Toronto Maple Leafs: How They Dodged a Tampering Charge from Brian Burke Pursuit

Coincidence: The occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident, but seem to have some connection.

It's finally happened, Leafs Nation.

After suffering through most of this decade, it appears that all the pieces are now in place for the Leafs' resurgence to the upper echelon of the NHL once again. Ron Wilson is the head coach, and Brian Burke is in place as the president and general manager. David Nonis is the new senior vice-president of hockey operations.

All is well in Leafland these days when you add in the fact that the team is by all accounts "overacheiving" in this young season. In less than a year, they have gone from an old, underacheiving team with a horrible GM, to a young team on the rise with one of the smartest hockey men in the business running the show.

My question is: How did the Leafs ever get away with this? How were they able to get away with the obvious tampering that went on in the recruitment of Burke? How were they able to get away with seven months of on and off ice moves that were influenced by Burke himself as he sat in the offices of a rival NHL team?

If you're tired of this kind of talk then I will recommend that you stop reading now. What follows is a detailed look at Brian Burke's road to Toronto in 2008.

January 22, 2008: John Ferguson Jr. is relieved of his duties as General Manager. The announcement is delivered by President and CEO of MLSE Richard Peddie. At the same press conference, it is announced that Cliff Fletcher will take on the role of "Interim General Manager" for the remainder of the 2007-2008 season.

During Fletcher's speech, Peddie stares directly at him and is clearly seen lipsynching the words that come out of Cliff's mouth. Most notably, the phrases "custodian of the keys" and "ahead to the next level."

February 26, 2008: On trade deadline day, Fletcher trades Wade Belak to the Florida Panthers for a 2008 fifth round draft pick. Later in the day he also trades Hal Gill to the Pittsburgh Penguins for second and fifth round picks and sends Chad Kilger to the Florida Panthers for a third rounder.

March 7, 2008: After missing the playoffs for the second straight season, Fletcher fires head coach Paul Maurice. TSN reports that the Leafs have asked permission from the Vancouver Canucks to speak with recently fired GM David Nonis about handling the club's management duties through the end of the 2008-2009 season. At that point, they would approach Anaheim's Brian Burke about coming in as the General Manager with Nonis staying on in an assistant role.

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