Burke Fired

[Kin]

When they say they wanted to change the 'tone' of leadership, that kind of speculation seems pretty close to me, 'winning' seemed like a secondary/tertiary issue from the presser.

As I sort of alluded to earlier with my guess as to what happened, I don't think the two can be that neatly separated. I'm guessing that whoever had the biggest issue with Burke's "tone" did so in part because Burke's "tone" was probably in defense of the lousy team he'd put together.

 

[Zee]

Burke deserves credit from moving this team along from where JFJ and Fletcher v2.0 left it. 

But I mentioned the day Burke was fired that while Burke has assembled some pretty good pieces, I don't like the construction of this team all that much.  The deemed core pieces don't scream long-term, legitimate, sustainable contender.

You have to cut Fletcher 2.0 some slack.  Had Sundin caved and waived his NMC, the other members of the "Muskoka 5" would have waived and he would have accumulated a boatload of young players and picks.  His hands were severely tied by JFJ "here's your NTC/NMC like I'm handing out candy"

 

[Bender]

Down Goes Brown has a great article on the whole thing.

Make no mistake: Brian Burke, the man, is about as admirable as they come. Oh, sure, he often came across as a thin-skinned bully, especially with the media. He also worked tirelessly for charity, was fiercely loyal in a business where few are, and carried on with an almost unimaginable strength after the death of his son Brendan. The important work done by Burke and his family to build acceptance of gay athletes has a chance to live on long after Burke?s time in Toronto has been forgotten.

But when it comes to wins and losses, none of that matters. (And please say a small prayer for Maple Leafs fans that this really is about wins and losses, and not about Burke?s ability to play nice with his new corporate masters as some have speculated, because if that?s the case, then this franchise might never win again and wouldn?t deserve to.) Burke may be a good man, but so far in Toronto, he hadn?t been a winning one.

When they say they wanted to change the 'tone' of leadership, that kind of speculation seems pretty close to me, 'winning' seemed like a secondary/tertiary issue from the presser.

Then why isn't Colangelo fired then? It was a personality clash, its the only way it makes sense.

 

[Zee]

Down Goes Brown has a great article on the whole thing.

Make no mistake: Brian Burke, the man, is about as admirable as they come. Oh, sure, he often came across as a thin-skinned bully, especially with the media. He also worked tirelessly for charity, was fiercely loyal in a business where few are, and carried on with an almost unimaginable strength after the death of his son Brendan. The important work done by Burke and his family to build acceptance of gay athletes has a chance to live on long after Burke?s time in Toronto has been forgotten.

But when it comes to wins and losses, none of that matters. (And please say a small prayer for Maple Leafs fans that this really is about wins and losses, and not about Burke?s ability to play nice with his new corporate masters as some have speculated, because if that?s the case, then this franchise might never win again and wouldn?t deserve to.) Burke may be a good man, but so far in Toronto, he hadn?t been a winning one.

When they say they wanted to change the 'tone' of leadership, that kind of speculation seems pretty close to me, 'winning' seemed like a secondary/tertiary issue from the presser.

Then why isn't Colangelo fired then? It was a personality clash, its the only way it makes sense.

Yeah Colangelo should have been canned if record has anything to do with it.  The Raptors started the season something like 4-20?  After all the other bad seasons under Colangelo you would think that would be enough to fire him?  Nope.

 

[Kin]

You have to cut Fletcher 2.0 some slack.  Had Sundin caved and waived his NMC, the other members of the "Muskoka 5" would have waived and he would have accumulated a boatload of young players and picks.  His hands were severely tied by JFJ "here's your NTC/NMC like I'm handing out candy"

Speculation aside, Fletcher made enough bad decisions independent of the one trade deadline that he deserves a significant amount of the blame for the mess Burke took over.

 

[Tigger]

I think people forget the state that John Ferguson and Cliff Flecture left this team in. The cupboards we re bare and our number 1 center was Matt Stajan, Burke in 4 years (other than the Kessel trade) has been building this team the proper way and i belive future success will be had from the blue print he laid out.

I think they will be better with what's transpired under Burke. It's tough to judge the team when it's had so little success but I think the future's an awful lot brighter than it was after the last lockout, which simply devastated the Leafs money muscle.

There were a couple key mistakes and/or misreads under his watch but I really wanted to see what Burke could do with one more year, right through the draft and free agency, if there were no tangible improvements after that I would have agreed with letting him go but this, it's kind of like watching Switch die as she's unplugged from the matrix.

Anywho, if it's a change of tone they're after, I consider it mission accomplished.

 

[Tigger]

Then why isn't Colangelo fired then? It was a personality clash, its the only way it makes sense.

I'm going to go with his 'big collar day', look at my collar, see the work I'm doing, I won't talk back...

Burke messed up with his choice of tie over the shoulder and 'leave me alone' is all.

Kidding aside, I agree with you.

 

[Kin]

Then why isn't Colangelo fired then? It was a personality clash, its the only way it makes sense.

I think Colangelo probably will be fired if the Raps don't have a better second half and, besides, I think Colangelo has understandably been given a little bit of rope because of the fairly unique situation he's in.

 

[Redleaf]

Burke deserves credit from moving this team along from where JFJ and Fletcher v2.0 left it. 

