Is Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke's Plan Flawed?

When Brian Burke took over the job as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs from Cliff Fletcher, many in Leafland were ready to start planning the Stanley Cup parade route right away.

Burke, who had already won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks, had a reputation for shaking things up, making deals and, most importantly, making both players and management accountable for their actions or lack thereof.

Burke promised a more competitive environment. He promised that the “cottage atmosphere” at the Air Canada Centre was over and he promised to add some much needed talent and depth to the Maple Leafs system.

While nobody can argue that Burke has added an element of depth to the organization, one could argue that he has failed to add the talent.

Blessed with the ability to shop for players via the college ranks and overseas, Burke was able to sign the likes of Tyler Bozak, Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson, Brayden Irwin, Marcel Mueller and others.

Bozak and Gustavsson looked to be decent NHL talents, but it will be a while before we can effectively evaluate the likes of Irwin, Mueller and others.

Burke has also used free agency to add players to his roster, signing the likes of Colby Armstrong, Colton Orr, Tim Brent, Francois Beauchemin, Brett Lebda and Mike Komisarek.

The jury is out on the effectiveness of both Beauchemin and Komisarek, while the additions of Versteeg—who looks to be turning the corner—and Armstrong have yet to really translate into more wins.

In an effort to fast-track the Maple Leafs into respectability, Burke made a couple of key trades that netted him veteran goaltender J.S. Giguere from Anaheim, hard-nosed (at least sometimes hard-nosed) defenseman Dion Phaneuf, penalty-killing specialist Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect Keith Aulie from the Calgary Flames.

Burke also plucked Kris Versteeg from the Chicago Blackhawks for a combination of prospects and draft choices.

Of course the deal that garners the most attention is the one that saw two first-round draft choices (2009-10 and 2010-11) and a second rounder (2009-10) go to the Boston Bruins in return for proven 30-goal scorer Phil Kessel.

The two 2009-10 draft picks turned out to be Tyler Seguin and Jared Knight. With the Leafs once again sitting in a lottery draft position, Leaf fans are burdened with the fact they could watch another top prospect head to Beantown while their team continues to disappoint.

With a little over two seasons under his belt, Burke has all but completely retooled the Maple Leafs, but he has far from rebuilt the team—at least not for the better, not yet anyways.

On paper the Maple Leafs looked to have an impressive group of defensemen led by the likes of Tomas Kaberle, Phaneuf, Beauchemin, Komisarek and Luke Schenn.

Thus far the team defense has been much better, giving up a total of 2.78 goals per game this season (16^th overall) compared to 3.21 goals per game in 2009-10 (29^th overall).

Unfortunately, as much as the team has improved defensively, the same cannot be said about the offense, which is averaging 2.56 goals in 2009-10 (25^th overall) compared with the 2.39 goals this season (27^th overall).

While there have been a number of bright spots in the Maple Leafs roster this season (Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, Tim Brent, Mike Brown, Schenn, Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin), the overall picture has not changed.

Through 18 games the Maple Leafs sit 10th in the Eastern Conference and 23^rd overall, which, while a bit of an improvement over finishing 29^th overall last season, does not supply the fans with a lot of confidence that the Maple Leafs are going to contend for a playoff spot. With the team continuing to wade in the waters, many Maple Leaf fans are beginning to wonder if Burke’s plan is flawed?

Burke’s penchant for wanting to speed up the retooling process may, in fact, be hurting the long-term future of this organization. It doesn’t start and end with the Kessel acquisition, but it does remain the fans' main bone of contention on some nights.

While nobody has a crystal ball, it is pretty easy to say that if Burke allowed the Maple Leafs to bottom out the past two seasons that the club may very well have added Seguin or Taylor Hall to the lineup, as well as a number of other top-flight prospects.

Would the rebuild process have been the smarter option for Burke?

And what of the fans of the Maple Leafs? Does anybody really believe they would have lit the ACC on fire and/or called for Burke’s head, had Burke opted to take the long road instead of trying to push the envelope towards respectability by bringing in big-ticket players such as Giguere, Phaneuf, Komisarek, Versteeg and Armstrong?

A strong argument can be made that the Maple Leafs would be much better off in the long run had Burke just stayed the course, letting the team hit rock bottom and slowly make the accent back to respectability.

While Burke could be applauded for his retooling, the fact remains that there are very few hockey experts that are under the illusion that the Leafs are a playoff team this season. If you listened to Burke over the past two years, that has always been the goal: to be a playoff team.

The Maple Leafs's top-six forwards have struggled all season long, especially on the power play, which, without the benefit of scoring six goals in the past two games, would be among the league’s worst.

Burke is a man of action, a man of integrity and a man with a vision; the question is: Is his vision flawed?

The debate will rage on as to whether or not he made the right decision to speed up the process toward respectability, but the reality is this team is not much better off than when Burke came aboard and, given all the monies he has spent on talent and the faith he has shown in his troops, coaches and management team, it is somewhat troubling.

Would Toronto Maple Leaf fans idly sit by while Burke let the Maple Leafs hit rock bottom? Probably not, then again, after all they have been through does anyone really think they would abandon ship?

I am not talking about one season of futility; we are talking about three to five seasons of horrible hockey, followed by a steady climb out of the cellar. There has also been a string of successful regular-season success and playoff runs that the fans of the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks—all of whom hit rock bottom at some point—and others have recently enjoyed.

The truth is, mediocrity stinks! And, given the way the Maple Leafs have played since Burke arrived, that is exactly what the Leafs are: a mediocre team that, while talented in some areas, may never get to the next plateau.

To be fair, there are a number of Maple Leaf fans that tend to think the team is on its way back to respectability. The trouble with that is, once the team hits respectability (i.e. a playoff team), there may not be enough talent in the system or via free agency to take the next step, especially when the team looks headed for cap issues as early as next season.

We are only 18 games into the season and, in my opinion, Burke’s grand plan still has another two to three years to go. That said, I still wonder if Burke’s plan is/was the right way to go. I wonder if his foresight is flawed and whether or not this team can win a playoff round or two in the next two to three years.

Ask yourself this: If you could take all of Burke’s moves back, would you let the team bottom out and rebuild through the draft or would you stay the course that Burke currently has this team following?

Time will tell which strategy was the right or wrong one to follow. What would you do?

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Until next time,

Peace!