Rebuilding a Leaf Nation

When Brian Burke became the President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 29, 2008, he took on the heavy burden of undoing several wrongs committed by his former predecessors. The Leaf Nation waited and watched as the Leafs would finish the season well out of the playoffs. Much opportunism would follow as all eyes focused on Burke as he began his first off-season at the helm. It was apparent from the get go that no current Leaf would be safe as Burke seemed intent on cleaning house and rebuilding under a new banner, his banner. It would start with the seventh overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft with the selection of Nazem Kadri, which came after a failed effort to acquire John Tavaras. Burke would go on to spend the majority of the summer addressing his blue line, signing free agents Mike Komisarek from the Montreal Canadiens and François Beauchemin from the Ducks. Burke would also deal  Pavel Kubina to the Atlanta Thrashers for defenseman Garnet Exelby, dropping 3.35 million off their cap in doing so. Without very many solid prospects in their system Burke had turned to undrafted late bloomers such as Christian Hanson from Notre Dame and Tyler Bozak from the University of Denver but his biggest signing would be much sought after Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Burke's first major acquisition came on September 18, sending the Maple Leafs' 2010 and 2011 first-round picks with a 2010 second-round pick to the Boston Bruins for forward Phil Kessel. A trade that remains bittersweet as the Leafs look more and more poised to earn a top five selection at the coming draft.

With most NHL teams fighting the salary cap moving contracts has become an art, on January 31, 2010 Brian Burke might have painted a master piece when he acquired star defenseman Dion Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect defenseman Keith Aulie from the Calgary Flames for forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and defenseman Ian White, and traded goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake to the Anaheim Ducks for goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The trades play out well in many ways for the Maple Leafs who not only clear salaries they were bound to for several years but also brings a well needed presence to the dressing room that was lacking. If Jonas Gustavsson is to be the Leaf netminder of the future then there is no better example than Jean-Sebastien Giguere to learn from. Just ask Jonas Hiller. Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Gerber who all used Giguere's influence to reach the next level. Goaltending coach Francois Allaire who had a strong influence on Giguere in Anahiem is the final component and he believes Giguere can help Gustavsson grow, ""There are four or five guys who made the NHL out of Anaheim," said Allaire. "You need a mentor to make the guys get better and Giguere did that perfectly." Along with Giguere defensemen Dion Phanuef a 9th overall pick in 2003 knows the pressures of being a young defensemen and will be an example for young Luke Schenn who was drafted 5th overall in 2008 . They both play a physical game and share similar junior background coming from the WHL. While the trade on paper can be debated, there is no denying the impact this trade will have throughout the organization.

Looking ahead, Brian Burke has given no impression he is close to finishing. Alexei Ponikarovsky,  Lee Stempniak and  Tomas Kaberle will be the biggest assets heading toward the deadline. Tomas Kaberle may play out the season in Toronto as he holds a no trade clause in his contract that Burke has publicly stated he will not ask him to wave. Regardless if he waves it or not his clause becomes void this summer should the Maple Leafs not make the playoffs giving Burke something to work with before the 2010 Entry draft where he is without a first round selection. Crunching the numbers while looking at next season reveals that Burke's financial restriction will give him more cap space to work with. He will need to re-sign Gustavsson who will look for a raise, John Mitchell and  Nikolai Kulemin who has easily been the Leafs most improved player and most consistent. With a solid defense locked up, it will be the forwards that Burke addresses next, and with a weak free agent market ahead it seems encouraging that the wheeling and dealing has just begun.