Guest Post: The undeniable genius of Brian Burke

 

Memo To Leafs Nation: Stop Living In The Eternal Present 

BY JIMMY "OSTRICH LOVER" TANNER

 

Fire Burke!
Fire Wilson!
Burke is an idiot!
Wilson is a fool!

I read a lot of hockey articles on the Internet – probably too many – and that is all I ever seem to hear. I don't like to admit it publicly but I often comment on these articles under the moniker "Ostrich Lover" and I too am often – make that always – called an idiot for my optimistic outlook on the job Brian Burke is doing to rebuild the Leafs.

Like Burke, the Ostrich Lover is just misunderstood; but that does not make him any less right.

True, the Leafs appear well on their way to making it a minimum of eight calendar years before the next playoff game will be played in Toronto. In the seven years so far, the Leafs have not managed to get a single Top 3 draft selection and have spent most of this time hovering above the lottery and below the playoffs. This is causing a lot fan angst and understandably so.

I think, however, Burke is taking the heat, not for what he has failed to do, but for Toronto's 43 years and counting without a Stanley Cup.

Burke does not deserve to be fired, or in my opinion, even criticized. It is my contention that he should be praised. The Leafs boast a core group of young players that should excite fans in this city. We now have an opportunity to watch this core group grow as individuals and blossom into a team that will be competitive for years.

So to properly assess this team, you must forget the past, leave four decades of baggage at the door and simply look forward. Instead of the Leafs, let's pretend we are gathered here to discuss the Thrashers or Blue Jackets. Let's imagine this same team, same trades and same management group – just without 43 years of abject failure.

Such an objective examination of this Leafs team reveals a lot of young talent and at least a half dozen players with superstar potential.

Let's look at Burke with an open mind and maybe I can convince you he is actually doing a stellar job. This is going to require you to put aside your groupthink mentality, your preconceived notions and your disappointment in the past.

Let's see if we can get away from the Achilles' heel of hockey coverage, which is an impulse to live in the eternal present. This impulse is exactly what prevents us from seeing the Leafs as a future contender.

Living in the eternal present is also why fans and writers seem to forget the most important thing about players such as Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf: These are kids with a lot of upside potential, not veterans in the twilight of their careers.

Keep an open mind and let's see if Burke is in fact the saviour we thought he was going to be – as four other people and I still believe.

Let's get started.

First, at no time in recent memory, have the Leafs ever possessed such a core group of young players with such high ceilings: Phil Kessel, Luke Schenn, Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, Jussi Rynnas, Jonas Gustavsson, James Reimer, Nazem Kadri, Carl Gunnarsson, Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, Kris Versteeg and Tyler Bozak.  

We, the fans, have a chance to watch some of these guys mature before our eyes as they hopefully become stars. I think a lot of fans either don't know or they forget that the prime of a professional athlete begins around the age of 27. Bozak, for example, is following a similar career trajectory as Martin St Louis – fast, defensively responsible, smallish, creative and undrafted.

The presence of Kessel, Kadri, Phaneuf, Schenn – and some of the best goaltending prospects in hockey – should be enough reason for optimism and if we were really talking about the Blue Jackets and not the Leafs, it certainly would be.

The major criticism of Burke begins and ends with the Phil Kessel trade, which has been debated to the point of insanity. I wish I could avoid talking about it. I really do.  But if the popularity of the movie Transformers taught us anything, it is this: Just because a majority believes something does not make it true.

Did Burke overpay for Kessel? No. Was this a bad trade? No.

Consider:

1. Kessel is 23 years old and has better stats than Alexander Semin, Daniel Sedin, Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg had at the same age.

2. There is not a legitimate scout or commentator who does not think Kessel could potentially score 50 goals with a true playmaking center. Kessel may also be the most exciting skill player I have seen on the Leafs since I started watching in the 80s – this includes both Jamie Macoun and his formidable mustache.  

3. Playing with Bozak and Matt Stajan, and while coming off a major injury, Kessel scored at nearly a 40-goal pace last season. 

4. Kessel was the 5th overall selection in 2006 – a very deep draft (look it up). The two first round picks traded for him were in relatively weak draft years.  Draft picks might not work out – but Kessel already has. People say he is not a franchise player – but he might be. Remember: Daniel Sedin wasn't a franchise player at 23, either.

Finally, without even touching on the complete heisting that was the Phaneuf trade, the main reason Burke should be cheered and not jeered is for sticking to his guns.

The system he and Ron Wilson implemented is designed to let the players learn and perfect it so that when the finished team – Burke himself says we are yet to see it – takes to the ice, it will play a high-octane, hard-forechecking game. Burke has sacrificed some wins in the eternal present for winning in the future. But he is also not boring us with defensive hockey while we wait, something else worthy of praise.

