Burke to join Leafs

Brian Burke will be with the Toronto Maple Leafs within the next two weeks – quite possibly as early as next week.Never mind this nonsense about Burke possibly joining the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks or Florida Panthers. He left his position as executive vice-president and general manager of the Anaheim Ducks for one reason and one reason alone – to join the Leafs. He didn’t resign as GM to stay on as a consultant; his intention is to be the next general manager of the Leafs and he’ll attempt to make that happen as soon as possible.And who can blame him? Burke is no dummy; he knows he if manages to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto for the first time since 1967, he will be a god. Winning the Cup in California is an accomplishment, no question about that. But I was in Anaheim the night the Ducks won and trust me, barely anybody outside of those in the Honda Center gave a hoot.If Burke leads the Maple Leafs to the Cup, they’ll put his face on the Loonie.Speaking of Loonies, how many do you think the Leafs are going to have to cough up to get their man? If Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is willing to pay Bryan Colangelo $3 million a year to run the Raptors, how much do you think Burke can command – especially since the Maple Leafs have targeted him as their only candidate for the position. Try more than $3 million a season. Given what they are about to pay Burke, don’t be surprised if he gets the president’s job, too.Not only will Burke command a high salary, but there are other considerations, too. For starters, Burke bought a new house in Anaheim last year. He will likely ask the Leafs to take that home of his hands and put it on their plate to sell.Burke will no doubt demand the same kind of autonomy that Colangelo has in running the Raptors. Whether or not he gets it remains to be seen. As one source so eloquently put it, "MLSE gave Colangelo autonomy because they don’t know squat about basketball. They don’t know squat about hockey either, but they think they do and that can be dangerous."If Burke gets the autonomy he desires, it means team president Richard Peddie will take a step back in terms of making hockey decisions. A source inside the Leafs organization suggested Thursday Peddie won’t do so willingly and that his desire is to be front and centre if the Leafs ever win a Cup.For once the Leafs are going down the right path. Burke is the man for the job and he will be successful in Toronto. The Leafs went the cheap route when they hired John Ferguson as their GM in 2003 and it cost them dearly.Burke draws up a game plan and then makes it happen. Say what you want about Burke being nicely teed up in Anaheim with Teemu Selanne, Andy MacDonald, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry up front to go with Jean-Sebastien Giguere in goal, but the Ducks were not a championship contender until he brought defencemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger to town. So while others such as Bryan Murray, David McNab and Randy Carlyle deserve props, it was Burke who pulled it all together.Burke won’t be quite so fortunate when he lands in Toronto. Cliff Fletcher has done a nice job ridding the Leafs of some of the big contracts that bogged down the organization, along with a handful of players that put their own interests ahead of the team’s, but the Leafs are far from Stanley Cup contenders.That said, the team appears to have some quality youngsters to build around and Niklas Hagman is proving himself to be one of the best free agent finds from last summer. Still, don’t be surprised if Burke sends a number of the team’s established veterans packing before the trade deadline. Burke likes mean teams and this collection of players is frankly, too nice.There may be other teams interested in Burke, but make no mistake about it – he left the Ducks for the Leafs post. Negotiations will begin immediately and he will be running the organization sooner rather than later.

This Article Courtesy Sportsnet and Mike Brophy

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