Open Letter to Brian Burke

Dear Brian Burke,

I am a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I'll even admit that I'm one of those diehards that believes that they will make a Cup run year in and year out, regardless of how the team actually looks. However, I'm starting to find it hard to maintain that opinion. 

The Florida Panthers managed to pawn former Leaf Dominic Moore off on the Habs for a 2nd round pick. Moore had 17 points in 45 games at the time of the trade. Yesterday, you traded away Lee Stempniak for a 4th round pick, a meaningless 7th rounder and Matt Jones, a former 3rd round pick who has done next to nothing in the NHL. Stempniak had 30 points, including 14 goals. Congrats, Brian.

Now, you did a great job on team USA, using your patented 6 scorers and 6 checkers forward scheme. Great, it works. Except, when you are trying to build that on an NHL team, you need to get the scorers before the checkers. Scorers are much harder to came by, and therefore should be your number one priority. Before checkers. Checkers come easy. They're always available.

Which brings me to another point: patience. In order to build a contending sports team, you need to rebuild. Just look at my other beloved, yet hated, Toronto team, the Blue Jays. JP Ricciardi started to rebuild, then when he thought he had built a winner, he went out and traded his prospects for proven players. Turns out, his team was not a winner. In fact, they were big losers, as much as it hurts me to say. Brian, you couldn't even wait a full season. You gave up a probable top 3 pick in 2010, and the way its looking as of now, another high pick in 2011 (need I remind you of the 2nd rounder in 2010 as well?). Yes, Phil Kessel is a good player. But there are other Phil Kessels out there, trust me.

Now enough with past bad moves, lets try to rectify them, starting with the goalie, out. You know as well as I that J-S Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson are not the future of Leafs goaltending. Consider trading for Vancouver's Cory Schneider. He is a promising young goaltender, and the Leafs have the asset necessary to entice the Canucks. Here is my proposal: Tomas Kaberle to the Canucks for a 1st round pick and Schneider. The Canucks desperately need a great defenseman, in Kaberle, and the Leafs could gain some goaltending depth. It would also look good on you, Brian, as you would be re-acquiring a first round pick (granted, not as high) that was given up for Kessel.

The defense is solid, young and shows great promise. This is one area you did succeed. But then there is the matter of offense, and forwards. You can't win without goals. Ilya Kovalchuk is the big prize on the trade market. While that would be nice Brian, I realize that it is unlikely. So I would rather you pursue a top line center to play with Kessel. A guy like Tomas Plekanec of the rival Canadiens would be the perfect fit. He is a pass first player and would provide a sting to the Habs in losing their top point producer.

There you go, Brian. Some suggestions to help your "rebuilding" Leafs. Please, for the city of Toronto's sake, consider them. Its not like we can get any worse, right?

Your diehard Leafs Fan,

Myles