Faced with giving Boston another high pick this season – and under non-stop pressure from all corners of Leafs Nation – Burke could have blinked and traded the blank cheque that is Luke Schenn to just about any team in hockey for just about anything he wanted (within reason). That he has refused to make this deal, or other similarly hasty moves, shows incredible courage and commitment to his vision.

In conclusion, Burke is an extremely intelligent man. He has repeatedly resisted the urge to panic. He obviously sees something in his roster the fans and media – with their wagging fingers and groupthink mentality – have missed.

His actions thus far are not consistent with a man who only wants to squeak into the playoffs, an oft repeated and incorrect accusation. His actions do not reflect those of a man who has "sacrificed the future."

Burke entered this season with a young and inexperienced team. He has a plan and a strategy. He has faith in the young core of players he has already assembled. And he has faith he can add the finishing pieces to finally bring an end to the 43 years and counting.

In short: Brian Burke believes in what he is doing. Given his track record, you should too.

 

Aspiring hockey writer Jimmy Tanner is a student at Laurentian University. Ostrich Lover is a prisoner inside Jimmy's mind. They both live with Mr. Tanner's wife and their two children in Barrie.

 

This piece was pre-approved by hoofheartz. A Leafs Fan Blogs welcomes story pitches and ideas for guest posts. Email: vmenon@thestar.ca

 

MAIN PHOTO: RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR

Comments

[Scot Loucks]

Hey Boo Ga Loo; (very brave of you with that name btw, impressed).

Hardly.

I have seen the Leafs win the cup 4 times. I was at the parade in 67. Thought it would go on forever .... fooled me eh?

Yup, Leaf fan here.

Have played the game at pretty high levels for over 40 years. Have coached. Have refereed.

You, like others, just offer trash talk towards the Leafs. No constructive criticism and no true rebuttal to anything that is written.

Now a comment like nugentmania, which made me laugh out loud was a (more than) valid comment. I too question 6 (hell any) budding superstars comment..... but that portion of the post took nothing away from the general gist of what he was trying to say.

You don't like the Leafs? Fine, no problem with that. Target audience (I believe) of this post/article were Leaf fans who have "jumped" off the bandwagon.

Cheers

[hoofheartz]

Scot - why is it that every Leaf fan who has any criticism of said Leaf team is considered to have jumped off the bandwagon. By legacy I've been a fan for 53 years and never once have I concidered cheering for another team, but if they deserve criticism then so be it. 43 years is more than long enough to wait, regardless if BB is responsible for any of those years or not.

[Scot Loucks]

Hi HoofHeartz;

I am sorry, I am not guilty of generalizing (something I accuse others of doing).

I am not talking about having valid criticism's of the team. I just find the majority of the negative posts are no such thing.

Most are exactly what Ostrich started off his post with. Fire Burke, Fire Wilson etc. etc.

I love the leafs. But I have been critical as well. I asked last year why they weren't playing the trap. They would have at least won a few more games.

I questioned Wilson and his staff for having a continuously under achieving PP and PK, even though he/they have gone thru three different sets of players.

43 years is not fair to MLSE or Burke or Wilson. MLSE has been around about 11 years, Wilson 3 and Burke only just 2. The 43 years argument gets my back up in a hurry.

Do you realize that from 1992 until the lock out, Toronto had the most playoff games played, the most playoff games won, the most playoff series won of all Canadian teams and all but 2 American teams? Only Detroit and New Jersey had better playoff records over that time period.

No, they did not win the cup. No they did not even make the finals, although most of us are still bitter about 93. But we persevere.

Why, when there actually seems to be some direction, when the team is younger than I can ever remember it, are the critics coming out full force?

My guess is because both Burke and Wilson are pretty tough/arrogant with the media (as I called when they were hired) and as I have said many times, too many Leaf "fans/Nation" types get their ideas and thoughts from the talking heads on radio and TV.

Cheers

[hoofheartz]

Scot - I will admit that out of frustration I was one of those calling for Wilson's head, because as has been said, you can't fire all the players. Without actually knowing what is going on in the dressing room, I can still say that personally I don't think Wilson or his staff are the right coaches for this team. You said yourself that the PK and PP are under achieving and to quote OL "thats indisputable." I thought Ken Hitchcock may have been a better choice as a coach. Only time will tell and I'll be lining up with the other naysayers if this all turns out for the best. Of course, I won't miss the chance to say "I told you so" if it doesn't.

[Scot Loucks]

lol .... I am with you sir.

I was calling for his head last year. I have since had a reversal of thought. He has not lost the dressing room, to me that seems obvious.

I see major improvement over the last 2 months. Far fewer "slow starts", far fewer late game letdowns.

