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