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.
#3. Mike Komisarek Signing
Brian Burke’s first splash in free agency came when he stole Mike Komisarek away from the Montreal Canadiens and gave him a five-year $22.5 million contract (4.5 million per season).
Sure, Komisarek had previously been named a starter to the NHL All-Star team a year prior, but it’s so easy to see why Burke fell in love with him and made sure to give him a five-year deal.
He hits every single Burke fantasy check-mark that he’s looking for in a player.
- Big Body: 6-foot-4, 240 pounds
- Not Afraid to Fight: Had over 100 PIM’s in back-to-back seasons (2006-07, 2007-08)
- Nationality: He’s American-born
- Position: Komisarek is a defenseman, and this is what Burke told The Toronto Star in October, 2010: “I’ve always spent more money and more effort on defense than any other position. I think it’s like pitching in baseball. You can have eight all-stars, eight Hall of Famers in the field, and if they’re not behind a pitching staff that’s competent, they’re not going to win.”
If you guessed all four of those are key components; congratulations, you just won “Burke, Bingo!”
As you can already probably assume where this story is going, the Komisarek contract was a disaster.
In 158 games with the Leafs, Komisarek finished with two goals and 19 points. I know Burke didn’t sign him so he would become the next Bobby Orr, but when you’re paying someone $4.5 million per year, you need a bigger contribution than 0.12 points per game.
The Komisarek narrative became even sadder when the Toronto Maple Leafs put him on waivers, where he would play seven games with the Toronto Marlies before eventually getting bought-out in July, 2013.
It’s funny how comparable the story of Burke and Komisarek are, as this contract signing was ultimately the end of Burke’s career as Toronto Maple Leafs G.M.
#2. 2011 NHL Entry Draft
“We have a trade to announce.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs trade 2011 1st Round Pick (30th Overall) and 2011 Second Round Pick (39th Overall) to Anaheim Ducks for 2011 1st Round Pick (22nd Overall).
Before we get into this, the number-one lesson we’ve all learned in professional sports is not to trade up for draft picks. Just look at the New England Patriots, who are the most successful NFL franchise of the past 30 years and see their draft history. They trade back almost every year and you know what happens? They win almost every year.
The 23rd selection compared to the 30th and 39th selection in an NHL Entry Draft is not that big of a gap. Unless the prospect is a top-three talent, the mid-first and second round selections are all hard to predict and there a ton of players that never play in the NHL.
So, if you’re going to trade two really good picks (30th and 39th) to move up only to the 22nd selection, you better be sure on who you’re drafting.
Unfortunately, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up trading what would turn into John Gibson and Rickard Rakell for Tyler Biggs.
Let’s compare stats just for fun right now:
- Rickard Rakell: 447 NHL Games Played, 129 Goals, 283 Points
- John Gibson: 287 NHL Games Played, 2.53 GAA, 0.918 SV%
- Tyler Biggs: 0 NHL Games Played, 0 Goals, 0 Points
This type of trade has me angrier than Steve Dangle after a Game 7 loss to Boston.
It’s almost like Burke owed something to his former Ducks team and said, “Don’t worry guys. I’ll take the fighter with no offensive talent and you can have a future NHL All-Star goaltender and 30-goal sniper. Thanks for letting me back-door into a Stanley Cup ring!”
To make things even worse, the Toronto Maple Leafs had another first-round selection and drafted Stuart Percy 25th overall, who has only 12 NHL games under his belt and seems like a lifer in the American Hockey League at this point.
Now, what could be even worse than this Burke debacle? Oh yeah…
#1. The Phil Kessel Trade
This trade has been talked about a million times, but when you think of Brian Burke disasters, you have to think of Phil Kessel.
Here’s the trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs trade 2010 First Round Pick (2nd Overall), 2010 Second Round Pick (32nd Overall) and 2011 First Round Pick (9th Overall) to Boston Bruins for Phil Kessel
When the Toronto Maple Leafs made this trade, they were acquiring a dynamic 21-year-old winger who previously scored 36 goals in his last season with Boston. Kessel followed up his 36 goal campaign with a 30-goal season in Toronto and you could see why Burke traded for him.
He was fast and had one of the best shots in the NHL. At his age, it seemed like a great acquisition because finding pure-goal scorers is very difficult.
However, when Burke made this deal he didn’t take into consideration the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs were a terrible team and even if you added three Phil Kessel’s, they probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs.
I have no idea how he sat down, looked at his roster and said, let’s mortgage the future for a great goal scorer, but nothing more than that.
The fact that he never protected the 2010 First Round Draft pick is a nightmare. The Leafs hadn’t made the playoffs in six years and weren’t looking close to doing so at the time, so Burke should have made it at least a top-three protected pick. I’m sure Boston still would have accepted that if they made it a protected pick.
I’ll always have a soft spot for Kessel, because I loved his game and demeanor, but he was just put in a terrible spot as the franchise guy. If the Toronto Maple Leafs never made that deal, they could have had Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton, who would have been perfect additions to the Leafs.
Both Seguin and Hamilton are from the Toronto area, so you know they wouldn’t have fallen under the pressure of playing in their hometown and would have been beloved Leafs for a while. Hamilton is one of the best defenseman in the NHL, while Seguin is going to score a minimum 30 goals and register 70 points-plus every season.
Next. 3 Worst Moves by Lou Lamoriello as Leafs G.M.. dark
Now that the Leafs are relevant, we can sit back and laugh at these deals, but these three Burke disasters set the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise back years.