How the current (fully healthy) lineup was contsrued

[Mowerman]

Burke definitely wanted no part of Luongo. The whole thing was a media generated circus. Burke was one of the main guys behind pushing for strict penalties on the sort of contracts Luongo had, why would he trade for it?

 

[Peasy]

Moreover, how and why the hell did ownership fire the guy who did that? I still curse at MLSE to this day for firing BB.

Because he was egotistical and had a bad attitude.

But im happy we have Nonis instead of him. Nonis was the reason we got Bernier, the second he became GM he was all over Lombardi to acquire him.

Hell, Burke probably wouldnt have even re-signed Kessel because he wasnted 8 years.

Nonis does what needs to be done, Burke believes too much in his own rules and that hurts him in the end.

 

[New Liskeard]

Agreed. Burke should be celebrated by Leaf fans daily.

No question about it. Absolutely remarkable how much the team transitioned prior to him being here and how it is today. Good on Calgary, and the Leafs will be a very competitive team for many years thanks to the work Burke and his assembled staff have done.

 

[New Liskeard]

no no I heard the same thing... major blowout between Burke and C-Suite execs over the pursuit of Luongo.... I believe even Nonis was against the move.

Not at all true. It was reported by all media outlets, Kyper, Bob, LeBrun as well, that it was the execs that did not agree with Burke's level of professionalism towards the board and the image he put forth. Burke had complete autonomy to do what he wanted. Lu had nothing to do with Burkes firing one bit, to suggest otherwise is completely false, and used to push a hatred agenda towards Burke.

 

[Big Rig]

IMO, until the Leafs win a playoff series they remain one of the biggest jokes in hockey if not North American sports. With the amount of money they have there is no excuse for the terrible front office decisions that have been made in the past decade.

 

[Warden of the North]

Cut the personal attacks out immediately. Any further posts of that ilk will result in infractions

 

[diceman934]

Not at all true. It was reported by all media outlets, Kyper, Bob, LeBrun as well, that it was the execs that did not agree with Burke's level of professionalism towards the board and the image he put forth. Burke had complete autonomy to do what he wanted. Lu had nothing to do with Burkes firing one bit, to suggest otherwise is completely false, and used to push a hatred agenda towards Burke.

I agree as that was likely the reason why he was fired.

I however agree that he was going to trade for Lu as well. It was reported as a done deal by John Shannon.

 

[New Liskeard]

I agree as that was likely the reason why he was fired.

I however agree that he was going to trade for Lu as well. It was reported as a done deal by John Shannon.

Whether you agree of the reason Burke was fired or not, its the facts, and was reported by every major media outlet.

I remember Shannon reported a deal was done with Lou and the Leafs, long before the season started, but it wasn't reported by anyone else. No one will ever know, but I don't see how someone can be criticized on something that didn't happen, without anything tangible to support it.

 

[Ace88*]

Burke definitely wanted no part of Luongo. The whole thing was a media generated circus. Burke was one of the main guys behind pushing for strict penalties on the sort of contracts Luongo had, why would he trade for it?

This. Lots of revisionist history flying around here. What was speculated was that the trade was Scrivens and 2 2nds but Luongo nixed it. At no point was burke going to give them Kadri and a 1st, thats what Gillis wanted.

 

[lebdafor norris]

How do you not get tired of posting literally the exact same trash over and over and over and over and over and over and over again? I can just see you smashing your forehead into your keyboard. Now that the Leafs are competitive again you're STILL not happy? Keep hittin the bottle, old man...

Anyways it boggles my mind how people were ******** all over Burke. It's so obviously clear now that he quite literally turned this franchise around from a pathetic swamp of suckitude into what it is today. I credit Nonis for adding a couple key parts like Bernier and Bolland (even though i think we would be fine with Reimer and Grabo), but i still despise the signing of Clarkson.

I love how all the Burke haters are nowhere to be found now. There were people ready to commit seppuku after we traded for Kessel, look how that turned out. People hated him for enjoying media spotlights, but those same people love Tim Lieweke for bringing a fresh "culture change" that is essentially the exact same message Burke preached. It's ridiculous. Hyopthetically if the Leafs won the cup this year (they won't), Burke's name should be on that cup. He gave credibility back to the Leafs, just as he is doing with Calgary.

Look DO. Burke took over in late 2008 and made his first moves in 2009. It's now 2013. The Leafs have had a remarkable turnaround in less than 5 years, just as Burke said. You have NOTHING to complain about.

His persistent to keep Wilson as the coach and constructing/keeping a team with a bunch of slow moving D man to complement a run n gun system is what was frustrating about Burke.

