Ex Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke Is a Living Legend

Burke knew that no one would have the patience for the Leafs to bottom-out, and he knew that even if they did, he'd have to get insanely lucky for it to work out.

He was right, by the way. Just look ask any Leafs fans what they think of Kyle "the best five regular season period in the history of a 100 year old team" Dubas.

Dubas built a team that basically did everything right and then proceeded to lose 11 elimination games in a row. Not even sure how that is possible, but the end results didn't make him any more popular or successful than Burke, who shot from the hip and achieved the same result in a drastically more entertaining way.

What worked in Vancouver and Anaheim could have worked in Toronto. It just didn't.

Burke paid two top ten picks and a second rounder to get Phil Kessel. Then in a subsequent move he turned around and traded for Dion Phaneuf.

That is his legacy in Toronto and it didn't work. He took two massive swings, and though you can argue he at least hit a triple with Kessel, Phaneuf was a single at best.

But, here's the thing: It could have worked out. There wasn't some fatal flaw in the plan.

The difference between the Phil Kessel we saw and the Phil Kessel that could have been a more rounded Franchise Level Player is microscopic. Had the team been better around him, I don't doubt Kessel would have found and exceeded that difference.

Phaneuf is a different story. His was so, so good in his first three years in Calgary that buying low on him a couple years later and hoping he really was a Chris Pronger Clone wasn't an unreasonable hope.

It just didn't materialize. If it did, we'd likely be in year 17 of the Brian Burke Era right now.

Unlike Kessel, I think Phaneuf's early success set unfortunate expectations that he just couldn't ever hope to realize. He would have been a killer #2, but he was acquired as a Franchise Player 1B.

That didn't work out. After so many years of the Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner Era, I realize that there is just so much luck involved that playing it safe just doesn't make any sense. When no one cares about the Leafs having six-plus years of contender status and setting tons of team records because they didn't win a Stanley Cup, why play it safe?

In other words, if the rewards for finishing last outweigh the awards for finishing second-best, there is no upside in playing it safe. In the NHL if you want to set your team above the fray, you need to hit big on a big risk.

Burke knew this, and that is why he went big. It didn't work for Burke, but in retrospect, would the Leafs have won by building through the draft with Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton? Probably not.

Current Leafs GM Brad Treliving knows Brian Burke well. Burke was the President who hired him as the GM in the first place. So far, I haven't seen anything resembling Brian Burke in Treliving, but he's only been here a while.

Maybe this summer will see Trelving channel his mentor and actually make a move worth remembering. High Risk High Reward is the Brian Bruke way. The Toronto Maple Leafs current GM would do well to take note.