Toronto Maple Leafs 2

Regress works too, lol.

Leafs are still undefeated!  Seriously though, I think a major problem with the Leafs organization is the fans.  They are way too loyal, and always not happy at the same time. I think the media feeds off of the feelings of the fans in its reporting, which puts pressure on the Leafs office to make changes... the Leafs have been rebuilding since 1967... constantly changing their core team... mind you, most times they have not had a fantastic core.... part of the owners not having to care due to that loyalty thing.

So unhappiness is putting pressure for change, but loyalty keeps it from being genuine change.

Of course that is my opinion, and would not completely mind (maybe mildly dislike) if the Leafs were to get a real build happening... Bruins seemed to have done one in PC's term... perhaps Leafs could with the right front office... it defintiely could begin with ditching Burke.. he had a few years to start, but it seems he is no farther ahead.  A fresh face to the NHL and the team might be what they need. 

The leafs had a pretty good teams in the 70's, lots of memorable names(sittler,mcdonald,salming, turnball, palmateer), and playoff appearances every year. The 80's were a dark period of weak defenses and shoddy goaltending, early playoff exits. There was a pretty good run there from '93 to '04, playoffs every year, final four three times. The last 8 years, with a slary cap in place, and spending to the cap, its all on the gm's they brought in.

JFJ, a guy with no experience, he was never able to do his job without intereference from the front office, things got really messed up with the no trade clauses, they weren't able to get anything in return for sundin. They brought in burke to fix the problem, and he tried to hurry up the rebuild and messed up, by making frantic trades. I think burke works well when he takes over a team, that's already halfway there, he's not the right gm for a rebuild, he doesn't have the patience.

ofcourse i meant to say "digress".........reading through this site is making me stupid.

you should check out Garth Snows Plan if you want to find the real epicenter of stupidy on the cbs boards.

I think a major problem with the Leafs organization is the fans.

See Chicago Cubs

. perhaps Leafs could with the right front office... it defintiely could begin with ditching Burke.. he had a few years to start, but it seems he is no farther ahead.  A fresh face to the NHL and the team might be what they need. 

Yeah, they need a complete systemic purge.    Everyone has to go.    No dinosaurs in there, time to hire geeks and professionals to hire tangible talent.    The time to bring in a Burke-type is after the organizational infrastructure has been ripped apart and put back together properly with professionals and professinal systems instead of the good ol' boy club thing so many front offices have.  

Chicago only recently completed their rebuild from the bottom up.    The tallon years were just "throw stuff to the wall" type years believe it or not.    The "real" rebuild took 4+ years to gut and rebuild the organization.     

Toronto doesn't have to try though.   They make plenty of cash.

Management should push Burke to land Luongo.   A real rebuild will take near half a decade, in the meantime a goalie like Luongo can probably stop enough pucks to get them to the postseason with the roster they have now.     If they make the postseason they have a chance to get lucky, but they don't have enough pieces to be a seriously considered cup threat for a few years.   

Burke was lost from the get go, with his truculence stance, in the new nhl, but even then, wrong guys he was signing. The guy doesn't have a clue, but then again, what chance did the guy have. He's taking the scraps no other team wants, and filling up his roster, overpaying them and neglecting the most important parts like goaltending, the guys being lazy if you ask me.

I think Burke still looks at the league like it was 10 years ago or something.     He needs some younger heads and/or some much older heads (75+ crowd) in there to challenge his thinking.   There's no doubt he has a ton of knowledge and experience, it's such a shame that he keeps himself from taking advantage of that as best he can.    He just hasn't figured out how to apply that knowledge and experience.   

I wouldn't be shocked if he goes to a small club with marginal resources and excels after this, as long as somebody else does the drafting. 

Burke's a smart guy, its just that he's stuck in the past, and not only that, he makes up his own rules that go against there chance of winning. He's already got a cup, and I don't think he wants to start at the bottom.

He won't deal two weeks before christmas, he won't sign any deal that circumvents the cap, he wants to set his own trade deadline, when signing a free agent, he usually gives up more than the market value, overpays players that are really worth $2.5M, he'll give them $3.8M, this works against him, and he ends up giving much needed cap space, and he does this all the time, and never learns from his mistakes, burke would be perfect in a no cap system.

He's already got a cup, and I don't think he wants to start at the bottom.

True, I was implying that he'll run himself out of the spot he's in soon enough.    The market will dry up and he'll run out of opportunities soon enough.

Who would want to hire him after what he did with his time here in toronto? I could see burke taking a run at the commissioner's job, if and when bettman either gets fired or steps down.

Meanwhile in baby leafland, Kadri and Colborne were both healthy scratches last night, no production as of yet, not good at all.

3 assists in 9 games with 14 pims, and that's abou it (-3), terrible for a 7th overall pick, bust.

3 points tonight....

Looks like the benching lit a fire under him, isn't that always the case. I've seen kadri have flashes of brilliance and then go dormant for long periods of time, this is the AHL, he should be ripping it up. If he goes dormant again, I'm afraid he's running out of chances, the day will come soon where they trade him for a bag of pucks, pretty sad.

They need to get this season going so we can all come back here and smack talk eachother. The new baby has been keeping me occupied, but I need to see some hockey, lol. The old playoff games on the NHL network just aren't cutting it anymore.

Cheers guys, can't wait to get back into it with all of you.

Get hockey back, please, glad to hear all is good IMA.

Congrats to Mats Sundin for his induction onto the hall of fame, and adam oates who grew up one street over from mine.

They need to get this season going so we can all come back here and smack talk eachother.

We finally agree on something Ima!

Kadri 4 assists, 10 pts in his last 4 games, since his benching.

ARGOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!At least we have the argos, Grey Cup next week!!!!!!!!!!