Had Brian Burke taken over the Leafs gig two summers ago, then his second offseason would be worth evaluating. Attempting to evaluate Burke today on his one year anniversary is nuts. I mean, the guy may fail, and he may fail miserably, but come on. He started a year ago, just over a quarter into the season. He has had 1 draft and one free agency, one trade deadline, and we are going to write a story entitled “Jury Still out on Burke”. One friggin year and you are drawing conclusions like that? The problem is the article by David Shoalts of the Globe and mail is only bad because it says NOTHING. The title is brutal and totally misleading.

“One of the things Brian Burke promised when he took over as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs was a sea change from the country-club atmosphere that settled over the team in previous years.

With the Burke era officially beginning its second year today with a game against the Buffalo Sabres, opinions are divided about the success of his first year – but most of the critics agree the players work much harder than they did in the past. However, no one should take that as a sign that a change in culture is complete.

True culture change, say those who took on the burden of doing it, takes years, sometimes more than a decade to complete. It takes a lot more than getting rid of a few lazy players who may be a bad influence on their teammates and bringing in some hard-workers.”

Rise your hand if you are care where the Toronto Maple Leafs are after his first year, or after his 5th or 6th. Who is going to spend the time and evaluate him at this point of the season. Let’s at least give him until the end of this season don’t you think?

““If you’re looking at the change to an elite team, it was probably 10 years,” Holland said. “But if you’re talking about going from what was the worst team in the world, as it was in 1985, to a playoff team, then you could say five years.””

Exaclty! So why even bother writing the article in the first place? I mean, if that is the gist of the article, and it is, then why bother. Shoalts makes all the arguments on why these takes time…5 to ten years in some cases, and yet the headline is that jury is out? What did people expect? Burke himself said this was going to be a long process.

“The key to success with youth, Holland said, is patience. That is an issue in Toronto, given defenceman Luke Schenn’s struggles in his second NHL season.

“The odd 18-year-old kid can change the fortunes of your team, but they’re named Gretzky and Lemieux,” Holland said. “For most of them, it takes a long time.

“People think next year you’re going to be twice as good, which is unrealistic. You go home for the summer and think you made it after your first year, plus your buddies are telling you, too. So, it is not until your second off-season that you hit the gym a lot harder than you did after the first year.”

I love that the Red Wings are again the blueprint of success. No one ever would have guessed that this would be the model of success years back. I remember when they were giving away cars at the JLA in attempt to get people to come to the arena. If they are the model, then shouldn’t others be afforded the same time to follow it? Let’s see Burke try to draft the same way Illitch’s team did and then we can talk right?

““We’ve got the work ethic, no one can say we don’t,” he said. “But we don’t have the talent like a team like the Red Wings. We don’t have a leader here who is out there doing the right thing all the time, a genuine Stevie Yzerman or Nicklas Lidstrom.

“[Yzerman] wasn’t regarded as a leader until he was about 10 years into his career. He got the captaincy early, but it was Scotty Bowman who basically brought it out of him and that took three or four years. That’s why if it’s Luke Schenn for us, it’s going to take three or four years.”

Exactly the point. So why the headline, and the intro to the article? Shoalts hit a homerun on the Coyotes. On the Leafs he seems to be striking out an awful lot lately.

Talk to you from Las Vegas

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Maple Leafs would be ecstatic but for that whole September 18th trade. While alarm bells shouldn’t be sounding after 5 games (they should be blarring) the fact that the Maple Leafs have no where to go but up should be music to us Maple Leaf fans. I mean so many times we have been told the only way to improve is to shit the bed- literally- finish dead last and get the top pick. Problem is, we never had the right person at the top to assemble the right combination of talent to get us to the bottom. Cliff and Brian did too well last year and we didn’t get to the bottom. Like many years prior bad simply wasn’t bad enough.

Now, however, 5 games in Leaf fans it looks like we may just have the right group. These guys are, without a doubt the worst group the Leafs have assembled in a long time. No, 5 games does not a season make. However these first 5 have been preeeeeeeeeeety telling. Let’s see, the forwards can’t score, and they can’t come back to take a pass or help the d. The d, they, for lack of a better word Ssssssssuck. No really, they suck. Ian friggin White is the best of a bad bunch right now. In net?????? baaaaaaaaaaaaah The bright side is that this could be a good draft year…

What?????

We did what with our first round pack????????

So, what’s a coach and GM to do? I mean where do you turn?????

Cox suggested demoting Toskala and Blake to save some big $. Ok, let’s say for a second we are going to do that. Who or what are you going to spend that money on???? Personally I don’t think Blake has been in the bottom half of the forwards in terms of performance. I know Wilson benched him tonight, but he appears to be the only guy forechecking. Who do you bring up from the Marlies???? Those offense powerhouses Hanson and Bozak??????? They are kids. The answers have to lie in that locker room. The coaches have to find a way to reach this guys. There really is no other way. Unless there are some real hidden gems who have yet to be signed that I am not aware of this group is it. Burke has dealt the first round picks for this year and next. The young kids aren’t worth moving. The answer is currently on a plane likely freaking out. It’s a long season and Burke and Wilson should support the bunch they went with. If this continues for long then, as a friend used to say- throw a bomb in to the room.

It is amazing though how are perspective has changed due to one day when one trade was made. If Burke doesn’t make that deal the level of panic is dialed way down- except at all the local media outlets where wait till next year wouldn’t be good for ratings. With the picks gone, the negative tone of the media will continue to carry the day. Wait for all the i told you so’s in the paper tomorrow.

TSM