Remembering Brian Burke's ridiculous trading record

Monday is an important anniversary in the evolution of this Maple Leafs team, although we shouldn’t expect any press releases or pregame ceremonies. Instead, the team will let the date quietly slip by, without mentioning that it marks four years since Brian Burke’s reign as general manager came to an end.

Burke’s firing, announced shortly after the end of the 2012-13 lockout, came as a surprise. It’s rare to see a GM stay on the job throughout an offseason, only to be dismissed days before opening night. It eventually became clear that Burke’s relationship (or lack thereof) with new ownership had been the factor that sealed his fate.

Burke’s Toronto tenure was picked apart in the days after the firing, and in the years since. No doubt they will be again in the days to come. In short, Burke was a failure as Leafs’ GM. He drafted poorly. He mismanaged the cap, especially when it came to free agency. He refused to take advantage of various CBA loopholes that seemed tailor-made for big-money teams like Toronto. And he consistently misjudged his own roster, always believing he was almost there, as if we’d all wake up one morning and realize that what looked like a last place team was actually a contender.

So yes, Burke deserved the criticism, just as he deserved to be fired. All of that was fair. All of it was true.

But all of that also makes it easy to forget one other key trait of the Brian Burke years: When it came to trading, the man was freaking brilliant.

Not “good” or “above average”. He was ridiculous. During his time in Toronto, he put together one of the best trading records in the entire league.

That mattered. And it’s worth remembering today, as the league plods through an era where few teams use trades to build their roster, including the current iteration of the Leafs. While it’s still relatively early in the Lou Lamoriello era, the team has only made three deals of any real significance – Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh, Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa and Frederik Andersen from Anaheim.

That’s not a lot, but it’s three more than some teams have made. That’s the way it works in today’s NHL, where trading is a dying art. It’s too hard, we’re told. The salary cap is too complicated, we’re reminded. You just can’t make trades anymore, whines a generation of risk-averse GMs.

Bullshit, replied Brian Burke. Hand me the phone.

>> Read the full post at TheAthletic

The slow descent into madness that is the Columbus Blue Jackets' winning streak

Tonight, the Columbus Blue Jackets will try to make NHL history. With a win in Washington, they’ll tie the 1992–93 Penguins for the longest win streak the league has ever seen. It would be their seventeenth straight win, a stretch that dates all the way back to November.

Nothing in that opening paragraph makes any sense.

Really, go find a time machine and travel back to October and show that paragraph to the first hockey fan you find. They’ll have you committed. We’ve been trying to figure all this out for weeks without much success, but we know this much: This win streak isn’t just one of the best stories of the season—it’s one of the most unexpected stories of the last decade or two.

So how did we get here? How did a team that nobody thought was much of a threat to even make the playoffs suddenly wind up in the same conversation as Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr‘s mini-dynasty? How did a team that looked like a disaster early on manage to do something that the late-’70s Canadiens and mid-’80s Oilers never came close to?

The only way to make any sense of it is to relive it. So today, let's go back through the Blue Jackets' last 16 games and try to figure out what happened.

Game 1: Lightning at Blue Jackets (November 29)

Setting the scene: Tampa comes to town one point up on Columbus in the hunt for one of the East's lower playoff spots. The Blue Jackets are overachieving at 11-5-4, but they've lost three of their last four to drop to fourth in the Metro. They're one point up on New Jersey.

What happened: The Blue Jackets dominate, outshooting the Lightning 38–27 and pumping five goals past Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Final score: Columbus 5, Tampa Bay 1

Notable moment: Josh Anderson's third point of the night is an assist on a Scott Hartnell goal that makes it 4–0 and seals the easy win.

Postgame quote: "It's fun to be around this team now in this locker room. I'm enjoying every moment." – Sergei Bobrovsky. May want to pace yourself a bit there, Sergei.

What NHL fans were thinking: "Oh cool, the Predators won tonight. I bet those guys are ready to go on a run."

Game 2: Blue Jackets at Avalanche (December 1)

Setting the scene: The Blue Jackets get a rematch against a team that had beaten them the week before.

