Burke on Leafs Lunch

by Alec Brownscombe on March 2, 2009 in Uncategorized - 37 Comments

Update: A source’s response to Brian Burke‘s rhetoric: “Burkie’s making me laugh…do you believe a thing he says right now? They’ve mulled over a number of offers and will continue to do so. He’s trying to temper expectations here as he doesn’t know if he can get the king’s ransom on these deals like he’s aiming for. Believe me, he’d almost trade the whole team less Schenn if he could. The Kaberle – Bruins denial was semantics as well.”

The recap from Burke’s appearance on Leafs Lunch:

-Burke was evincing the attitude towards the deadline that’s been reported here at MLHS on many occasions… he’s sitting back and waiting for teams to meet his admittedly lofty demands (and they may never). He at one point commented that GMs should expect to overpay if they want to bolster their team for the playoff run.
-Burke will know by the end of the night whether or not Dominic Moore can be re-signed. The word is that the two sides are a million dollars apart, so it doesn’t sound like Moore will be sticking around past March 4th unless there’s a sudden change of heart on Moore’s part. Burke’s set his limits and will not budge. The Leafs cannot afford to have a bottom six plumber earning a figure just south of $3 million, especially with the expected lowering of the salary cap by as much as $6 million after the 2010-’11 season.

-Burke was offered a 2nd round pick for Ian White last week and turned it down. Burke likes White’s toughness and endeavor but he wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s untouchable. It’s very unlikely a team will meet his demand which likely matches the return NYI received from Ottawa for Campoli (a 1st).

-No intriguing offers yet for either Alexei Ponikarovsky or Nik Antropov.

-As he did in his interview with TSN this morning, Burke denied existence of the Tomas Kaberle offer from the B’s reported by the Boston Herald yesterday (Joe Colborne, a 1st and a 2nd). I find it very, very hard to believe there’s been no discussion at all between the two clubs, though. Burke’s consistently been tempering any and all Kaberle rumours because there’s the real possibility that he holds onto him until the summer.

-He currently has an offer on the table  that involves two Leaf players being shipped out for a player and a prospect, but will likely reject the offer. Going to look into this.

It’s starting to seem like a good bet that Dominic Moore and Nik Antropov will be the two biggest pieces moved before the deadline (if Moore-Burke can’t come to terms). It has become increasingly apparent that the best could very well have to wait until the summer.

Tags: Alexei Ponikarovsky, Boston Herald, Brian Burke, burke, Dominic Moore, Ian White, Joe Colborne, National Hockey League, Nik Antropov, ottawa, player, The Boston Herald, Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs, USD Print article