Burke Night A Success For Maple Leafs

So it is now official. Today, Brian Burke was announced as the new General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and official Pope of Leafs Nation. For better or for worse, Leafs fans are going to be in for an interesting 6 years. I have expressed my doubts in the recent past as to whether or not Burke truly is the right man to rebuild this team. I have to admit though, after watching his press conference today I do feel quietly optimistic, and now that it is a done deal I am willing to throw my faith behind our new Pope. Oh, and did I mention the Leafs won tonight?

Before I get to that though, there are a couple of points from Burke's press conference which may have won me over. The guy honestly sounds like a real class act, and he seems genuinely excited to be here. You know, like it doesnt have the feel of just being another job. Oh, and he called Toronto The "Vatican of hockey." Hey Montreal, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

(Brian Burke-seen here being welcomed by Leafs Nation)

He seemed to place an emphasis on making the 3rd and 4th lines alot tougher. As in getting down and blocking shots, aggressive checking, and of course, roughing up anybody that takes a run at our players. Sounds good to me! As long as the top two lines are capable of scoring goals Im perfectly fine with a bottom 6 "goon unit." I think it could be interesting If Burke is able to mix flashy, European-style scoring with North-American, goonish play. He seemed genuinely impressed with Niklas Hagman and Mikhail Grabovski, which helped soothe my fears about losing those guys. He also placed emphasis on creating a shutdown defensive pair, which the Maple Leafs have tried to do this season but failed miserably so far. With that being said, I think the blue-line is where we will see him make the most changes.

Maple Leafs d-men that I think Burke will like are Jeff Finger, Luke Schenn, and of course Jonas Frogren. Finger did have a horrible showing on Wendel Night against the Blackhawks, but seems to have recovered so far. He is a hard hitter and a shot blocker. Burke will like the guy, but Im not so sure if he will like his contract. We will have to wait and see on that one. Luke Schenn goes without saying-a young, physical player who is already capable of shutting down top players in this league. And of course, Frogren the Viking who plays the balls-to-the-wall style that Burke loves. I honestly dont think Jonas Frogren feels any pain. All the hits hes thrown and shots hes blocked have made him permanently numb. He even played with a torn muscle against Chicago, and that is probably why hes going to be on the IR for awhile. Hes going to have to be a bit more careful, but as long as he can stay healthy when he comes back Im sure Burke will be excited about him.

Thomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, and probably even Anton Stralman may have trade bullseyes on them. I think it goes without saying that the trade deadline is going to be an exciting time for Leafs fans, but I hope he is able to finally make the Leafs a tight defensive team.

Oh yeah, the game of course! The Toronto Maple Leafs finally got back into the win column and kept pace with their fellow basement dwellers in the Eastern Conference. The most promising part about this game-as well as the last one against Ottawa-has been the recovery of Vesa Toskala. The Vesa has looked like a much different goalie the past couple of games. If you dont believe me, just ask Dany Heatley! His 34 saves on 35 shots on Thursday had Heatley slamming his stick into the baords in frustration. Coincidentally, Leafs fans had the same reaction just a couple games before-although for different reasons.

The Vesa's lateral movement in the crease has been nothing short of superb. The Leafs now sit 4 points out of a playoff position and if they are going to get back into the hunt, Vesa Toskala will hold the key. If he can keep this up the Leafs offense should have no problem stringing together a winning streak for him. They scored 4 tonight, and among the scorers was Lee Stempniak recording his first goal as a Toronto Maple Leaf! Another plus is that Mike Van Ryn has been skating recently, and may soon be ready to rejoin his teammates on the blueline. This defence misses MVR badly, and if they can hold out until he returns I think he could also have a significant impact on what direction this team goes in. All in all, a great night. The Maple Leafs got their new saviour and a win all in the same night. Here's to a (hopefully) bright future!