Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke: A Complete Draft History

I was wanting to see how Brian Burke's draft record measured up going into this Friday's draft.

This exercise was not an attempt to mock Brian Burke as a General Manager, as there are many more aspects to managing than drafting young kids.

Developing, signing players, trading players, & player relations are just a few other elements of a General Manager's duties.

Here, though, is a complete drafting history of Brian Burke.

Please feel free to tell us how you think he did.

Hartford Whalers 1992

He had just been hired right before the draft, so I'll cut him a little slack, but this draft was horrible for the Whaler organization.

First round - Robert Petrovicky - 208 games, 65 points

Second round - Andrei Nikolishin - 628 games, 280 points

Third round - Jan Vopat - 126 games, 31 points

Fourth round - Kevin Smyth - 58 games, 14 points

Fourth round - Jason McBain - 9 games, 0 points

Sixth round - Jarrett Reid - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Ken Belanger - 248 games, 23 points

Eighth round - Konstantin Korotkov - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Greg Zwakman - 0 games, 0 points

Tenth round - Steve Halko - 155 games, 15 points

11th round - Joakim Esbjors - 0 games, 0 points

Total of 11 players, 1432 games, 428 points

Players drafted between their first selection and their last selection that they could have grabbed:

Sergei Gonchar

Martin Straka

Valerie Bure

Robert Svelha

Nikolai Khabibulin

(Sort of missed the boat on the collapse of communism)

Hartford Whalers 1993

Fired shortly after the draft, Brian Burke drafts one of his best players ever - a player crucial to his Anaheim Stanley Cup win.

First round - Chris Pronger - 1154 games, 686 points

Third round - Marek Malik - 691 games, 198 points

Fourth round - Trevor Roenick - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Nolan Pratt - 592 games, 65 points

Eighth round - Manny Legace - 365 games, .912 save %

Ninth round - Dmitri Gorenko - 0 games, 0 points

Tenth round - Wes Swinson - 0 games, 0 points

11th round - Igor Chibirev - 45 games, 19 points

Total of eight players, 2847 games, 968 points

Picking Pronger at second overall wasn't the hardest decision to make, but and he was the best grab in the first round.

After the third round - nothing of substance, with Eric Daze, Miroslav Satan, and Tommy Salo being the best of the bunch mid-round

Vancouver Canucks 1998

Once again, he was hired right before the draft, so we can't hang too much blame onto him.

First round - Bryan Allen - 519 games, 104 points

Second round - Artem Chubarov - 228 games, 58 points

Third round - Jarkko Ruutu - 652 games, 142 points

Third round - Justin Morrison - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Regan Darby - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - David Jonsson - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Rick Bertran - 0 games, 0 points

Sixth round - Paul Cabana - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Vince Malts - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Graig Mischler - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Curtis Valentine - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Jason Metcalfe - 0 games, 0 points

Total of 12 players, 1399 games, 304 points

After Jarkko in the third, we have bupkis! Ribeiro, Brad Richards, Horcoff, Andrei Markov, and Datsyuk were all still available.

Vancouver Canucks 1999

If Burke had just two picks he would still come out a winner in this draft simply for the masterful way he was able to obtain the twins. Respect!

First round - Daniel Sedin - 787 games, 651 points

First round - Henrik Sedin - 810 games, 666 points

Third round - Rene Vydareny - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Ryan Thorpe - 0 games, 0 points

Sixth round - Josh Reed - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Kevin Swanson - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Markus Kankaanpera - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Darrell Hay - 0 games, 0 points

Total of eight players, 1597 games, 1317 points

After the twins were selected, his draft team ran zeros. There were really only two players of substance within his reach after their third selection: Ryan Miller & Henrik Zetterberg.  And 28 other teams missed the boat with those two.

Like I said: respect.  This draft defined Brian Burke.

Vancouver Canucks 2000

Very weak draft with few nuggets of talent after the first round picks. We'll call DiPietro a draft mulligan. Horrible year for hockey prospects.

First round - Nathan Smith - 26 games, 0 points

Third round - Thatcher Bell - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Tim Branham - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Pavel Duma - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Brandon Reid - 13 games, 6 points

Eighth round - Nathan Barrett - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Tim Smith - 0 games, 0 points

Total of seven players taken, 39 games, 6 points

Let's not let him off the hook that easy. Players such as Brad Boyes, Justin Williams, Niklas Kronwall, and Ilya Bryzgalov were all still available to him.  Still, it was a bad draft year.

