Brian Burke

I have resisted writing about the Brian Burke firing until now. Several people have asked me to write about the firing, because I have been very critical of Burke in the past.

There is no doubt that Burke deserved to get fired. By his own admission he was a failure at this job. He publicly stated that he did not believe in a 5-year plan and expected to make the playoffs in his first year. Four years later his team was no closer to qualifying for the playoffs.

Burke has proven himself to be a bully, a failure as a GM, a sycophant to the despicable Gary Bettman, an old Boys Club employer of washed up members of the failed GM fraternity. He used his owner's money to employ his industry friends, with no obvious benefit to the team. He extended the contract of his coaching buddy, Wilson, without merit, knowing that he would likely soon have to fire him. He imposed restrictive rules on himself that applied to no one else in the league, that hurt the competitive ability of the team. He held news conferences to describe the deals he could have made, but decided against.

Burke held court in his bloated front office, failing to ice a competitive team. He bullied members of the press that dared question his moves. He was AWOL during Unrestricted Free Agent day, visiting the troops of a nation to which he is not a citizen. It is simple, visit the troops another day. He failed to sign free agents, many of whom grew up in Southern Ontario worshipping the Maple Leafs.

By any objective standard of measurement, Brian Burke was a failure as the Leafs GM. He will benefit from the Old Boys Club for which he promoted and perpetuated. There is always work for washed up GM's in the backscratching NHL. Bettman may need a ball washer and yes man. No one fills the bill quite like Burke.