But I mentioned the day Burke was fired that while Burke has assembled some pretty good pieces, I don't like the construction of this team all that much.  The deemed core pieces don't scream long-term, legitimate, sustainable contender.

You have to cut Fletcher 2.0 some slack.  Had Sundin caved and waived his NMC, the other members of the "Muskoka 5" would have waived and he would have accumulated a boatload of young players and picks.  His hands were severely tied by JFJ "here's your NTC/NMC like I'm handing out candy"

Ah....The dreaded NMC and the "Muskoka 5" rears its ugly head again. The ghost of JFJ, and his country club contracts, still haunt the locker room stalls of the Muskoka 5 at the ACC to this very day. 

It certainly would have kick started the Burke-led Leafs had it happened. I believe the media generated return for Mats was two 1sts and a 2nd?, and then a bunch more 1sts and seconds for the other "NMC members"?

Water under the bridge now unfortunately....

 

[Highlander]

Burke before taking the job should have insisted on a 5 year no fire contract and hands off policy.  Another good man screwed by the Chiefs of the Leafs. As a lawyer he should have known better.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Burke before taking the job should have insisted on a 5 year no fire contract and hands off policy.  Another good man screwed by the Chiefs of the Leafs. As a lawyer he should have known better.

A "no fire contract", wow, that's a new one.

 

[Highlander]

Why not knowing the Loafs policies of the past...interfering all the time....he had the pedigree to come in to do a rebuild without suites telling him what to do, hockey fans no doubt, but suites the same....they wanted him and if I was he, that is what I would have demanded.
The have handled this completely wrong, even Nonis begged them to wait till the end of the season. Completely no class.

 

[Kin]

Burke before taking the job should have insisted on a 5 year no fire contract and hands off policy.  Another good man screwed by the Chiefs of the Leafs. As a lawyer he should have known better.

So he should have insisted on something that essentially nobody in the world has? The only way he should have taken the job is by insisting on something that would have precluded him from getting the job?

 

[Kin]

Down Goes Brown has a great article on the whole thing.

Make no mistake: Brian Burke, the man, is about as admirable as they come. Oh, sure, he often came across as a thin-skinned bully, especially with the media. He also worked tirelessly for charity, was fiercely loyal in a business where few are, and carried on with an almost unimaginable strength after the death of his son Brendan. The important work done by Burke and his family to build acceptance of gay athletes has a chance to live on long after Burke?s time in Toronto has been forgotten.

But when it comes to wins and losses, none of that matters. (And please say a small prayer for Maple Leafs fans that this really is about wins and losses, and not about Burke?s ability to play nice with his new corporate masters as some have speculated, because if that?s the case, then this franchise might never win again and wouldn?t deserve to.) Burke may be a good man, but so far in Toronto, he hadn?t been a winning one.

I just tracked down the article and, to give credit where it's due, here is what I think makes the best argument related to the firing regardless of timing or reason:

He came to the Maple Leafs in 2008 when it seemed that the franchise had hit rock bottom, and, as general manager, he never made it significantly better. He missed the NHL playoffs all four years. He took over a team coming off an 83-point season that everyone agreed was a disaster and managed to top that total only once. He compiled a .490 winning percentage, which, in a league that gives out points for losing, is indisputably awful.

All of that might have been acceptable if Burke, who was fired Wednesday, could point to an organization stocked with can?t-miss prospects. But the Leafs don?t even have that. The farm system is in better shape than it was when he inherited it, because it would've been nearly impossible for it not to be. But not by much, and with the (optimistically) possible exception of defenseman Morgan Rielly, it?s lacking the sort of top-tier young talent that almost all of today?s winning NHL teams are built around.

No playoffs. No blue chips. No progress. And, increasingly, no hope. That?s failure, any way you cut it.

And here's the article in it's whole:

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/47108/brian-burke-fired-toronto-maple-leafs

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

DGB says no blue chips - but wouldn't Rielly be considered a blue chip? Even, arguably, Gardiner?

 

[Kin]

DGB says no blue chips - but wouldn't Rielly be considered a blue chip? Even, arguably, Gardiner?

He does say Rielly is the potential exception, were one inclined to look at him optimistically.

 

[Zee]

DGB says no blue chips - but wouldn't Rielly be considered a blue chip? Even, arguably, Gardiner?

That's his opinion, he's entitled to it like anyone else.

 

[Redleaf]

DGB says no blue chips - but wouldn't Rielly be considered a blue chip? Even, arguably, Gardiner?

That's his opinion, he's entitled to it like anyone else.

I'd put Gardiner in that category, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Kin]

I'd put Gardiner in that category, but maybe that's just me.

Realistically, where do you suppose Gardiner ranks among NHL players and prospects his age or younger?

 

[Jalili]

Yeah it's too bad it went this way, because Burke really seems like a good guy and the kind of person you'd want in your corner going to bat for you. And he's pretty sharp too; even if you include his tenure with the Leafs he's had a very successful career as a manager.

But I think that article's dead on, he ran the team into the ground even worse than it was before he got here.

You would expect after 4 years that the team would either be in the playoff mix OR have a stand-out group of young talent. Not having either is one big defeat.