3 Worst Moves By Brian Burke As Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager

The Brian Burke experiment as Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager did not go as planned.

When Brian Burke was named G.M. of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it felt right.

At the time, truculence and old-school hockey were still recipes we thought were necessary in order to create a successful hockey team.

Burke had just previously used that style as the G.M. of the 2006-07 Stanley Cup winning Anaheim Ducks team, so when Burke was hired, many thought he could do the same in Toronto.

Although the Ducks weren’t afraid to fight and hit, they also balanced that out with an incredibly offensive talented roster which included: Teemu Salanne, Chris Kunitz, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, all while Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were still on their Entry Level Contract.

Not too mention that they had one of the best playoff goaltenders in Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who was once again unbelievable during a long postseason run.

By wining that Stanley Cup with Anaheim, it gave Burke freewill to pick his next job essentially wherever he wanted to go.

And with an opening in Toronto, there’s no better G.M. job in professional hockey, so Burke jumped at the opportunity on November 29th, 2008.

With a six-year contract signed, the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs seemed bright.

After the previous G.M., John Ferguson, Jr. ruined the Leafs franchise and set them back 10 years, anyone with a pulse seemed like a more logical choice for the job, so Burke’s hiring brought optimism to Leafs Nation.

Unfortunately we found out pretty quickly that Burke was incredibly overrated and couldn’t help bring the Leafs a Stanley Cup, or even a playoff round win.

Here are the three worst moves in Brian Burke’s tenure as Toronto Maple Leafs G.M.