What happened: Columbus blows a 2–0 first-period lead, but gets a goal by Boone Jenner midway through the third to eke out a road win.

Final score: Columbus 3, Colorado 2

Notable moment: Blake Comeau scores what looks like the tying goal with two minutes left, but it's waved off after a replay review.

Postgame quote: "A lot of crazy things are going to happen during the year, as far as winning and losing." – John Tortorella. He wasn't wrong.

What NHL fans were thinking: "Huh. I guess Tortorella might not be the first coach fired this year after all."

Game 3: Blue Jackets at Coyotes (December 3)

Setting the scene: Columbus continues its tour through the bottom of the Western standings with a trip to Arizona.

What happened: The Blue Jackets thoroughly dominate with 60 shots on goal, but Mike Smith nearly steals one. He makes a franchise-record 58 saves, but the Blue Jackets get the win in the shootout.

Final score: Columbus 3, Arizona 2 (SO)

Notable moment: The Blue Jackets get a 90-second 5-on-3 in the third period but can't score, which is basically like seeing Superman struggle to open a jar.

Postgame quote: "I thought we stopped shooting the puck (in the second period)." – Tortorella. "I must have missed that part," replied Smith, probably.

What NHL fans were thinking: "Wow, 60 shots? That's impressive. But let's see them do it against someone other than the Coyotes. Who's their next game against?"

Game 4: Coyotes at Blue Jackets (December 5)

Setting the scene: In a rematch, the Blue Jackets return home in search of the franchise's 500th win.

What happened: Sam Gagner has two goals and four points to erase an early Coyotes' lead, and the Blue Jackets cruise to an easy victory.

Final score: Columbus 4, Arizona 1

Notable moment: The Coyotes challenge the third Blue Jackets' goal for goalie interference, but it's allowed to stand after review.

Postgame quote: "We were a little sluggish early." – Gagner. He's either referring to the first period, or the franchise's first decade.

What NHL fans were thinking: "Wait, why are the Coyotes and Blue Jackets playing a home-and-home? Everything OK, NHL schedule-maker? Anything you want to tell us?"

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

The five best rivalries we haven't seen outdoors... yet

The NHL took it back outside earlier this week with a pair of games. Sunday's Centennial Classic and Monday's Winter Classic brought the total number of regular season outdoor games in league history to 21, with one more to come this season.

This year's list includes some history, as Sunday's Red Wings/Maple Leafs pairing became the first ever outdoor rematch, repeating the 2014 Winter Classic matchup. That makes some sense, since Toronto and Detroit are the kind of longtime rivals that the league seems to like to feature in these games. We'll get Flyers vs. Penguins later this year, and we've already had rivalry showdowns like Habs vs. Bruins, Rangers vs. Islanders, Wings vs. Avalanche, and Blackhawks vs. pretty much everyone.

In fact, given that the league is already recycling matchups, you might assume that all the best rivalries have already been done. But that's not quite true. So today, let's look ahead at the best five rivalry matchups that we've yet to see in the great outdoors.

5. Stars vs. Wild

A good rivalry needs some bad blood and a good dose of history. Well, what works better than "You stole our franchise"? Having the new Stars head back to Minnesota to face city they abandoned over 20 years ago seems like a natural fit.

According to the rumor mill, we nearly got this matchup last year, when the Wild made their outdoor debut. The league wanted Dallas in the game, the story goes, but ownership preferred Chicago. So instead, we got the somewhat odd sight of the new and old Stars combining into one alumni team as the Blackhawks got yet another turn in the outdoor spotlight.

Business is business, and it's hard to deny that the Hawks are the league's marquee team right now. But a Wild/Stars matchup would be a good one, not to mention a rematch of last year's opening round (and quite possibly this year's as well). Mix in the fact that the Stars are one of the league's most entertaining teams and the Wild are one of this year's biggest stories, and you've got yourself a nice little matchup.

4. Blue Jackets vs. Penguins

OK, let's be honest – this is one of those NHL rivalries that kind of flows in only one direction. Columbus considers the Penguins a rival. But ask a Pittsburgh fan about their top rivalry, and they'll answer with the Flyers, or maybe the Caps or Rangers. The Blue Jackets don't really register… yet.