Vancouver Canucks 2001

In another weak draft year, he actually didn't do too badly in that he only had six picks and two of them became regulars and solid contributors to their respective teams.

First round - R.J. Umberger - 474 games, 274 points

Third round - Fedor Fedorov - 18 games, 2 points

Fourth round - Evgeny Gladskikh - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Kevin Bieksa - 347 games, 147 points

Seventh round - Jason King - 59 games, 23 points

Eigthth round - Konstantin Mikhailov - 0 games, 0 points

Total of six players, 898 games, 446 points

Not bad. Any year you can add assets such as Umberger and Bieksa is not bad.

Vancouver Canucks 2002

This draft was a horrible one for Brian Burke's scouting team. Shameful really.

Second round - Kirill Koltsov - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Denis Grot - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Brett Skinner - 11 games, 0 points

Third round - Lukas Mensator - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - John Laliberte - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Rob McVicar - 1 games, 0.00 save% (played 3 minutes)

Seventh round - Marc-Andre Roy - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Ilya Krikunov - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Matt Violin - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Thomas Nussli - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Matt Gens - 0 games, 0 points

Total of 11 players, 12 games, ZERO everything.

You'd think with 11 picks - albeit none in the first round - that your scouting staff could pick out one measly average player to contribute to the main team. Alas, his scouting staff could have have any or all of Duncan Keith, Jiri Hudler, Johnny Boychuk, Tomas Fleischmann, Gregory Campbell, Matthew Lombardi etc.  Hell, even Toronto drafted Stajan & Ian White with picks that were available to him.

Shameful.

Vancouver Canucks 2003

After his 2002 picks, anything moderate would be a drastic improvement!

First round - Ryan Kesler - 484 games, 288 points

Second round - Marc-Andre Bernier - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Ty Morris - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Brandon Nolan - 6 games, 1 point

Fifth round - Nicklas Danielsson - 0 games, 0 points

Sixth round - Chad Brownlee - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Francois-Pierre Guenette - 0 games, 0 points

Eighth round - Nathan McIver - 36 games, 1 point

Eighth round - Sergei Topol - 0 games, 0 points

Ninth round - Matthew Hansen - 0 games, 0 points

Total of ten players, 526 games, 290 points

Although Kesler was a very solid addition to Vancouver, you'd have to think they could have been able to get at least one more regular NHL out of ten picks.  David Backes, Dan Carcillo, & Kyle Quincey were all available to Vancouver.

Actually on second look, this draft was sparse after the first two rounds. 

Anaheim Ducks 2005

The Crosby year!  Brian Burke came in second, missing out on a franchise player.  Bobby Ryan was a very good consolation, but Crosby was hoisting his first Stanley Cup when Ryan had his first full year.

First round - Bobby Ryan - 250 games, 202 points

Second round - Brendan Mikkelson - 86 games, 6 points

Third round - Jason Bailey - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Bobby Bolt - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Brian Salcido - 2 games, 1 points

Seventh round - Jean-Philippe Levasseur - 0 games, 0 points

Total of six players, 338 games, 209 points

So far, not so good. I'll concede that Ryan was a very good pick, but I'm finding it hard to believe you can monumentally screw up with a second overall pick. Players available to Anaheim include James Neal, Paul Stastny, Kris Letang & Keith Yandle.

Anaheim Ducks 2006

Not yet to pan out as a particularly deep draft, the first overall hasn't proven himself worthy enough to have attained such a grand status. Proper evaluation is still a few years away, but it doesn't look good as he only had five picks.

First round - Mark Mitera - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Bryce Swan - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - John de Gray - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Matt Beleskey - 97 games, 28 points

Sixth round - Petteri Wirtanen - 3 games, 1 point

Total of five players, 100 games, 29 points

Too soon to make a complete judgement. However, their number one pick Mark Mitera is 14th on Anaheim's prospect depth chart, so that pick isn't looking too good. Matt Beleskey shows some promise as a fourth round pick. 

Players Anaheim could have picked up include Claude Giroux, Nick Foligno, Matt Corrente, Carl Sneep, Nikolai Kulemin, & Milan Lucic.

