Toronto’s Season Is Over

from Mike Brophy of Sportsnet, Leafs GM Brian Burke, who will address the media in his annual postmortem early next week, has now completed three full seasons on the job and has yet to get this franchise into the playoffs. With new ownership taking over soon, you’d have to think next season could be a make-it-or-break-it year for the veteran NHL executive. For all Burke’s chatter about building from the net out and putting together a nasty team that makes life miserable for the opposition, the Maple Leafs still don’t have a true No. 1 stopper and they are as soft as a marshmallow to play against. They also need a No. 1 centre. The Leafs are in a really strange place now. While they have number of quality prospects in their system and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League are poised to make a long playoff run, Burke doesn’t really have time to start another rebuild. He needs results now. How he will make that happen is anybody’s guess; especially when you consider some ...