Brian Burke and Ron Wilson are Bulletproof

...Or Maybe They Have a Thick Coat of Teflon?


These two must have incriminating pictures of every member of the Toronto media. The normally fickle hockey press corps, with the loudest voices emanating primarily from the panelists on TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, is somehow giving Brian Burke and Ron Wilson a relatively free pass for the absolute quagmire that is the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. Let's recap quickly for those that haven't been following:


1. Ron Wilson joins the Maple Leafs prior to the 2008-2009 season. Wilson is largely regarded as a major upgrade from his predecessor, Paul Maurice (I don't necessarily agree with this assertion, but this is the popularly held belief).


2. After a lot of posturing by both sides, the Maple Leafs and Brian Burke unite in holy matrimony on November 29th, 2008. Every single member of the media approves of the move. Talk of Brian Burke's history as a "winner" is bandied about freely. Glory days are sure to follow


3. Burke, on multiple occasions, goes on the record as saying no one on the Leafs current roster is safe, except maybe Luke Schenn. He promises the team will be harder to play against. He over-uses the word truculent to the point that all meaning is lost.


4. The Leafs finish a surprisingly respectable 34-35-13 for 81 points. At the outset of the 2008-2009 season, it was generally agreed that the Leafs would be one of the worst teams in the NHL. Ron Wilson is touted in some corners as a candidate for Coach of the Year.


5. In the weeks leading up to the NHL Draft, Burke makes it abundantly clear that he wants to move up to take Tavares. His refusal to include Luke Schenn in any trade eventually forces the Leafs to select from their original position, 7th. They select Nazim Kadry.


6. Burke makes a couple of free agent signings outside of the NHL. Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak and Jonas Gustavsson join the team. Gustavsson is the only one of the three to make the team out of training camp.


7. Burke signs two well known NHL defensemen: Mike Komisarek and François Beauchemin. Both are regarded as being upgrades for the team's swiss cheese defense.


8. The most hotly debated of Burke's moves: the Phil Kessel trade. Burke trades the Leafs' first and second round picks in the 2010 draft, as well as the Leafs' first round pick in the 2011 draft to acquire the sniper. Kessel signs a 5 year, 27 million dollar contract.


That's a quick-hit synopsis of the Leafs under Burke and Wilson. Mix it all together and you have the Toronto Maple Leafs at 3-11-6 and in a state of complete disarray. Recently, Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star wrote a column in which he interviewed sports prognosticator Ken Roberts. Mr. Roberts developed a complex simulation system that he uses to forecast the NHL season. In Mr. Roberts' simulations, the Leafs made the playoffs 1.7% of the time. Let's think about that number: 1.7%. Barely a quarter of the season has been played, and the Leafs are basically statistically eliminated.



John Ferguson Junior Part II?

Not to bring up the ghosts of Leafs GMs past, but if John Ferguson had a start to the season this bad, he would have been drawn and quartered by now. What exactly have Burke and Wilson done to give themselves so much credibility?

Wilson's supposed strength, bringing defensive accountability to his team, has turned out to be the team's biggest weakness. In 2008-2009, the Leafs gave up 293 goals, which ranked dead last in the NHL. This year, they have given up 77 goals, which currently ranks second last (Only Carolina has given up more, 80, and Toronto's got a whole game in hand to make up that difference). If they continue at their stunningly inept pace, the Leafs would give up a whopping 316 goals. That's amazingly terrible.

Wilson promised that players would be held accountable. Maybe the players are being held accountable for their play, but it doesn't seem to be doing them much good. I hate to speculate on locker room dynamics, and from what I've seen the Leafs do seem to play hard, but they are so far from cohesive it's scary.

Burke's record of player acquisition reads even worse. His three non-NHL signings are at best works in progress. Gustavsson has a 3.23 GAA and a save percentage of .901. It's early, but there's not a whole lot to go on there. Bozak and Hanson are still in the AHL. Maybe these three will work out, maybe, but things aren't exactly looking rosy on that front.

The NHL signings were absolute disasters. I don't know why anyone ever thought that signing Mike Komisarek to a 5 year contract at 4.5 (!!) million per year was a good idea. Komisarek has 12 goals, 46 assits for 58 points IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. 377 games of offensive futility. For a supposedly defensively sound player, he sure seems to be out of position a lot too. I guess he's just trying to be truculent in his observing of defensive zone responsibility. The Beauchemin signing is definitely more defensible, but again, his defensive zone play hasn't exactly been inspiring.

And finally, the Kessel fiasco. The only reason this is even a conversation is because Kessel is playing out of his mind right now. And he hasn't even been THAT good. Kessel has 5 goals and 8 points in 8 games. Certainly a good thing, and he's looked sharp. But let's say he keeps that up (I doubt it, he's never been a point a game player), the Leafs gave up three of their four best chances to get better in the next two years for one point a game player. I wouldn't say he's even one of the 20 or 30 best players in the league.

Burke now has three assets that he could possibly trade: Kessel, Kaberle and Schenn. Anyone else on that team is absolutely toxic and no way another GM is touching them with a ten foot clown pole. What could he reasonably expect in return for Kaberle, the only one that he would probably trade? A top 6 forward and a second round pick? A first and third round pick? The Leafs would have taken 2 steps forward and 3 backwards. This is the amazing part about it, not only have Burke and Wilson made the Leafs worse in the short term, they are almost certainly worse off in the long term too. Where are they going?

Which brings me back to my original point. Why is Burke made of Teflon? What's his plan going forward? There is no argument to be made that he's rebuilding, and there's definitely not a claim to be made that the Leafs are better in the short term. And Wilson's team is the most disorganized and inefficient in the league; not exactly signs of quality coaching. I am not saying they need to be fired, it's a small sample size and they have a track record of reasonable success in the past. But please, please, someone hold these guys accountable. The media practically drove JFJ out with pitchforks and torches for much less than this disaster.

I wonder what the pictures depict.

NB