli would overpay so badly for him, of all the GMs out there who might.

But it's easy (and often enjoyable) to find reasons to dislike or discredit Brian Burke these days, now that we've upgraded our own GM considerably.

Nevertheless, I suppose he is due a certain amount of credit for that deal.

[Potatoe1]

Other than that, can you name a single good thing Burke has done in Toronto?

Kaberle for Joe Colborne, the Bruins’ first-round pick and a conditional second-round pick.

Was a straight up steal.

Francois Beauchemin forJoffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner and a forth.

Both trades were huge wins for Burke.

[Doyle Hargraves]

Regarding Burke trading for Schneider..... apparently the Leaves were bugging MG about Cody's availibility and offered Schenn straight up according to Pillbury's cousin Darren Dreger. Dreger said than they were pretty pissed to find out about the Kassian deal when they were told that Hodgson was not in play. More fuel to the fire I guess.

Burke was on with Dan Russel last summer and he said that he and MG were on decent terms and MG had actually contacted both Burke and Nonis and thanked for the assets that they left in Vancouver. I wonder if Burke will make a serious pitch for Schneider though. The kid is the real deal and he would be an idiot to let personal feelings enter the equation IMHO.

I'm not sure I'd really like to see Scheider standing on his head every Saturday night on CBC. If anything is remotley close to the TO offer I hope GMMG gives the fat men the bird.

[coco_canuck]

Regarding Burke trading for Schneider..... apparently the Leaves were bugging MG about Cody's availibility and offered Schenn straight up according to Pillbury's cousin Darren Dreger. Dreger said than they were pretty pissed to find out about the Kassian deal when they were told that Hodgson was not in play. More fuel to the fire I guess.

Catching the clip of the Hotstove on Saturday on CBC, Friedman said the Canucks targeted maybe a handful of teams about Cody, and Toronto wasn't one of them.

Instead of telling Burke Cody was being shopped, Gillis kept it quiet by turning down Schenn (a no brainer) and saying Hodgson simply isn't available.

Why bring attention to something when you have no intention of setting up a bidding war?

We can question MG's strategy in trading Cody, and some have suggested he missed out on a bigger return by not shopping him around. But it's pretty evident MG had some specific players in mind and approached certain teams with certain scenarios.

It seems Gillis set a price for Cody and went after what he wanted rather than gauging what other teams were offering.

That won't stop Gillis from talking to the Leaves about Schneider, but Burke would likely have to part with Gardiner plus a pick or another player/prospect to make it happen.

[Arachnid]

Regarding Burke trading for Schneider..... apparently the Leaves were bugging MG about Cody's availibility and offered Schenn straight up according to Pillbury's cousin Darren Dreger. Dreger said than they were pretty pissed to find out about the Kassian deal when they were told that Hodgson was not in play. More fuel to the fire I guess.

Catching the clip of the Hotstove on Saturday on CBC, Friedman said the Canucks targeted maybe a handful of teams about Cody, and Toronto wasn't one of them.

Instead of telling Burke Cody was being shopped, Gillis kept it quiet by turning down Schenn (a no brainer) and saying Hodgson simply isn't available.

Why bring attention to something when you have no intention of setting up a bidding war?

We can question MG's strategy in trading Cody, and some have suggested he missed out on a bigger return by not shopping him around. But it's pretty evident MG had some specific players in mind and approached certain teams with certain scenarios.

It seems Gillis set a price for Cody and went after what he wanted rather than gauging what other teams were offering.

That won't stop Gillis from talking to the Leaves about Schneider, but Burke would likely have to part with Gardiner plus a pick or another player/prospect to make it happen.

Isn't Burke a media/lawyer sieve too? If there's one person in the NHL you don't want to know about quietly shopping around your 1st round, potential rookie of the year it's someone that will spill state secrets to his own advantage...Good on GMMG!

[DavidPratt_]

Isn't Burke a media/lawyer sieve too? If there's one person in the NHL you don't want to know about quietly shopping around your 1st round, potential rookie of the year it's someone that will spill state secrets to his own advantage...Good on GMMG!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM AGREEING WITH A GUY WHO ADMITS HE WAS SODOMIZED...TWICE AT THE SAME TIME, BUT I AM.

WOW.

DP

[Arachnid]

Isn't Burke a media/lawyer sieve too? If there's one person in the NHL you don't want to know about quietly shopping around your 1st round, potential rookie of the year it's someone that will spill state secrets to his own advantage...Good on GMMG!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM AGREEING WITH A GUY WHO ADMITS HE WAS SODOMIZED...TWICE AT THE SAME TIME, BUT I AM.

