I don’t know what I think about all this. Burke said (almost) all the right things at the conference today. I still think his record is inflated by his supporters. (And I’m finding that, surprise, surprise, his detractors are equally full of hyperbole.) I can say one thing, he is a better GM than Ferguson or Quinn. That is something right there. And if Peddie et al. are serious about giving him a free hand, then that is something to be happy with. Any GM is better with a free hand…well, except Milbury.

I did like Fletcher’s last trade, though. Don’t get me wrong, Steen was my favourite Leaf – though I was coming to terms this year with having to change that opinion, as I was having a very hard time justifying it. When he first came into the league, I really thought he was something. (If you go back and check my old posts, you’ll no doubt see that.) But he is either

• not the player everyone thought he would become or
• not able to succeed in Toronto.

Either way, he deserves another chance somewhere else and they should have gotten rid of him. So they did. I’m happy about it.

Colaiacovo is someone who I’d long since given up on as anything but a body to fill in when other guys were hurt (until his next injury, obviously).

I think, considering these things, that getting Stempniack is a coup, and further proof that Fletcher did a fantastic job as interim, about as good as could be expected. Yes, he made a couple strange deals, but, overall, I think we can look back at these 10 or so months and say, ‘if you asked me last January, could Fletcher make me feel optimistic about the Leafs in 10 months time, I would say (to further confuse matters), ‘you sir, are full of shit.” Or something to that effect.

So, things appear to be moving in the right direction and we supposedly have a real GM.

Now maybe my sports hopes and dreams don’t have to die with every win or loss of the Raptors…