TORONTO (Aug. 20) – It seems to be the $64,000 question around town this summer, and it’s being pondered in a slightly different way than in previous years: “Will the Maple Leafs be an improved team?” In the half-decade since the 2004-05 owners’ lockout, this question has been similarly posed, but almost always with reservation. Improvement during that time was relative to the patch-work initiative the Leafs deployed. It actually began in 2003 with the hiring of a respected hockey man – John Ferguson – but hardly the runaway top candidate to replace Pat Quinn as general manager. Though Ferguson tried his best in difficult circumstances, neither he nor the franchise could escape the appearance of a sham: Why was the richest team in the National Hockey League settling for a stop-gap in its most important chair?
Just about every move the Leafs made between 2003 and 2008 – fairly or otherwise – was tainted by that perception. As such, the absence of a legitimate goal lingered in the organization like a stubborn virus. Sure, sneaking into the bottom playoff rung would have been nice [it almost happened in 2007], but to what end? The objective of a practical, forward-thinking NHL club should be to either win the Stanley Cup, or to begin putting in place the legitimate building blocks of a championship team. It’s easy to argue that the Leafs embraced neither ambition in the years after the lockout. And, it’s equally simple to perceive how the hiring of Brian Burke, last November, altered the frame-work of the hockey club – perceptually and strategically.
Burke came to the Leafs with his usual pomp and bluster, but also with an irrefutable pedigree. His prior NHL teams had competed for – and won – a championship. Therefore, when he began to harp on the emotional ravages of missing the playoffs year after year, the franchise convention did a complete one-eighty. This wasn’t an untried former assistant speaking wishfully about the future. It was a hard-nosed, resolute man that had raised the Stanley Cup just 17 months earlier. Though the challenges of building the Leafs and Anaheim Ducks are dissimilar, the end result is very much the same. How long it takes to get there comprises the journey.
And that’s why it is perfectly reasonable for the Leafs’ legion of supporters to not only dream of a franchise renaissance, but to start expecting it. Whether that includes a playoff berth in 2009-10 is almost immaterial. Far more significant is the attitude adjustment Burke brought to town… not without risk, by the way. He was admonished in this corner, and others, for setting the bar unrealistically high at the draft in Montreal, and he has spoken brazenly about his objectives for the hockey club. If he fails to deliver, Brian will fall on a sharper sword than those that preceded him. But, that’s what separates Burke from many of his colleagues in the NHL… he is willing to take the chance, consequences be damned. He knows he grates on his fellow managers with his brash demeanor, and that the overwhelming majority of them would revel in his demise. He also knows that words and bold promises have long since become secondary in this town; that even the most dyed-in-the-wool Leafs fan needs to be shown – not told – what the club is capable of.
Still, he is not deterred.
When you listen to Burke, you don’t hear him say “if” about the Maple Leafs. It’s always “when”… and that’s a ballsy tack for a GM in a hockey-crazed town that has known so much disappointment. But, there’s also something entirely believable about his gallantry. Sure, some may look at Burke’s contract term and suggest the Leafs are in no hurry to win the Stanley Cup. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment wouldn’t have landed him without a long-term commitment; both sides understood the task could not be accomplished overnight. There is, however, much to be attained toward the goal of a championship, and Burke knows he’ll be more acutely graded on that level as time progresses.
But, you get the feeling he understands what needs to be done… even if his unabashed words are not immediately complimented by progress. He talks about the playoffs next spring not because he believes the Leafs are capable of winning the Stanley Cup in 2010. Rather, he envisions what a return to the Cup tournament could mean for the psyche of the organization and its loyal subjects.
And that is sound reason to follow his lead, whether or not it comes to fruition.
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