If YOU were Brian Burke, what would you do?

jumanok · Post #1 » by **jumanok** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:09 pm

Say we're 30 games in and we're bottom 5, what would you do if you were Brian Burke.

Here's my opinion to start...I want to hear what you General Managers have to say.

http://whotheman.com/fancaster/41359/Wh ... aple_Leafs)

DonYon · Post #2 » by **DonYon** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:13 am

i don't see the team being that bad, but if that were the case...
a firesale is definitely not a sensible option after signing all those defencemen in the offseason PLUS trading away our first rounders for the nxt 2 years.
and adding a bunch of mass contracts in the form of vets isn't a bad idea actually, especially if some non-contender teams are looking for salary dump. but those players better be productive.
too be honest i think at that point i'd just wait till the offseason before re-evaluating the team, cross my fingers and hope the roster turns itself around =P heck it's only year 1 of rebuild technically, i'm sure ppl can afford more patience.

Mike Hunt · Post #3 » by **Mike Hunt** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:06 pm

Go back in time, give my head a shake and not make the Kessel deal.

I'm thinking Burke will be sweating bullets all year about that. I get annoyed with this "He's Brian Burke. I trust that he knows what he's doing" blanket statement everybody keeps reverting to. The Toronto market (either because of media pressure, fan pressure or ownership pressure) has a tendancy to make smart hockey guys look stupid.

One of the things a lot of good GMs preach is patience and that flies out the window whenever the Leafs are concerned. Brian Burke came in preaching patience. Because of his reputation, fans were willing to give him the 2-3 years he suggested it would take before turning the team around. Then, one year into the process, he decides that his 7th worst team in the league (who only made it to that high 'cause they had a desperate goalie, who was never coming back to the team, playing disproportionately well down the stretch) is ready to make a run at the playoffs after significant, but not huge FA signings. It's a recipe for disaster. One that Cliff Fletcher and John Ferguson Jr. had worked on perfecting for 2 decades prior to Burke's arrival.

Outside of building a time machine, I think Brian Burke will be very limited with what he can do. It'll be hard justifying any move of a player for a pick because, he has set expectations so high and mortgaged a lot of "future" to do so. Any veteran he tries to bring in will be looked at with undeserved skepticism. Trading some of his acquisitions would be an option, but if the team is bottom 5 after 30 games, my guess is that those newly acquired guys won't be playing particularly well and will have little to no value.

The only real option Burke will have is calling up all his prospects and seeing if one of them actually wakes up and becomes ready to have a good season next year. If you're losing with the current incarnation of the team + Kessel. You might as well have a lineup with as many of: Stalberg, Hansen, Bozak, Tlusty, Kulemin,etc. in there, as possible.

xxPrimierxx · Post #4 » by **xxPrimierxx** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:52 pm

If we are doing that bad. Id try to trade Bouchemin and Nozak plus some draft picks for Ales Hemsky.

Habibi · Post #5 » by **Habibi** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:20 am

xxPrimierxx wrote:If we are doing that bad. Id try to trade Bouchemin and Nozak plus some draft picks for Ales Hemsky.

If the Leafs could get Hemsky, I'd watch most of their games again. He's a real fun player to watch. So crafty. I always used to hope Kyle Wellwood would grow up to be like Hemsky.

If I was Brian Burke, I'd call Boston and ask them if we could get JUST this year's first pick back for Kessel. Boston probably says no, sadly.

Mike Hunt · Post #6 » by **Mike Hunt** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:12 pm

Habibi wrote:If I was Brian Burke, I'd call Boston and ask them if we could get JUST this year's first pick back for Kessel. Boston probably says no, sadly.

This would never happen, but the fact I think you're probably right about what Boston would do, is really sad.

People keep saying: "But he (Kessel) hasn't even played a game yet. What if..." as a way to justify the trade. Well, shouldn't the fact that he hasn't played yet factor into your judgement of the trade? Not only did they trade potentially high picks for Kessel, but they also did it for an injured Kessel. Seems like a fair criticism.

Post #7 » by **Crowned** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:34 pm

Mike Hunt wrote:
Habibi wrote:If I was Brian Burke, I'd call Boston and ask them if we could get JUST this year's first pick back for Kessel. Boston probably says no, sadly.

This would never happen, but the fact I think you're probably right about what Boston would do, is really sad.

People keep saying: "But he (Kessel) hasn't even played a game yet. What if..." as a way to justify the trade. Well, shouldn't the fact that he hasn't played yet factor into your judgement of the trade? Not only did they trade potentially high picks for Kessel, but they also did it for an injured Kessel. Seems like a fair criticism.

They traded for a career worth of Kessel. He isn't a rental player. It's completely irrelevant if Kessel misses a month or two to begin the season. He's 21 years old, and signed to a 5 year contract.

Mike Hunt · Post #8 » by **Mike Hunt** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:39 am

Crowned wrote:
Mike Hunt wrote:
Habibi wrote:If I was Brian Burke, I'd call Boston and ask them if we could get JUST this year's first pick back for Kessel. Boston probably says no, sadly.

This would never happen, but the fact I think you're probably right about what Boston would do, is really sad.

People keep saying: "But he (Kessel) hasn't even played a game yet. What if..." as a way to justify the trade. Well, shouldn't the fact that he hasn't played yet factor into your judgement of the trade? Not only did they trade potentially high picks for Kessel, but they also did it for an injured Kessel. Seems like a fair criticism.

They traded for a career worth of Kessel. He isn't a rental player. It's completely irrelevant if Kessel misses a month or two to begin the season. He's 21 years old, and signed to a 5 year contract.

I'm just saying it doesn't have to be disregarded just because of the term of contract. It's like buying a used car with a small cigarette burn on the back seat from someone. The cigarette burn doesn't greatly affect the car's value nor will it likely deter someone from buying the car but, it can be taken into account when it comes to negotiating the price (ie, you might be able to knock off $50 for it).

jumanok · Post #9 » by **jumanok** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:21 pm

Darkstar, a member of RealGM posted this...good arguments

http://whotheman.com/fancaster/42377/Wh ... aple-Leafs)

jumanok · Post #10 » by **jumanok** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:48 pm

xxPrimierxx wrote:If we are doing that bad. Id try to trade Bouchemin and Nozak plus some draft picks for Ales Hemsky.

Hemsky!??? lol

Traps92 · Post #11 » by **Traps92** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:43 am

Possibily try to get our draft pick back or get a high draft pick near the deadline because Boston's going to have that number 1 pick :|. Also, I would probably think about signing decent draft picks...
It'll be long process...

LLJ · Post #12 » by **LLJ** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:34 pm

I don't know the Leafs' cap situation, but if they have money they've really got to land a good free agent here this summer, preferably a goalie.

It's staggeringly obvious that Toskala and Jonas aren't the answer...and IMO they're at least 50% of the reason the Leafs suck so bad.

The other thing I notice is that while the Leafs tend to get their shots on net, nobody except Kessel has the talent to put it in with any kind of consistency.

So for the people who have said the Leafs aren't as bad as their record...it's obvious by now that they are this bad. They can't defend and they can't score...that sounds like a bottom 3 team to me.

BTW--We might as well get used to Kessel. It's pretty obvious he'll probably be the Leafs' best player for at least the next half decade...