Anaheim Ducks 2007

Also not particularly great, it's still too early to make a judgement on his picks, but the 2007 draft will likely compare to this years 2011 draft.

First round - Logan MacMillan - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Eric Tangradi - 16 games, 3 points

Third round - Maxime Macenauer - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Justin Vaive - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Steven Kampfer - 38 games, 10 points

Fourth round - Sebastian Stefaniszin - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Mattias Modig - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Brett Morrison - 0 games, 0 points

Total of eight players, 54 games, 13 points

Logan MacMillan may have been picked too high, as his ceiling is that of a two-way checking line center who has a good shot but needs work on his separation gear. Love Tangradi as the second round pick, and Kampfer looks like a good selection, but some players Anaheim could have picked include Jonathon Blum, David Perron, & Wayne Simmonds.

Anaheim Ducks 2008

The deep draft of 2008! Yet again too early to judge, but I say based on the players in the first & second round that were available (and he had three second round picks), it isn't starting off great.

First round - Jake Gardiner - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Nicolas Deschamps - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Eric O'Dell - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Justin Schultz - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Josh Brittain - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Marco Cousineau - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Brandon McMillan - 60 games, 21 points

Fourth round - Ryan Hegarty - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Stefan Warg - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Nick Pryor - 0 games, 0 point

Total of ten players, 60 games, 21 points

Burke liked his first round pick Gardiner enough to trade for him as the Toronto GM, but the jury is still out.  His ceiling is high, but players he could have chosen in that range include Jordan Eberle, Tyler Cuma, Mattias Tedenby, Tyler Ennis, John Carlson & Jacob Markstrom.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2009

Yet again, it's much too early to draw a grade on this years picks. Of the seven picks however, two of them were released unsigned.

First round - Nazem Kadri - 30 games, 12 points

Second round - Kenny Ryan - 0 games, 0 points

Second round - Jesse Blacker - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Jamie Devane - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Eric Knodel - 0 games, 0 points

Sixth round - Jerry D'Amigo - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Barron Smith - 0 games, 0 points

Total of seven players, 30 games, 12 points.

Although Leaf fans have high hopes for Nazem, and he looks like he'll develop into an above average winger. But you can't help but notice players chosen after him at the seventh spot who look to be fantastic players as well.

Players such as Magnus Paajarvi, Ryan Ellis, Calvin de Haan, Dimitri Kulikov, David Rundblad, Marcus Johansson, & Jordan Caron appear to have very good potential as well.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2010

Much, much too early to make a grading. As we all know by now, we may have lost a "franchise" player in Seguin, however that as well is too early to tell, as Kessel is only 23 and has already scored 100 goals in the NHL.

Second round - Brad Ross - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Greg McKegg - 0 games, 0 points

Third round - Sondre Olden - 0 games, 0 points

Fourth round - Petter Granberg - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Sam Carrick - 0 games, 0 points

Fifth round - Daniel Brodin - 0 games, 0 points

Seventh round - Josh Nicholls - 0 games, 0 points

Total of seven players, 0 games, 0 points.

It's early but it looks like McKegg could develop into an exceptional player. I'd also be remiss to not to mention Josh Nicholls, who could be far away the best sleeper pick of this draft. He's scored 87 points in 71 games for Saskatoon of the WHL and has jumped up considerably on the prospects depth charts. 

Conclusion

I hate to say it because I really like Brian Burke as a General Manager, however, I feel he isn't a very good selector of prospects.

In two draft seasons, he completely whiffed at the podium.

He doesn't draft goalies very well at all, and aside from picks in the top five (that couldn't possibly be screwed up), he hasn't done well with offense. Defensive prospects he has a marginal passing grade, though he hasn't hit any grand slams there either.

Of the busts, the vast majority needed to work on their skating but had size and truculence.

I'll say it here and now though; it's damn hard to be truculent when you can't keep up with the faster players you're suppose to be truculent with.

My advice to Burke in the upcoming draft is to select the best player available.  Then with the mid-late round selections, pick players who can skate at least at an average level or faster, and who have above average skill sets and compete levels. Don't worry about "truculence" and "pugnacity," because these type of players can ALWAYS be signed.

When you consider the players he took with the players he passed over, I give Brian Burke a big fat fail at the draft podium.

The is no salary cap to hiring scouts, and if I were him, I'd be hiring LOTS more!