Burke to be Boss for Leafs!

Brian Burke is about to take over the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Department and it’s the first time since the Pat Quinn era as GM-Coach that there will be a clear Boss in town in TO. It is believed that he will sign a 6yr 18 million dollar contract.

Burke a former Stanley Cup Champion GM with the Ducks builds tough teams and that is an area that needs immediate attention in Leaf land. Hockey people respect Burke and he is known at times to be a bully with a massive attitude but generally is thought to understand the game very well. On the other hand as is the norm with successful Hockey people you either love him or hate him. He will do the one thing that is very much needed he will shut down the media in town and run the team his way without question and without media influence that much is clear.

Its already happening where Al Strachan a regular on The Score Network goes on HNIC and tells all that will listen that Burke is all wrong for the Leafs and should not be hired. Then in news print pages guys like columnist Simmons from the Sun writes ass kissing columns on Burke, so that Burke will speak to him moving forward. The point being Burke should not have either stigma right now in Toronto, he has a lot to prove still and to rebuild the Leafs who are a soft, easy to play against team. Strachan generally has some good words on the game but here he is dead wrong, Burke is a perfect fit for the Leafs cause he has the exact right charisma for this job. But media who are in the love fest of Burke are going to far too . Burke has to put up now and back his larger than life attitude, he has to turn this franchise around once and for all. He has to make this team much harder to play against both physically and man to man. There has to be more pride, grit and passion in their play. To do that you can bet Burke will make changes , he has no choice. The Leafs as they are now do not have enough grit not to mention an enforcer on the current roster to scare any one or protect their skill players . The fact that rookie 19yr old Luke Schenn jumps in to fight for guys is great for him and speaks of his character. But there are two things : he is no Wendell Clark in the fist department and second there is no way in hell that a 19yr old should be the one doing that for any hockey team in the NHL. What do you think is going to happen if not already when teams zero in on the Leafs “Euro line” and start to make them earn their space on the ice and punish them at every turn. I will tell you what will happen, they will except at times Hagman disappear from the score sheet most nights. Toronto use to be hard to play against when they had Tie Domi , Gary Roberts, Wade Belak, Darcy Tucker and yes it was time to make changes between guys retiring and getting older. But the problem was and is now that they never went out and replaced those types of guys that allow the skill guys to play their games. Look no further than Burke’s old team in Anaheim their skill guys get whats called “room out on the ice” and its provided by the grit guys on their roster the year they won the Cup.

Burke is a know it all and at times a blow hard but in this Toronto market it is exactly what is needed to get the “know it all media” around the city to back off and allow the hockey people to make the hockey decisions. Burke wont always be right and there will be mistakes but in the end at least there is one guy in charge and its NOT Richard Peddie . Its a hockey guy who believes the way to play the game is with intensity, heart and grit.

Burke worked with former NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow in a player agency prior to them both moving on, Goodenow is in his own right an astute hockey man. It’s a little known fact around hockey except with some who have really gotten to know him at the PA. Goodenow is a great hockey mind who’s knowledge of the game and the way it’s played is over and above his negotiation ability and other responsibilities he had with the NHLPA. He decided to go the opposite way of Burke and to the Players Association from the player agency . How did that work out for the players ? Go ask Kariya, Lindros or any player that was in the PA in those day’s , they are all very rich men today because of Goodenow’s work with the Association. The moral of this story is Goodenow and Burke are virtually the same type personalities who came from the same places, player agency , both lawyers , both demanding of people around them, both take no gripe from any one, the difference being Burke went on to management and became a well known hockey expert and GM. The best thing for the Leafs organization but will never happen because of ego would be for Burke to get his old pal Goodenow to take a job with the Leafs then you would have the best one two punch in the game working and running a franchise in desperate need of direction. There will be plenty more on this subject over the next many months but for now be happy that if you are a Leaf fan that Peddie nor the media influence will be running the hockey club any more ! Time will tell if Burke’s way will finally put Toronto back on the respectability road in the NHL. But you can bet this much is true Burke will do things his way and will not allow any out side pressure effect his decision making.

For Hockey God On Line I’m Dave Frost ………..

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Frost on Ice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.