And here I thought you died...

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UDL
16 Team H2H - Dynasty

Start 3 C/LW/RW each, 5 D, 1 Util, 2 G (IR)

G/A/P/PIM/PPP/SHP/(+/-)/SOG
W/L/GAA/SV%/SHO

C - Berglund, Little, Ott
LW - EKane, Foligno, Kulemin
RW - Kessel, Backes
D - Weber, Green, Yandle, Meszaros, Voynob, Spurgeon, Stralman, Beauch
G - Lundqvist, Rask
Farm : Markstrom, MikGranlund, Tatar, Brodin, Orlov, Merrill, Stalock, Kabanov, Moore

Well I almost did after today's news.....Segway!

Okay, so here's the skinny. Out of literally nowhere Brian Burke, the 13th General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been "relieved" (i.e. fired, canned, booted) from his duties as GM and President.

Why He was Fired
What do we know for sure? That his attitude as the General Manager was not to the new owner's liking and that his "tone" was bad.

To put that in normal people speak, it seems that the old regime of the Teacher's Pension Plan let Brian Burke run free. Rogers/Bell, the media moguls of Toronto, clearly did not like that he was "bigger than the team". His boisterous, sometimes controversial press conferences and responses to the media could be deemed as bad for the public image and it was decided that it was time for a change.

As much as Tom Anselmi will deny it, everybody and their mother seems to think (and quite logically) that there was a falling out with Burke vs. everyone else regarding the acquisition of Roberto Luongo. Apparently everyone wanted to pull the trigger and Brian was reluctant. It was the straw that broke the camel's back that already had 4 losing seasons and other questionable instances, and he was sent packing.

What's weird about all this is the lack of a fire sale. Nonis becomes GM (more on that later). Poulin and the assistant GMs/advisors keep their jobs. Carlyle keeps his job. And from what we know there are no new players suddenly on the chopping block.

What Burkie Did Wrong

Burke's first mistake as the GM of Toronto was insisting that the team did not need a rebuild. It kinda (sorta really) did. And that bold statement lead to a trade for Phil Kessel, an elite scorer that is the most talented player to play for Toronto since Mats Sundin. However, Burke didn't even fathom that this team was so bad, and a decision to include a lottery protected 1st instead of any 1st in his deal with Boston proves how he misjudged the talent of this team.

He had a moral code that made him a good person, good for the players, and good for the league. But not good for the Leafs. Not involving in cap-circumventing deals despite being the richest team in the NHL? Not doing trades weeks before Christmas? While this makes us a morally correct team it puts the Leafs at a serious disadvantage to other teams that are willing to bend the rules to better benefit themselves.

He didn't play good ol' Ontarian boys, apparently (Credit to Cherry, Don, for this all-so-important realization).

He too brashly went out and signed guys like Connolly and Komisarek to too much money for a team that wasn't ready to win yet.

Never addressed the goalie issue. We needed to address that damn goalie issue.

What Burkie Did Right

Trades. Oh my god did he do trades right. Gardiner, Lupul, Kessel, JVR, Phaneuf, Franson, Liles, and more for very little. He knew how to trade, and well.

Wasn't afraid to call it like he saw it. Always a good thing.

Not gonna get too into it, because it's technically not a hockey-related factor, but damn he was the BEST General Manager of all time regarding public image, community service, and social issues. Never has any figure in hockey done so much to help further gay rights, marching in the pride parade, talking at schools about homophobia, and helping kickstart "You Can Play". He slept outside, gave presents to kids...he did "10 times as much community service as what was seen on TV". He was a truly amazing man who I've had the pleasure to meet and I really wish him all the best. Outstanding man.



Well...let's see what happens this weekend #Luongowatch

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Twitter: @TK12555

hearing franson will be resigned to a one year....

Ha, just saw the MacKenzie tweet.

Leafs play Ottawa, Montreal, Boston 5x each. Buffalo 4x. And it seems every other team in the East 3x.

Franson at 1.2 is just sick value. I sure hope he gets a better shot this season.
10 TSN games and 14 on CBC. Boo yah!!!

Although wait, that might actually be a bad thing. To see such a bad team THAT much. Sigh. But I'll still be excited for every one of them.

Training camp battles are going to be very interesting. Besides the fact that everyone and their mother is waiting on a potential Luongo deal, there are some good storylines to watch.

Keep an eye out for Komarov, who I am convinced makes the team.

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Twitter: @TK12555

Who would become the first Estonian born player to make the NHL.

Heres hoping he's slightly less religious than this former Canadian Born Estonian NHLer:


Been hearing that Burke's firing had been a long time coming. Nonis was always meant to take over for Burke, as the Leafs needed a way to distance themselves, in title alone, from Burke when/if the Steve Moore case made it to trial.

Its just a remour and carries no weight, but I put much more stock into this than him being fired for not pulling the trigger on Luongo.

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Weekly H2H
G / A / P / +- / PowerPlayPoints / Shots / Goalie Wins / GAA / Save%

via twitter:

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ASKL - 10 Team dynasty,G/A=1,PIM=.1,+/- =.2 SOG=.05 (W=2,SO=3) Keep 12F 6D 2G 8BN + farm
F-Perry,Ryan,Giroux,Stastny,Ribeiro,Krejci,Plekanec, JvR,Bergeron,Fleischmann,Grabovski,Cammalleri
D-Letang,Chara,Edler,Boyle,Giordano,Gardiner,
G-Rinne,Crawford
Bench-Bernier,Reimer,Parenteau,Callahan,Downie,Kulemin, Meszaros,Nikitin
Farm- Namestnikov,Khoklachev,Rundblad,Despres,Jensen, L.Adam,Barberio,Galiev,Telegin,Hertl,Aberg

Komarov is a pretty good bet to make the team on the 4th line and could surprise on the 3rd.