Burke is All In
Being a General Manager of an NHL Hockey team is quite similar to sitting down at a high rollers table at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and having a marathon session of no-limit hold’em poker versus some of the biggest and meanest sharks in the ocean.
With a Leafs team stuck in the bottom 5 of [...]
How do you define “Opportunity”?
After recovering from the initial shock of the Leafs trading yet another highly rated, potentially top end prospect (Tlusty in this case) for picks, prospects (Paradis in this case) or players who at best can be defined as “depth” acquisitions, I decided to sit back, absorb all of the feedback and coverage from this transaction [...]
What I have learned…..
I have always believed that a persons real intelligence level is a sum of what they allow themselves to learn from others. Book smarts, education, degrees, etc are all an indication of knowledge – but, nothing adds to a persons real world IQ more then lessons learned. Real intelligent people are able to learn by [...]
Will it actually happen?
Having literally begged and pleaded since before the pre-season for the Maple Leafs to run with their youth and play any semblance of NHL ready prospects and players available to them, is this horrific start actually bad enough and embarassing enough to force Mr Burke to finally and mercifully bring on the youth movement this team [...]
Why the Turn Around?
Watching the Leafs play this season has already clearly demonstrated 3 distinct and separate teams. Team1 started the season on a dreadful 0-6-1 streak. Team2 surfaced on the teams first extended raod trip, and although losing the opener by the closest of margins in Vancouver, they managed to rally off a string of impressive games, [...]
Great Work Gus!!!
Wanted to take a minute and congratulate our very own Gus Katsaros on his segment on the Fan590 this afternoon. Outstanding analysis of both the Phil Kessel/Savard relationship and analysis of the Boston Bruins schedule last year vs this year. The little snip at Mr MacLean at the end was priceless as well.. Congrats Gus, [...]
Time for the kids…
I must confess, I bought in. I bought into the mantra of improved team toughness, improved goaltending, improved and revamped defense, and an improved top6 forward unit possessing speed and skill who would be protected and insulated by a tough as nails complimentary group of players. I watched the pre-season and was salivating at the [...]
The Stralman Quandry
Since taking over the reigns of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brian Burke identified several glaring weaknesses in his team. In several press conferences, he clearly and succinctly described these weaknesses and his intention and plans to amend his product. Being one of the more active General Managers, commencing with the NCAA free agent period right [...]