Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Bring on Burke


I for one welcome our new
general manager overlord
So Brian Burke is out in Anaheim, and presumably on his way to Toronto.

Good.

Not everyone is thrilled with the news, but I say welcome aboard.

There's no doubt that Burke has been overhyped over the past year. His record of success as a GM has been mixed, and he won a Cup with a roster that had been mostly built by Bryan Murray. But while he may not be the perfect candidate, he's a pretty darn good one. And he's certainly the best one available right now.

Cliff Fletcher has done a generally good job rebuilding the Leafs, but he's not the long-term answer at GM. And as much as I like Cliff, he doesn't get the Colangelo Treatment from MLSE. That means that Peddie and his minions still have their grubby claws on this team.

With Burke in town, that will end. Peddie will go back to selling condos, and Burke will have full control of the hockey side. If he doesn't, we've been told over and over again, he's not coming. So let him come.

Brian Burke will be the guy who kills off Richard Peddie once and for all. That's good enough for me.




13 comments:

  1. Burke > Peddie = Good for the Leafs and their fans. Burke is not my first choice as GM but as someone to steer this team to the right path including taking out road blocks such as the goons, err goofs at MLSE, ya Peddie I'm looking at you, is great. As a GM, I hope he either leaves in Cliff or picks up a GM to work with him on the rebuilding...

    All I would say is that if Burke does not help this team and turn things around, ie continue with the re-build, this may be the final season i will call myself a Leafs fan after 25+yrs of devotion.

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  2. Gotta disagree.

    Burke's record is spotty, he's been horrid at the draft and bad managing the cap.

    When you consider, as per the Fletch newser, any new GM hire=death of Peddie it's not much of an endorsement for Burke.

    I think the Leafs can do better.

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  3. I'm with you, DGB. Couple of things jump to mind: 1) Cliffy isn't going to be around forever; 2) Burke hasn't been stellar in the draft, but neither have the Leafs; 3) he thinks of himself as being a powerful guy, but that ego is going to be necessary to push Peddie aside; and 4) I subscribe to the theory that you need smart people to run a successful organization. If they can hire Burke, keep Cliffy around as a consultant, develop Nieuendyk and get some input from Wilson - that seems like a solid front office.

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  4. mf37...

    I'm not worried about his drafting. Thanks to Cliff, we don't have any picks anyways.

    I don't take Peddie's word on anything. After all, he also said he'd have a new GM in the summer and look how that turned out. There are plenty of potential GMs who won't have a strong enough personality to shut the door on Peddie's interference. Burke isn't one of them.

    Also, he will make Damien Cox's head explode.

    In all honesty, who's out there and available who you think would be a better choice?

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  5. Be interesting to see if this then drives competition in the next couple of days, unless the fix is in...which it likely is.

    Scenario, you are someone like a Jim Rutherford, you would have been interested but knew the job wasnt open until next year when you could have jumped. Do you give up, or do you signal your strong interest to try to freeze the situation.

    Anyway, Burke is a good choice...an overhyped one to be sure...but a good choice.

    Settle on it and live with him for the next 5 years, no matter what.

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  6. I'd much rather have Poile or even Wilson than Burke.

    And just to be a curmudgeonly old man, I have to say I hate it when fans support Leaf management decisions on the basis that it will cause issues for the Toronto media...

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  7. Hopefully he stuffs Bobby Ryan in his luggage...

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  8. I'd much rather have Poile or even Wilson than Burke.

    But neither guy is available, or will be any time soon. I'd also prefer Lou Lamoriello or Bob Gainey, but we're not getting them either.

    At the end of the day, you have to pick a guy who's available. I think Burke is the best option of guys expected to be available now, or in the summer.

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  9. So, is the Toronto sports media going to implode into itself now that the Leafs presumably have two guys that 1. Love to shoot their mouths off, and hate answering the same question 50 times, and 2. have a huge dislike for most of the media in general.

    Or are they going to feed off it like Vigo the Carpathian and just get stronger and stronger?

    And for the leafs sake hopefully ol Burkie doesn't start the house on fire as his tenure with Toronto comes to an end, and leave the mess for the new guy to clean up, as he did in Vancouver and Anaheim.

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  10. Poile's contract expires at the end of this season or approximately six months after Burke will be available.

    Wilson told the Globe that his contract permits him to listen to offers in the summer of 2009.

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  11. Interesting... didn't know that about those guys. Still not crazy about waiting six months on someone if there's a good candidate available, but that does make it more interesting.

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  12. I dont think Brian burke is as good as everyone think he is. Look at all the bad moves that he has done in Anaheim. He won a stanley cup with someone else's team and he signed pronger because he didnt want to stay in edmonton. He got Niedermeyer to play with his brother.. woohoo. My two cents... http://jib-sports-culture.blogspot.com/2008/11/brian-burke-out-of-anaheim.html

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  13. No one's yet mentioned that he's a lock to fill our 2nd through 4th lines with hombres who play mean, hit hard, fight often, and win.

    All due respect to Jamal Mayars and a slowly-endearing-himself-to-me Ryan Hollweg, I could stand to see Steen, Poni, and/or any defenceman not named Luke exchanged for equally apt players who compete physically. I'm thinking along the lines of Colby Armstrong, Garnet Exelby, Curtis Glencross, or sweet benevolent lord above please please please Milan Lucic.

    And a legitimate heavyweight who can take a shift is essential. We were Vancouver's bitches last night. Props to Hollweg for surviving his bout with Hordi, let alone picking up the decision. He's coming along.

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