Vancouver Canucks Will Demolish the Toronto Maple Leafs, Thanks to Brian Burke

Barring an upset, the Vancouver Canucks should win handily over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.

The Leafs are 1-7-2 in their last ten games. The Canucks are 7-2-1.

The Leafs are 24th overall on the power play (11.1 percent) versus the Canucks, who have the second best power play in the NHL at 26.8 percent.

The penalty kill is a little closer, with the Leafs 26th overall (76.5 percent) vs the Canucks modest 11th overall (85.4 percent)

The funny thing is, Brian Burke can take credit for the winning team on Saturday night, either way.

On November 28 2010, Burke will mark the second anniversary of his appointment as GM in Toronto, but prior to that he was GM in Vancouver from 1998 to 2004 (he also won a Stanley Cup in Anaheim, but this article isn't about Ducks, mighty or otherwise).

The Canucks were picked by many publications this summer, such as the Hockey News, to be the Stanley Cup favorites.

While current GM Mike Gillis has added some significant pieces, the Canucks are built around a core of players that Burke either acquired directly, or by extension through his protege and successor Dave Nonis (Canucks GM 2004 to 2008), who faithfully followed Burke's strategy for the team (Nonis, of course, now works with Burke again in Toronto).

Five of the top six forwards on the Canucks were drafted by Burke/Nonis:

Daniel Sedin - 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games

Henrik Sedin - 18 points (2 goals, 16 assists) in 15 games *Current Art Ross and Hart Trophy winner

Alex Burrows - 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 5 games. *Missed 10 games with shoulder surgery

Ryan Kesler - 10 points (7 goals, 3 assists) in 15 games *Selke Trophy nominee

Mason Raymond - 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 15 games

The top forward for the Leafs? Clarke MacArthur with 12 points in 15 games (acquired by Burke, just to follow the trend).

Other forwards acquired by Burke playing for the Canucks now include Jannik Hansen (currently a member of the hottest third line in hockey with Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres) and fourth liner Rick Rypien.

On defence, less is left of Burke's touch, but Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo (whenever he returns from injury) are holdovers. More importantly, the Canucks best all around defenceman in Alex Edler was drafted by the Burke regime.

In goal, both Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider were acquired by the Burke/Nonis regime as well.

Even Alain Vigneault, the head coach, is a holdover from the Burke/Nonis regime. 

In short, current GM Mike Gillis has added some important supporting pieces (Mikael Samuelsson to round out the top six forwards, drastically improving the third line with the addition of Malhotra and Torres, bring in Christian Erhoff, Andrew Alberts, Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard on defense) but the team is built around the Sedins, Kesler and Luongo, and they were all here before Gillis came to power.

If the Canucks do have any post season success, the fans in Vancouver owe a huge debt of gratitude to Burke.

And for Leafs fans, cheer up. Look at the Vancouver team that dominates the ice on Saturday night not as an opponent, but as a vision of the future. It took Burke a few years to get it turned around in Vancouver, but look at the team now.

*Yes, I realize if anyone wants to be picky that a lot of the players I mentioned were actually acquired by Nonis (specifically Luongo). But Dave Nonis is Brian Burke-light.

No offense to Nonis, but in his only stint as an NHL GM, he stepped up from being Burke's assistant to being the GM, and he maintained the status quo. He didn't do anything different from what Burke was doing before he quit (Burke wasn't fired in Vancouver due to the team's performance, but rather because he ran into a personality conflict with the owner).

Nonis followed the same blueprint that Burke laid down in his stint as Canucks GM, and then after he was fired to make way for Mike Gillis, Nonis followed Burke to Anaheim and then to Toronto, resuming his position as Burke's right hand man.

So I think it is fair to say anything Nonis did was really just an extension of Burke's strategy.