Hockey is back, and within days the Leafs are starting over in a state of disarray. It's amazing how unchangeable this franchise is. During the time they've been mired as confused also-rans, Pittsburgh has gone from nobodies to champs back to nobodies and back to champs. But it takes a special kind of organizational dysfunction to fire your General Manager just days before the start of a shortened season.
Supposedly a big part of the reason GM Burke was fired was his reluctance to trade for Roberto Luongo. Personally, I don't blame him for avoiding the trade. On the one hand, it looks like something that could work well. Vancouver needs to trade a goalie with a long and expensive contract, and Toronto needs goaltending and has space under the salary cap. On the other hand, the trade looks like such a Maple Leafy thing to do: trade youngsters for a the most famous and expensive player on the market, all to improve a team that at most will just squeak into the playoffs. I guess what I'm saying is: you remember that episode of Seinfeld where George becomes so frustrated with his life that he decides he's going to start doing the opposite of whatever he'd normally do? Well the Leafs are the George Costanza of sports franchises, they might want to try it.
Although I didn't always agree with Burke, one thing he said that I really appreciated was that he wouldn't mortgage the future to barely make the playoffs and get creamed in the first round. It's an attitude the Leafs haven't had in living memory. Unfortunately, he said it just before L.A. finished eighth then won the cup. That made Burke look foolish, and played into the fantasy of many a Canadian hockey fan that you just have to make it into the playoffs and anything can happen. Of course that's only the superficial impression that one gets from the Kings' championship. Look closer and you see that the Kings are stacked with talent, and their poor regular season play was a product of a slow start owing to a hastily-put-together team finding its rhythm. Whenever actual mediocre but over achieving teams go on a playoff run, they do always get crushed by a more talented team eventually. That's why the Kings' title was one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history: they didn't just win a championship, they did it in a deceptive way that will have rivals following self-destructive strategies for years to come.
Supposedly a big part of the reason GM Burke was fired was his reluctance to trade for Roberto Luongo. Personally, I don't blame him for avoiding the trade. On the one hand, it looks like something that could work well. Vancouver needs to trade a goalie with a long and expensive contract, and Toronto needs goaltending and has space under the salary cap. On the other hand, the trade looks like such a Maple Leafy thing to do: trade youngsters for a the most famous and expensive player on the market, all to improve a team that at most will just squeak into the playoffs. I guess what I'm saying is: you remember that episode of Seinfeld where George becomes so frustrated with his life that he decides he's going to start doing the opposite of whatever he'd normally do? Well the Leafs are the George Costanza of sports franchises, they might want to try it.
Although I didn't always agree with Burke, one thing he said that I really appreciated was that he wouldn't mortgage the future to barely make the playoffs and get creamed in the first round. It's an attitude the Leafs haven't had in living memory. Unfortunately, he said it just before L.A. finished eighth then won the cup. That made Burke look foolish, and played into the fantasy of many a Canadian hockey fan that you just have to make it into the playoffs and anything can happen. Of course that's only the superficial impression that one gets from the Kings' championship. Look closer and you see that the Kings are stacked with talent, and their poor regular season play was a product of a slow start owing to a hastily-put-together team finding its rhythm. Whenever actual mediocre but over achieving teams go on a playoff run, they do always get crushed by a more talented team eventually. That's why the Kings' title was one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history: they didn't just win a championship, they did it in a deceptive way that will have rivals following self-destructive strategies for years to come.
Didn't mortgage the future? What about Phil Kessel for two first-round picks and a second rounder?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was a bad trade. Early on in his tenure Burke talked about a quick rebuilding, which didn't make much sense to me given how little talent the team had. That was caving in to the notion that Leaf fans are somehow above waiting for a winner.
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