Auston Matthews has won the Rocket Richard Trophy. It is the first time since the trophy’s creation that a Leaf has won the Richard Trophy. It is the first time since 1947 that a Maple Leaf has led the NHL in goal scoring. That is 74 years. Nearly a three quarters of a century. Matthews …
Tag: Campaign to Fire Brian Burke
Alex Steen’s Hot Start to the 2013-14 NHL Season
I know Steen’s hot start this year is unsustainable and likely going to end very soon – his GPG is currently .93 on the season! But I can’t help regretting that the Leafs let him go and, moreover, that I supported the move at the time.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Evaluating the 2008 NHL Draft
There is a rule of thumb in the hockey world that drafts should not be evaluated until about 5 years have passed. So with that in mind, let’s look at (part of) the 2008 draft to see if we can learn anything about it. (I do this with the distant hope that one day my …
The Campaign to fire Dave Nonis: Komisarek
Mike Komisarek got waived yesterday. It’s about time. Hopefully somebody takes him. But it doesn’t really matter as the Leafs can afford to pay him in the AHL anyway. $4.5 million per year for:
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Joffrey Lupul Extension. Plus my thoughts on the Leafs’ first game of 2013
Dave Nonis took a step in the wrong direction when he resigned Joffrey Lupul instead of trading him or letting him walk. Lupul becomes only the second Leafs player to be signed through the 2017-18 season, when he will be 34. (JVR is the other.) Lupul will make $5.25 million per season.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Pre-2013 Transactions
I already discussed the Lombardi deal. Lets talk about what else Dave Nonis has done since taking over.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis – Matthew Lombardi
With Burke gone, and with Nonis as yet an unknown entity as a Leafs GM, I don’t really know what to call my latest evaluations of Leafs trades, so maybe I will retroactively change it to something else if I am indeed forced to launch a campaign to fire Nonis, but the way he has …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Lockout to Lockout
Only one team in the entire 30 team NHL went from the last lockout (2004-05) to this one without a single playoff appearance: the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only four teams missed the playoffs at least 5 times: the Oilers (6 times), the Islanders and the Thrashers. One of these teams has a pretty good excuse: …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Nikolai Kulemin
Today the Leafs extended RFA Nikolai Kulemin.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: the 2012 NHL Draft
There are basically two approaches to drafting that GMs can take: drafting by need and drafting by talent. Let’s think about both briefly before looking at what the Leafs did this year.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Schenn for JVR
Aka: The Time Riley Was Totally Wrong About a Leafs Trade Toronto Maple Leafs get: James Van Riemsdyk, 23, LW: 47G, 52A for 99P in 196 games, +13 14:03 ATOI. That’s an 82 game average of 20G, 22A for 42P. Cap Hit: $4.25 million through 2018 Salary: $2.5 million per year in ’13 to $5 …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The 2011-2012 Maple Leafs Report Card
This is my report card for our 2011-2012 Maple Leafs’ season.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Grabovski
I like Grabovski. He is probably my favourite forward on the Leafs at the moment. But liking him has nothing to do with sound hockey decisions and this contract is not a sound hockey decision.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Aulie for Ashton
Keith Aulie traded to Tampa Bay by Toronto for Carter Ashton With this trade, the last non-Phaneuf piece of the fabled Phaneuf trade leaves Toronto.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Phillippe Paradis
Yes, in this day and age, it is extraordinarily unpopular to suggest that Burke’s plan hasn’t worked, as the Leafs find themselves floating between 2nd and 7th on a daily basis and because Kessel (somewhat shocking) and Lupul (unbelievably shocking) are leading the league.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: the ’11-’12 Leafs Preview
Cast your mind back a few years to when Burke was rumoured to be the first choice as Leafs’ GM, despite already having a job. There was a lot of hype by his supporters – and Leaf fans in general – about how he would change things, how he would be different than JFJ specifically.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Matt Lashoff for Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati
Leafs acquire Matt Lashoff for Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Clarke MacAthur
As I said last year, signing MacArthur was a great risk. The contract was low, because MacArthur had just won an arbitration award which was then declined. He had everything to prove as he had come in to the NHL after a pretty great WJC but then amounted to not all the much with the …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: July 2011 Free Agency – to date
Failed to re-sign Irwin: No opinion.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: July 2010 Free Agency
On July 1st of last year, Burke let the following players leave the organization: Deveaux, Exelby, Frogren, Matt Jones, Lundmark, Ondrus, Oreskovicc, Primeau, Rogers, Van Ryn, Wallin and Walser. I have no problem with any of that. Additionally, for some unknown reason, both Mitchell and Brent were left to go unrestricted but then resigned later.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2009 Free Agency
Ignoring the players he let go…
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tim Connolly
First, a note. I have been on vacation for a week and before that I had a busy June so I haven’t been keeping up with these Leafs posts. Rest assured I will get to them in time. For the moment, I am skipping ahead to the Connolly signing and I will discuss the other …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010-2011 Leafs Season
There has been a recent upswell of support – from fans, from the media, and from hockey fans not normally partial to the Maple Leafs – for Burke’s “plan” in recent weeks, following the team’s remarkable post-all-star-break performance this season. Despite missing the playoffs, the majority opinion seems to be that the Leafs are very …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: End of the 2010-11 Season
Maybe I’m overly cynical. Maybe the Dryden / Quinn / Ferguson years so soured me that I lost all hope – that I cannot even begin to believe that a Leafs team could really contend for the cup. Maybe I’ve lost all perspective. Maybe my claims to big picture thinking are really just rationalizing disguises for …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tyler Bozak
The case of Bozak is a really interesting one. It illustrates, for me, both what works and what doesn’t work about Burke’s “plan”. (Sometimes I think calling this a plan or a rebuild is a discredit to these otherwise noble words).
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Media Complicity in Maintaining Fan Delusions
On Blue and White Tonight this evening Gord Stellick said something to the effect of “We can’t figure out how many games the Leafs have to win, they just have to win games. Whether it’s 11-2, or 9-4, or whatever, they have to win a lot of games.”
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Deadline Day 2009
Two years ago was Burke’s first deadline day with the Leafs. He made a number of minor deals: traded Antropov for 2nd rounder (Kenny Ryan) and a 2010 conditional fourth rounder (the conditions were either not met or not exercised) traded Moore for a 2nd rounder (Jesse Blacker) claimed Eric Reitz off waivers the weird …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010 Trade Deadline
Around this time last year the Leafs traded Ponikarovsky for Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula then traded Skoula to Jersey for a fifth round pick (Sam Carrick) traded Joey McDonald for a seventh round pick this year traded a sixth round pick (Joe Rogalski) for Chris Peluso traded Stempniak for Matt Jones, a fourth round …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The Leafs should tank next year (and perhaps the year after)
With all this talk about the Leafs making the playoffs, and with Reimer looking like the second coming of Chris Mason (prior to the injury), I think it’s time to restate why the Leafs really need to go through a traditional rebuild. It was only last week that Burke looked like he was finally realizing …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Rebuilding
I have been very hard on Burke lately – pre-Kaberle deal, which I think was a pretty good move – and I guess I should offer something positive instead of endless criticism. With the Beachemin and Kaberle deals (and the Versteeg deal, as much as I don’t like it) Burke appears to be implicitly acknowledging …