WOW.

DP

At least it was by (real™) women and not transgendered individuals right DiPshtz?!

Burke would make a great radio guy eh?! Maybe replaces Cherry too

ALAC forever!

[wienerdog]

OK - HOW ABOUT WHEN I SAY 'SHAM' I REALLY MEAN OVERRATED.

BECAUSE BRIAN IS OVERRATED. THE TORONTO EXPERIENCE PROVES IT.

PRATT OUT

Well, as dhabums pointed out, it depends on by whom.

But as far as I'm concerned, yes, he's overrated.

So, end of discussion for me.

BB =/= sham.

BB = overrated.

[Strangelove]

I'll give him full props for the Phaneuf trade, as he did absolutely rob the Flames.

...I'll give you two off the top of my head.

Jake Gardiner, Lupul and a 4th for Beauchamin.

Aulie for Carter Ashton.

Fuck the Leaves and all...and I hope they continue to cocktease their fans with decent starts only to flounder when it matters the most...but there's another good move to add to that: Kaberle for Colborne, a 1st and a 2nd.

..yeah.

I mean clearly he's not setting the world on fire with quick turnarounds but the system was left in shambles by JF and he has set them up much more nicely with young talent and picks (other than the Kessel debacle of course) and a barn not completely devoid of talent....

Story is not over yet.

Yeah story is not over because some of these “talented” players are more suspect than prospect. And all of their right-now prime-time forwards could be gone within 13 months as UFAs. Except for Kessel who won’t be UFA until 2014 and Kulemin who is an RFA this summer.

This could very well continue to be a sad, sad story indeed.

[donlever]

Yeah story is not over because some of these “talented” players are more suspect than prospect.

Hmmm.

All I was saying was he has brought in some youth with potential where JF had cleaned the cupboards bare.

Chastise him we may but the whole story was not being painted by some.

Personally I hate the Leaves as much as you and hope they wither away until the end of time.

[TDA Rum]

Elliotte Friedman said 2 of the teams Gillis approached were Carolina and Washington....l wonder who he was targeting there and if he is still interested in acquiring them....

[ESQ]

Yeah story is not over because some of these “talented” players are more suspect than prospect.

Hmmm.

All I was saying was he has brought in some youth with potential where JF had cleaned the cupboards bare.

I looked back at the prospects that Burke sent away.

Nik Antropov for a 2nd round pick
Alex Steen and Colaiocavo for Lee Stempniak
Viktor Stalberg for Versteeg (became 1rp and 3rp in 2011) and 2 prospects
Anton Stralman for Wayne Primeau and 2rp
Jiri Tlusty for prospect

Steen and Antropov have had seasons of looking like bona fide top 6 forwards, Steen has more consistently improved whereas Antropov is up and down. Stralman is decent contributor on the NYR. Stalberg is looking like a solid top-9, with top-6 potential. Tlusty is on pace for 35-40 points on the Hurricanes.

Burke also inherited goalie of the future James Reimer, Kulemin, Gunnarson, and Grabovski (acquired by Fletcher).

So I agree some pieces he's added have turned out well, but he's traded a lot of youth away, and frankly I don't believe that the prospect cupboard is any less bare today than it was in 2008.

[donlever]

Alex Steen and Colaiocavo for Lee Stempniak

He should be drawn and quartered for that one alone.

[Strangelove]

Hmmm.

All I was saying was he has brought in some youth with potential where JF had cleaned the cupboards bare.

Chastise him we may but the whole story was not being painted by some.

Personally I hate the Leaves as much as you and hope they wither away until the end of time.

I know you hate those Leaves Leves!

Yeah there's no denying Burkie made out like a bandit in the Phaneuf & Gardiner/Lupul trades

(unlike most I feel he merely broke even in the Ashton deal).

Yes there is more young talent than when JF left, but I still can't see this team as any better than average down the road.

As you & others have mentioned, that Kessel trade is unforgivable.

Burkie shoulda gone all-in on the rebuild!

Or... shouldn'ta... if one is a Leaf-hater such as you or I eh buds?

But hey aren’t teams that suck severely for a few seasons supposed to acquire a good stable of youth (rewarded with higher picks)? Leaves were 24th 2008-09, 29th 2009-10, 22nd 2010-11. Is what they have in the cupboard any better than one would expect?

As for what they presently have on the ice: