The Brian Burke Saga Part 2: Pros, Cons, and Everything Inbetween

Now that the media's gotten their wish and Brian Burke's spent his first weekend as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the whispers have started as to whether he can be successful with the Leafs or not.

If success is at his fingertips in Toronto or not, well that depends on who you talk to.

Some think that Burke is the exact type of person needed to lead this team, and build a successful franchise in Toronto. Others, like myself, are a little more skeptical

The fact is, that each of his skills and attitudes that he brings to Toronto can go both ways, offering him an advantage over Toronto and the proper experience to deal with the scenario, or they can hold him back and his attitude is a fabrication.

Burke is a Stanley Cup winning General Manager

Pro: Burke is in fact a Stanley Cup winning General Manager. He acquired Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne, Francois Beauchemin, Todd Marchant, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Kunitz (who was reacquired off of waivers from Atlanta), George Parros, and Brad May, and built a roster that could score and out-muscle the teams that they faced on their way to the franchise's first title.

Con: While he did acquire those players on his way to a championship, some argue that Burke was almost handed a championship. Andy MacDonald, Sami Pahlsson, Corey Perry, Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were already there.

Also, while he did exercise the Sergei Fedorov contract from Anaheim's books and receive Francois Beauchemin in return and then nab a disgruntled Chris Pronger from Edmonton, but it's difficult to gauge the hand Burke had in signing Niedermayer and Selanne. It was widely known that Selanne wanted to return to Anaheim to finish out his career, and after a 30-point 2003/04 with Colorado the market wasn't hot and heavy for Teemu.

Niedermayer was also looking for a place to play on the West Coast, and while Vancouver was rumored as his first choice, Burke had the biggest bargaining chip available giving Scott the opportunity to play with brother Rob.

Advantage: Pro

This one is a little difficult for me to swallow, as I've been one of the people who've argued the point that Burke did have a lot to work with in Anaheim. Despite all this, Burke was able to unload the Fedorov contract, and, advantages or not, he did acquire the two best defensemen available not named Lidstrom in Pronger and Niedermayer.

Both the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks were turned into consistent playoff threats...

Pro: Burke built a regular-season juggernaut in Vancouver with some of the pieces who were already in place (Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund) and some whom he brought in (the Sedins). Following four-straight seasons of missing the playoffs (1996/97-1999/00), the Canucks followed that up with four-straight playoff appearances under Burke, a Northwest division title, and they featured one of the most vaunted offenses in the league, leading it in scoring in 2001/02.

With the Ducks, they made it to the Conference Finals in their first year under Burke following a disappointing final season before the lockout, and the very next season the Ducks won the cup. Their defense was short-lived though, losing out to Dallas in the first round last season.

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