Brian Burke’s Comments Show Why Toronto Maple Leafs Don’t and Won’t Contend

Published: 10^th Apr 12 5:54 pm

by Troy Pfaff
Featured NHL Columnist and Pittsburgh Pirates Writer

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Brian Burke’s Comments Show Why Toronto Maple Leafs Don’t and Won’t Contend

Tommy Giglio-US PRESSWIRE

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke has officially hopped on the “We Hate Pittsburgh” bandwagon.

When New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella and seemingly the entire Philadelphia Flyers organization came at the Pittsburgh Penguins with remarks and accusations about the franchise and superstar centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, they were seen as attempts to deter the Penguins’ focus and get them off their game.

Why Burke would attack the franchise right now remains a mystery, considering his Leafs were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago and won’t see the Penguins again until October 2012 at the earliest.

Whatever his intentions, during a Maple Leafs press conference Tuesday morning, Burke was posed the question “Do people here need more patience, like Pittsburgh?” by a reporter.

His reply:

“They got a lottery. They won a god damn lottery and they got the best player in the game. Is that available to me? Should we do that? Should we ask the League to have a lottery this year, and maybe we pick first? The Pittsburgh Model? My a**.”

“They got the best player in the game in a lottery. Ray Shero’s done a good job. He’s an excellent GM and he’s a friend of mine. But I love when people talk about the Pittsburgh model. The simple fact is that they got the best player … we came in second that year in Anaheim. We got Bobby Ryan. Impact player, good player. They got Sidney Crosby in the lottery.”

Burke went on to say “I’m not a patient person. I was born impatient, I’m going to die impatient. I don’t like what’s happened here. I don’t like our lack of progress. I thought we’d be farther ahead than we are right now.”

I’m not quite sure where to start with this wonderfully telling quote. The 2005 NHL Entry Draft seems like a good place, I guess, since Burke evidently has a problem with how the Penguins acquired the pick that landed them Sidney Crosby.

The 2004-05 NHL season was canceled by a lockout. That meant there were no standings to determine the 2005 draft order. The NHL decided to assign odds of a team’s ball being pulled by teams’ performance over the previous three seasons and determined the entire draft order that way.

If that sounds eerily familiar to how the NHL determines the draft order now, it is. Every single year the 14 non-playoff teams are entered into a draft lottery. Yes, a draft lottery like the one Burke is complaining about. The winner of that draft lottery moves up four spots in the draft. That means any of the bottom five teams in the NHL can land the first overall pick.

Care to guess where Burke’s Leafs finished the 2011-12 season? Twenty-fifth.

In fact, the 2005 NHL draft is the only draft in history to have “snaked,” meaning the Penguins didn’t get the first and 31st picks. They got picks number one and 60. The Tampa Bay Lightning got picks 30 and 31.

The Penguins didn’t even enjoy the full benefits of picking first in that draft, but they drafted well. They grabbed Kris Letang in the third round. That means the future Norris Trophy candidate was there for Burke to grab twice.

In relation to that top pick in 2005, the Penguins were horrendous during the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. They totaled 78 wins in those 246 games. Dick freaking Tarnstrom led the team with 52 points in 80 games in 2003-04. They sucked and there’s no way around it.

At this point, I thought it was clear that every team – except the Detroit Red Wings – has to go through periods of suck to become a contender.

Take a look at the top teams in the NHL this season. The New York Rangers won the Eastern Conference. They didn’t qualify for the playoffs from 1997-2004. Presidents Trophy winners Vancouver Canucks missed playoffs from 1996-2000 and missed twice from 2006-2008. The St. Louis Blues were the epitome of suck, making the postseason only once since the lockout before their 109-point season this year.

It’s a cycle. The Red Wings are an exception due to their ridiculous scouting department, but for everyone else it’s a cycle. Especially now in the post-lockout salary cap era, you have to suck for a few years, but as long as you draft well (and keep your early draft picks), you’ll compete soon enough. A franchise must have a long-term plan.

Most fans and executives realize this. Brian Burke doesn’t.

The Maple Leafs weren’t only a Phil Kessel away from contending for the Stanley Cup in 2009 when Burke traded two first-round picks and a second- for him. They weren’t a Dion Phaneuf away when he dealt Matt Stajan, Ian White, Jamal Mayers and Nik Hagman for Phaneuf and spare change.

It’s not even that Burke simply overestimates the talent level of his team and how far away they are from contending. He admits his problem in the second-to-last line of that quote: “I’m not a patient person. I was born impatient, I’m going to die impatient.”

Impatience is arguably the last trait I want if I’m a team executive looking to hire a general manager. As expected, Burke’s philosophy of dealing top picks for quick fixes has backfired.

It’s a shame to see an organization with as much history and tradition as Toronto own the longest active postseason-less streak in the NHL. But at least fans know who to blame.

As long as Burke refuses to accept Toronto’s period of suck and continues to mortgage the future for a few NHL caliber players while the team isn’t good enough to justify doing so, the Leafs will be stuck in a never-ending span of suck.

So yes, Brian, that “goddamn lottery” is available to you. Yes, you should do that. There are two potential franchise players available atop this year’s draft. And yes, maybe your team will pick first.

Get a clue.

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