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3 Best Moves By Brian Burke as Toronto Maple Leafs G.M.

By Stephen Nixon

MONTREAL - JUNE 26: Nazem Kadri shakes hands with Toronto Maple Leafs President & GM Brian Burke as Special Advisor Cliff Fletcher looks on during the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft at the Bell Centre on June 26, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
MONTREAL - JUNE 26: Nazem Kadri shakes hands with Toronto Maple Leafs President & GM Brian Burke as Special Advisor Cliff Fletcher looks on during the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft at the Bell Centre on June 26, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – JUNE 22: Morgan Rielly, fifth overall pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – JUNE 22: Morgan Rielly, fifth overall pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Brian Burke did not have a good career as the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he did make a few great moves during his tenure.

As we already discussed this week, Brian Burke was not a very good G.M with the Toronto Maple Leafs and he made a ton of mistakes while being in charge.

The NHL was moving away from his philosophy of old-school hockey, so unfortunately he set the franchise back a few years instead of moving them closer to a Stanley Cup.

During Burke’s tenure, the Toronto Maple Leafs never made the playoffs, went through two coaches and a string of bad goaltenders.

Burke was quoted in The Toronto Star in October, 2010 talking about how he wanted his team to play, saying: “We pursue the puck in all three zones. We hit in all three zones. We fight. And we try to score a lot of goals.”

Although that’s an entertaining philosophy to have, the Leafs were never one of the highest scoring teams in the league and fighting wasn’t an important factor in the game anymore, so his model was flawed from the start.

Within that Toronto Star article, Burke belived in entertaining fans and truly thought that the acquisition of Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel was enough star power to entertain die-hard Leafs fans. I mean, they definitely provided entertainment, but it was for the wrong reasons.

Phaneuf got called out for his suspect defensive play, while people mocked Kessel because they thought he didn’t try enough on defense. Kessel was looked at as a one-trick pony who could only score goals and because he didn’t have a glowing personality, he was ridiculed.

It was an unfortunate scenario, because every teammate of Kessel raves about him in every interview they do, so he was in a tough situation being the face of the Leafs. As is now seen from his days in Pittsburgh, Kessel is a great player on a Stanley Cup winning team, but just shouldn’t be the star of one.

Although the Burke days were tough, he did make a few good moves to acquire players that would eventually help the team get back to relevance.

Here are the top three moves by Brian Burke during his tenure as Toronto Maple Leafs G.M.

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