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Burke Fired

Zee said:
Significantly Insignificant said:
Zee said:
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Zee said:
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Zee said:
It was surprising to hear that Burke suggested he stay on as an adviser.  I guess the board wanted to cut ties completely. 

I'm of the view that Cope wanted Burke gone and only him. The others just finally relented. I think it's entirely possible that Burke was thinking of his friend Dave Nonis, more than what transpired.

Cope?

He's the CEO of Bell, right? It's my understanding that it was him that didn't like Burke and clamored for it since the sale of the Teacher's portion.

Oh didn't know his name.  I heard the rumors that it was more Bell than anyone else that wanted Burke gone.  Who knows the truth at this point.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the board of governors and Burke.

And God.

And Hockey Jeebus.
 
hockeyfan1 said:
Guru Tugginmypuddah said:
Zee said:
Rob said:
‏@michaelgrange
Burke press conference scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at ACC I'm told ... #Leafs

Interview preview here:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/article/1313781--brian-burke-exclusive-interview-former-maple-leafs-gm-says-he-was-stunned-by-firing

I love that man!  Verklempt!

Classy individual.  Loves the city and calls the Leafs "the crown jewel" of the league.  And some idiot had the temerity to smash the back window of his car.  Whomever did that doesn't have a brain!

Very classy !!
 
lol

@DownGoesBrown: Today at noon: Entire Toronto media sits awkwardly in an empty room as Brian Burke skips through the press parking lot smashing car windows.
 
You know one thing in all the circus of things being said about Burke whether good or bad, is the case of  Matt Fratten whom may turn out to be the best player the Leafs have brought through there system in years. Yes he was drafted by JFJ but he started to derail his life with alcohol and excesses that had him kicked off his College team.  Does anyone remember it was Burke who flew out and sat with Matt and his Dad and spelled out his future, with or without the booze? Has Fratten not made the most dramatic rise since that meeting of just about any athlete in sports?
Give this one to Burke..I am very sorry to see him go, but if go he must..then it should have been handled with "class" not more of the same that Ballard poisoned the franchise with for over 25 years....I am afraid we are in for more of the same with Mr.George "Fathead" Cope in charge.
 
Given Burke's Sun comments about being blindsided, this now strikes me even more as something that recently or specifically occurred, no?  If this is a personality issue, would BelRog (or any "normal" company) not have warned Burke to tone it down etc? Burke has certainly been out of the spotlight through the lockout compared to normal although  you certainly can attribute that to the lack of games. If Burke's telling the truth then I think it's even more a pile of bull crap that's being foisted upon us.

One more note. Anselmi was on Team1040 in Vanouver this am and said one interesting thing. MLSE priority was going to shift - less of the growth priority to more focusing on the performance of the team(s). He still sounds like a BS artist to me (only my opinion).
 
Highlander said:
Has Fratten not made the most dramatic rise since that meeting of just about any athlete in sports?

You...you mean the guy who had 15 points in 56 games on the third line of a bad hockey team last year? No. No, I think there have been slightly more dramatic rises.
 
lamajama said:
Given Burke's Sun comments about being blindsided, this now strikes me even more as something that recently or specifically occurred, no?  If this is a personality issue, would BelRog (or any "normal" company) not have warned Burke to tone it down etc? Burke has certainly been out of the spotlight through the lockout compared to normal although  you certainly can attribute that to the lack of games. If Burke's telling the truth then I think it's even more a pile of bull crap that's being foisted upon us.

One more note. Anselmi was on Team1040 in Vanouver this am and said one interesting thing. MLSE priority was going to shift - less of the growth priority to more focusing on the performance of the team(s). He still sounds like a BS artist to me (only my opinion).

The two aren't mutually exclusive. If MLSE can't chew gum and walk at the same time then I really don't know what to say.
 
To me making more money off the Leafs and winning go hand in hand. If Rogers/Bell is serious about making a winning team the increased profits will follow. You get back the disillusioned fan who had given up on the Leafs ever being good again and you increase the fan base 100 fold. Believe me "Leafs fans" will come out of the closet en mass if this team became a serious contender. 
 
Zee said:
To me making more money off the Leafs and winning go hand in hand. If Rogers/Bell is serious about making a winning team the increased profits will follow. You get back the disillusioned fan who had given up on the Leafs ever being good again and you increase the fan base 100 fold. Believe me "Leafs fans" will come out of the closet en mass if this team became a serious contender.

Oh I agree 1000x. It was interesting to hear him acknowledge the growth side though.
 
Zee said:
To me making more money off the Leafs and winning go hand in hand. If Rogers/Bell is serious about making a winning team the increased profits will follow. You get back the disillusioned fan who had given up on the Leafs ever being good again and you increase the fan base 100 fold. Believe me "Leafs fans" will come out of the closet en mass if this team became a serious contender.

But I think there's a pretty clear difference there. MLSE, under Peddie and the OTTP, put a high priority on using their ownership of the Leafs to position themselves to make money in other ventures like restaurants, real estate and so on. Saying that they want to shift priority away from things like that to the teams make sense because A) they're media companies and so their primary interest is in the Leafs/Raptors as media properties and B) even if the restaurants/whatever are successful they're just drops in the ocean considering the size of Bell/Rogers.
 
Nice joke about wishing they told him before he went to Russia and caught a cold.

Of course the media who are about as funny as a boot in the testicles did not laugh, no doubt they'll report he was not joking.

He will not advise hockey operations, adviser job is to the board which he just found out.  I suspect Nonis personal relationship means he'll still be an informal adviser for hockey ops.
 
Burke says that he was under the impression that the senior adviser role was to the hockey operations team, but it apparently is to Tom and the board. Interesting. Didn't seem pleased about that.
 

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