 

[Goonface2k14]

Sorry for the double post

This is when the team started to get ugly. JFJ had no answers to the damage he was doing to the system and farm for the Leafs. He kept trying to block the holes in the ship but water was sinking his ship way too fast. Giving no trade clauses to players like Sundin, Tucker, McCabe, Kaberle and Kubina which handcuffed the team from gaining any assets to recover from. JFJ in his last ditch effort to keep his job traded Gill, Belak and Kilger for picks but he also traded his 1st, 2nd and 4th round picks to pick up Toskala and Bell. He also picked up Blake in FA by giving him a huge contract at the time. He was fired this year when the team was near the bottom of the standings late in the season but the damage was already done with bleak hope.

The next three seasons were probably the worst consecutive seasons I've seen as a fan. The 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons were quite the lesson for the Leafs management.

Your 2007-2008 Leafs

Steen-Sundin-Blake
Ponikarovsky-Antropov-Tucker
Wellwood-Stajan-Tlusty/Bell
Kilger-Moore-Devereaux
Pohl, Newbury, Belak

Kaberle-McCabe
Kubina-White
Gill-Colaiacovo
Wozniewski, Stralman, Kronwall

Toskala
Raycroft
Clemmensen

Finished 12th in the east and only when JFJ was fired did they realise how much damage he did to this entire organization. Peddie even said the hiring of JFJ was "a mistake" but it was too late. Cliff Fletcher was brought in to end the year but really he was put on the spot and I don't put any blame on him in the situation he was in. Schenn was drafted and retooling of the Leafs organization was underway.

2008-2009 Leafs

Ponikarovsky-Stajan-Blake
Hagman-Grabovski-Stempniak
Hollweg-Mitchell-Mayers
Devereaux, May, Williams, Hamilton, Tlusty, Deveaux

Kaberle-Kubina
White-Schenn
Finger-Frogren
Van Ryn, Sifers

Toskala
Joseph
Gerber
Pogge

Probably the worst lineup this team has iced in a very long time. I'm pretty sure Joseph was brought in just to distract the fans from their on ice play. Fletcher was told to clean house for the next GM and he did just that. Be it a bad trade or letting players go, this team was gutted and beaten to the point that it didn't look like the Leafs.

When Burke's contract was done with the Ducks he came over to try and salvage the wreckage. Burke noticed that the team had no potential elite talent and he brought in elite talents in Kessel and Phaneuf that year. Burke kind of had more of a retooling mentality rather than a full rebuild. He brought in Komisarek, Beauchemin and Gustavsson. Everyone knew the Leafs would finish low but nobody predicted that the Leafs would finish as low as they did. Although if Burke didn't make the Kessel trade, I doubt the Leafs would have snapped their playoff drought in 7 seasons. I bet it would have taken even longer.

Somewhere in the 2010-2011 season is where Burke changed his mentality for the club. He had traded for Versteeg before the season started and was putting together a better team than the season before. When Feburary came Burke started dealing players for picks and prospects, filling up the bare cupboards. Burke traded Versteeg, Kaberle and Beauchemin for two 1st's, a 2nd, 3rd, 4th round picks and Colborne, Gardiner and Lupul. This imo is when the Leafs youth movement really began.

The rest is so recent that it's not even worth going into.

So...TL;DR version.

The Leafs missed the playoffs for 7 straight years cause JFJ screwed us and because Burke had a change of heart when it came to evaluating the club.

Without this series of events though, I doubt we have a young up and coming team like we do now. Glad everything is working out so far and hope it continues to trend upwards.

Just read your posts - well said, I agree wholeheartedly that the 7 year mess is because of the JFJ (and prior) regime. Those were tough years to watch - a desperate GM and an aging team with no good young prospects. You could see the train wreck from a mile away.

Well summarized.

 

[Goonface2k14]

i think he was fired for the trade he was going to make

i think he was going hard after luongo

and the rumored cost would have been kadri, and first

thats why i think he was fired

I'd be surprised if he was trying for Luongo and his ludicrous contract. Just not a BB type of move IMO.

 

[Avec Fromage*]

Burke is a great GM whose only real mistake was not firing Wilson sooner. He'll clean house in Calgary once he takes over for Feaster at the end of the year.

Although, if the Kadri + Kulemin for M. Richards deal went through... yikes. Good on him to not budge on the lucrative contract demands of Brad Richards though; Nonis will regret the Clarkson signing in a few years and with no compliance buyout to alleviate the issue.