If we look at last year, they had a bad habit of giving the game away in the final 10 minutes of a game, be the regulation, OT or shootout. I don't think we have seen that kind of letdown for quite a while now.

Are they winning and are the improvements showing up in points? No. They are subtle. But they are there.

Find a play making centre and a tough winger for Kessel, let Bozak play between Versteeg and Armstrong..... my guess is everybody will be jumping back on the bandwagon pretty quickly.

Course, that is easier said than done.

And of Course, my glass is always half full.

Cheers

[Ken Chevis]

An aspiring sports writer. Chester will be spinning in his grave.

[hoofheartz]

Well done Chevis. As usual you've added nothing with your post. Whats the matter is habs inside/out shut down?

[Zazzou]

This is to that Randy guy. you're an idiot. trying to compare the Leafs to a lottery? That explains typical leaf fans in my mind. Burke does know what hes doing. The Kessel trade was weird, ill admit it, but hes done good things for this club considering what he was given (which is not a whole lot) but managed to bring in Phaneuf (nobody thought he'd ever leave Calgary) and has youngsters like Kadri and Schenn. Leaf fans need to stop reminding me of my eastern european family and LEARN A LITTLE F---ING PATIENCE. Chicago took 49 years to win a cup, and how recently did they put that all star team together of youth? Burke has a plan, whether leaf fans give him enough time to execute that plan is an entire different story. But you cant deny, he's done better already then Fergusson did by any means

[Ostrich Lover]

Hey Scott Loucks. I appreciate it, you really seem to have understood what I was trying to do and say with this piece. Not everyone will agree, and that is cool. I have been accused of being overly optimistic and that is probably accurate to some extent, but it is a reaction to the constant negativity that I see. Some call me nieve, and then bring up Burke's appearent goal to only make the playoffs this year. I mean - what else is the guy supposed to say?
Others say that hes "throwing away the future" which is not true - he could have taken Savard, Spezza or Lecavelier basically for free and at least give Kessel a centre. I belive Kessel's future centre is Nazem Kadri, but who knows? I also think that with the addition of Shea Webber and Devon Settagucci -two not unrealistic possibilities - that this team is a cup contender. This might be completly idiotic, but whats better - bitching every day about something I have no control over and no real reason to even care about - or having a little fun with some speculation and trying to appreciate what we have to work with?
Anyways I had a lot of fun with this, am thankful to Vinay for the opportunity and now, thanks to the commenting section, I now know how Jesus felt (thats a joke). I do wonder if that was my actual Grandma who posted and will have to call her and find out. Thanks.

[nugentmania]

Devon Settagucci? He's not even a Leaf yet and you're trying to make him sound more fashionable.

[Ken Chevis]

@hoofheartz

You off the meds again? Your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

[OzModCon]

I don't even know where to begin with this...but I'll try.

1) The comparison of Bozak so St. Louis makes my head hurt. As not just a Bolts fan, but as a hockey fan. Marty was undrafted during a time when size was a necessity (or though that way) in the NHL. Over a decade before Bozak's draft year. Bozak is a decent complementary center, but nothing in his game shows any flash of stardom. So what's next, is Grabovski another Brad Richards, too?
Yeesh...

2) Look at the track records of teams around the league. Most of them who trade a 1st round draft pick do so in an effort to either win it all, or a bolster a team that might be on the cusp of doing something positive in the playoffs. Now, trading a 1st for a scoring winger is... okay, in the right situation. Trading 2 is bordering on insane. Burke has had good cores handed to him in his previous GM positions.. this time.. not so much.

3) Phaeuf, Komisarek, Beauchemin- truculent, yes. Effective, sometimes. Overpaid... good god. For the record, I am a Phaeuf FAN. Been that way since his rookie year. But he is not a #1 d-man. Great, if not spectacular, 2nd pairing guy for sure.

Komi and Beauch, well, they had incredible D partners in the year prior to their UFA humping if the Leafs coffers. Now? Well, they're playing like the "other guys" they really are.

4) Wilson seems to have no visible system in place. In the past, he has been the coach for clubs with lots of talent, both innate and developing, and generally had some excellent veteran leaders to rely on. Now? He has a bunch of also-rans playing in the toughest hockey market in the world.

With no system, a bizzare sense of calling guys out at the worst possible time and seemingly thinking more about retirement than turning these Leafs into a contender... I'm just baffled.

Anyways, there's 4 points- want more? Read everyone else here.

I feel bad for Leafs fans- you guys deserve a real management group, coach etc.

[John Hollinger]

What a masterpiece of sarcasm! Well done, I tip my hat to you.

VM Replies: I suspect you may be the one supplying the sarcasm here, pal.