Toronto Maple Leafs: Don't Be Fooled by Burke's So-Called "Depth"

The Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice, tonight to take on the Winnipeg Jets and surprise, surprise Cody Franson will be a healthy scratch.

Rookie Jake Gardiner is slotted in to replace Franson, who recorded one assist and was a -1 over the past two games.

Granted, given his excellent preseason play most will agree, including myself, that Gardiner deserves some regular season action. But neither player should be the victim of a numbers game, but this has become the case. The Gardiner-Franson swap seems to be a scenario that coach Ron Wilson is all too comfortable with.

General manager Brian Burke has repeatedly used the word “depth” to conveniently elude the truth. The fact of the matter is the Maple Leafs do not have a number of NHL caliber defensemen, they have an abundance of NHL caliber defensemen: Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn, John Michael-Liles, Carl Gunnarson, Mike Komisarek, Cody Franson, Keith Aulie, Jake Gardiner and Jesse Blacker, just to name a few.

So why does Burke persist on using the word “depth?”

Could it be possible that he has severely overvalued Mike Komisarek?

In short, Komisarek has not lived up to the expectations of his four year $22 million contract and should probably be traded.  

While it would be speculative to say that Burke is working the phones trying to find a deal that would send Komisarek out of town, it is not a stretch to argue that the Leafs GM would be hard pressed to find a decent return for the underachieving defenseman.

In my mind I would like to think that Burke is in fact trying to find a trade for Komisarek. There are plenty of teams around the league that could use the help on the back end, and while he has not played up to expectations in Toronto, Komisarek has been decent. thus far, this year and still has considerable value in the NHL.

Perhaps, just not as much value as Burke would like to believe.

Whether it happens now or later Burke needs to take the game out of Wilson’s hands and set a firm defense. Komisarek needs to be traded, Gardiner needs to spend time in the minors and Franson and Aulie deserve their respected spots.

If this isn't Burke's plan he deserves a shake!

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