As you can see from my previous entry I was not too enthusiastic about the hiring of Brian Burke as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I would have preferred to see the job go to someone fresh. Not somebody new - ala John Ferguson Jr. - but somebody who had been around the game his entire life, had played the game, and was known as an intelligent hockey mind. If the decision had been mine to make, that somebody would have been Steve Yzerman or Joe Nieuwendyk. Instead, the Leafs made an Owen Nolan-like move and hired an old, washed up, and aging Brain Burke. Once again, the Leafs passed up on young fresh talent for somebody that was over the hill and whose best years were behind them. In Burke they are bringing in someone who cares more about his own reputation than he does about the team he is structuring. Brian Burke is the only reason why Brad May has been employable for the last 4 years. Burke would rather follow his own personal agenda than make a move that would benefit the entire team or organization.
On this day being a leaf fan is a sad thing indeed. Today is the day where many come to realize that Brian Burke is not the knight in shining armour many hoped he would be. He is not riding in on his white horse carrying a "How To Win The Stanley Cup for Dummies" manual. What he is doing is bringing to our team the same bad habits and poor decision making ability that has plagued him his entire career.
In my previous blog, I brought up the case of Bobby Ryan, a young prospect who was being buried in the minors in Anaheim by Brian Burke due to poor money management. Since Burke left Anaheim, Bobby Ryan has been called up. Not only has he been called up, but he has performed at a point per game pace. He has 22 points, 8 goals is 23 games. Anaheim was off to an awful start under Burke and have clearly turned their season around since letting Big Brain go. If I remember correctly, calling up Ryan was one of the first moves the new GM made after Burke left. And this is the guy Toronto made the highest paid GM in the entire league?
Today, I am embarrassed to be a Leaf fan. And it is not just because we made a bad trade, I have experienced many of those in my time as a Leaf fan - Steve Sullivan, Jason Smith, Tuka Raask et al. I am embarrassed by fact that I predicted 1 month ago that the Leafs would bring in Brad May. Of course I said it in jest simply to highlight the fact that Burke has carried May around like a suit case, but today that joke has become a reality and that reality has me and many fans like me red faced.
Posts
