Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and the John Mitchell Experiment

When it was announced yesterday that John Mitchell would remain with the Toronto Maple Leafs while Christian Hanson, Luca Caputi  and Nazem Kadri would be released back to the Marlies, you could literally hear a collective million or so jaws hit the floor.

Mitchell, originally drafted by the Leafs 158th overall in 2003 has never lived up to any kind of potential, but what you may ask was his potential?

That is a good question. After all, he was drafted 158th overall. Where did all the expectations come from, better yet, who put them there?

Toronto Maple Leafs fans and Media, that's who.

Defending John Mitchell is not what this story intends, more though to put things back into perspective.

Brian Burke knows what he has in Mitchell, his is a much more educated hockey mind than mine. John Mitchell was never going to be a 30 goal scorer in the NHL, for that matter, a 20 goal season was likely to be a career high, but as we so often do in Toronto, we place almost insurmountable expectations on ever glimmer of hope we see in the hopes that one player, one diamond in the rough, will lead us to the promised land.

Hundreds upon hundreds of chat boards, bloggers and group pages spent the better part of the day yesterday lamenting the decision to keep Mitchell. Media outlets and radio shows hotly debated the move.

A great many people were alarmed that Mitchell earned a spot over the hard working Christian Hanson. Admittedly, I was a puzzled by Brian Burke's attempted explanation as I was by the move. 

“I don’t think Mitchie’s played as well as he can, or should have," said Leafs GM Brian Burke, "but there’s a body of work there. We’ve seen what Mitchie can do for a couple of years. He got a call from the governor on this one. He got a reprieve. So he’s going to get a chance to show us what he can do. He hasn't earned that this time around, but he’s earned it with his past contributions.”

This statement of course begs the question. What body of work?

Is it the body of work that includes two seasons that he has played with the Leafs and shown more his ability to not score with the puck than the ability he has shown to score with it?

If there was a stat out there that could prove it, it would be a safe bet that there have been more goals scored on Mitchell turnovers that he has scored himself.

Is it perhaps the body of work that include being a minus-23 in just 136 NHL games? (In all fairness, he hasn't played on the best defensive teams of all time).

One would like to think that the decision to keep him was Ron Wilson's, after all, Brian Burke has stated repeatedly that he would not try to influence Wilson in any way when it came to personnel moves.

To believe that however would mean that you have to believe that Wilson thinks the team is better with Mitchell than with either Hanson or Kadri?

No matter what you think of Wilson as a coach, do you really believe that?

No matter what you believe though, if you're Brian Burke or Ron Wilson, eventually you have to wake up and realize that the John Mitchell experiment has failed.