But that "yet" is the key word, because it feels like we might be on the verge of something here. With the two teams fighting for top spot in the Metro, a playoff showdown seems like a definite possibility. And unlike their 2014 Round 1 meeting, in which the underdog Blue Jackets won their first two postseason games ever before bowing out to the heavily favored Penguins, this one would feel like a marquee matchup.

Columbus is one of the eight teams that's never been invited to play in an outdoor game, and as recently as a few months ago it seemed unlikely that they would be anytime soon. But that was before they transformed into the 1977 Canadiens on steroids, and now they're one of the league's most talked about teams. Having them face off against the Penguins – maybe even at the 100,000-seat Ohio Stadium – suddenly seems like an idea worth considering.

>> Read the full post at The Hockey News

25 years later, 25 fun facts about the Gilmour trade

Monday marks the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest trades in NHL history: the blockbuster 1992 deal that sent Doug Gilmour from the Calgary Flames to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In hindsight, it was the trade that reinvigorated a Maple Leafs franchise still digging out from the Harold Ballard era, while extinguishing any hope that the Flames’ Stanley Cup contender status could be revived.

Hearing the move announced for the first time back then was a legitimately stunning experience; once the names started, they just kept coming. The deal involved ten players, sending Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Craig Berube and Alexander Godynyuk to the Flames in exchange for Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Rick Wamsley and Kent Manderville.

In terms of the sheer number of players involved, the deal really was the biggest in NHL history, and remains so to this day. And while other trades may have had a bigger impact – Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros and Phil Esposito all come to mind – that list is a relatively short one.

So today, let's celebrate the deal's silver anniversary with 25 facts about the Doug Gilmour trade.

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1. The trade happened the day after Gilmour walked out on the Flames.

Let's lead off with this one, because it's important but has somehow been largely forgotten over the years.

These days, the trade is held up as a classic lopsided blockbuster, and as we'll get to, that's a fair assessment.

But it's not like the Flames just woke up one day and said "Let's trade a really good player for a bunch of worse ones." They kind of had no choice.

Gilmour was miserable in Calgary, feuding with GM Doug Risebrough (and at one point, allegedly overhearing a phone call in which Risebrough talked about trading him). Mix in a contract dispute that was turning fans against him, and it was well-known that Gilmour wanted out.

But things escalated on New Year's Day. Hours after putting up two points in a win over Montreal, Gilmour packed up his gear and left the Flames. The deal had obviously been in the works long before that – ten player deals don't just come together in 24 hours – but Gilmour's walkout sped things along and stripped the Flames of virtually any remaining leverage.

It gets in the way of the "dumb team gives away a superstar" storyline, but fair is fair. You can't tell the story of this trade without mentioning that Gilmour was already an ex-Flame when it happened.

2. Risebrough knew the Flames pretty well

Most fans know that Risebrough was the Flames GM at the time. What isn't as well remembered is that he was also in his second season as the team's head coach.

Pulling double duty was relatively rare back then, though not unheard of, and in theory Risebrough would have had a chance to evaluate the players he was trading away up close.

(As a side note, his dual status didn't last long. Two months after the Gilmour trade went down, the Flames lost to the Canucks 11-0 and Risebrough resigned as coach. He'd remain as GM until 1995, though.)

3. Cliff Fletcher knew the Flames pretty well, too

Fletcher had been the first and only GM in Flames' franchise history until after the 1990-91 season, when he headed to Toronto to assume near total control of the Maple Leafs. This wasn't his first Leafs blockbuster – that would have been the September 1991 deal that saw Toronto acquire Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson from the Oilers. But it was his first chance to deal with his old club, and with the man who had replaced him.

Needless to say, Fletcher knew the players he was getting at least as well as the ones he was giving up. And in hindsight, it showed.

4. A Gilmour/Leeman trade had been rumoured for weeks

Even before Gilmour forced the Flames' hand, rumours had been flying that a deal would send him to Toronto for Leeman. The Leafs' winger was having an awful season, with just seven goals through the first half, but was still less than two years removed from scoring 112 goals over three seasons, peaking with 50 in 1989-90.

Things had fallen apart for Leeman in November 1990, when in the span of 24 hours the Leafs traded away his centreman, Ed Olczyk, and he suffered a serious shoulder injury.

He was still feeling some lingering effects of that injury and hadn't clicked with new linemates; the idea that he could get healthy and regain his scoring touch next to someone like Joe Nieuwendyk or Theo Fleury wasn't all that far-fetched.

But even given that, most figured that a straight up one-for-one deal probably didn't make sense, and that a player or two would have to be thrown in to make it work. We just didn't realize that "a player or two" would end up ballooning to eight other names.

5. One of the worst losses in Leafs history may have helped the deal go down

While Gilmour's walkout was the biggest factor in pushing the Flames towards a deal, the Maple Leafs may have been given a nudge of their own by one of the worst performances in franchise history. On December 26, 1991, the Leafs went to Pittsburgh and got blown out by a score of 12-1.

Any thoughts of patience on Fletcher's part probably evaporated as he watched the defending champs toy with his sad-sack team. Chance was going to be needed, and minor tinkering wouldn't cut it. One week later, he pulled the trigger on the trade that blew his roster to smithereens.

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

Weekend wrap: That was fun

It was a big weekend in the NHL. The arrival of the new year meant the official start of the league’s 100th anniversary celebrations, and the weekend was headlined by the Centennial Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.

We’d seen these two teams take it outside once before – this was the first rematch in NHL outdoor game history – and neither is sitting in a playoff spot right now.

And after two periods, it looks like the league might have delivered a dud, as a lackluster 1-0 game dragged into the third without much in the way of highlights.

But that's when things got a little crazy, as the Leafs poured home four straight to build a 4-1 lead, only to watch the Red Wings mount a furious comeback to tie the game with a second left on the clock. That set up a back-and-forth overtime, one that Auston Matthews ended with his first career overtime goal.

It was all a lot of fun, and the weekend in Toronto even included a memorable alumni game—one highlighted by a ridiculous Mike Palmateer save, some good-natured toque-theft by Chris Chelios, and a decidedly not good-natured exchange between Kris Draper and Gary Roberts.

We also had the St. Louis Blues/Chicago Blackhawks alumni game—one featuring Wayne Gretzky's return to the ice, and we'll get the real thing Monday afternoon when the Winter Classic goes in St. Louis.

But despite all the hype that comes with the league's various outdoor events, the highlight of the weekend was probably a game that nobody paid any attention to when the schedule was released. That was Saturday's contest between the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets, a meeting of two teams riding double-digit win streaks.

It was a history-making matchup, marking the first-ever game between teams riding win streaks of 12 or more across all of major North American pro sports.

And despite various attempts by both teams to remind us that this was still just a regular season game, it felt like something bigger. Maybe that's because fans are finally giving these two teams some respect. Or maybe it's because we were just waiting to see whether one would be exposed.

Either way, the game managed to live up to expectations, delivering an entertaining game that ended with a 4-2 Blue Jackets win. We got some nice goals, a few big saves, and even a couple of scraps. It all played out in front of a loud Minnesota crowd, giving the whole thing a true big game feel.

So… did we just see a Stanley Cup Final preview?

That still seems like a stretch; June is still a long way away, and you can bet that teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Blackhawks will have a thing or two to say along the way. But at least a few fans may be holding out hope, given how Saturday night's meeting played out.

And if you prefer to keep things a little more realistic, we'll at least get a regular season rematch in early March.

The game snapped the Wild's streak at 12, and gives the Blue Jackets 15 straight. That's tied for the second longest streak in league history, and they'll have a chance to break the record this week with games against the Edmonton Oilers, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.

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Road to the Cup

The five teams that look like they're headed towards Stanley Cup favourite status.

5. Chicago Blackhawks (23-11-5, plus-13 true goals differential*) – The Wild are getting all the attention right now—and rightly so—but the Blackhawks are technically still the Central's top seed.

4. New York Rangers (26-12-1, plus-37) – They closed out 2016 with a pair of road games against the league's worst teams, putting up a half-dozen goals on both the Coyotes and Avalanche.

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet