McKenzie tweeting Burke fired as Toronto GM

[doulos]

Do you really believe this? I hope you're right, but I think the group of people who still don't support gay rights is much more than a "small minority."

At the worst I think the vast majority of people don't care enough either way to let it influence their hockey purchasing decisions. Toronto and area is not exactly a hotbed of conservatism either.

[thatbirdguy]

Toronto and area is not exactly a hotbed of conservatism either.

Tell that to the last mayor they elected.

[The Guvnah]

It's really funny you say that because I actually am involved in 100million dollar project decisions on a daily basis, are you? I suspect not or you'd understand that when you're rolling in that world you don't sweat a few million bucks or everyone would be a nervous wreck. Hell, I've seen tens of millions dumped into projects only to have the plug pulled on them before completion due to changing economic climates. The point is we make the decisions we make in the moment with the information we have available to us and don't look back.

Anyway, I digress. You're simply cherry picking a few signings that appear bad in hindsight and using that as evidence of Burke's poor skills as a GM. Please name me a GM in the league who doesn't have a few signings in the past few years he doesn't regret?

Burke was given the money to spend, he spent it on available players and some of them didn't work out. Once again I ask; who cares? If you think that's the measure of Burkes success or failure then you have COMPLETELY missed the point.

Does your 100 million dollar project involve a salary cap? I doubt it. Making bad signings is far more harmful in a salary cap league. The Leafs don't care about the 4 mil they're paying guys like Conolly and Komisarek. You're right about that much. The cap space is the issue when you sign guys to bad contracts.

At any rate, I don't think Burke did a bad job as GM of the Leafs. I certainly wouldn't rate him based on those few bad signings. His biggest failure was miscalculating how good his team was when he traded those draft picks for Kessel. Like somebody else said, if they finish higher that year, nobody gets as upset about the Kessel trade. It's all because the Seguin name was attached to it and at this point it's still all potential. Seguin has one 60 point season so far, Kessel has had three of those for the Leafs already.

The timing is weird on this though, but it's pretty obvious that he rubbed somebody the wrong way. If it's because he wouldn't trade the team's future away for Luongo, that's just sad and it proves that Leafs fans have a long, long wait before they see their team win the Cup.

[waddy1788]

I really think this is about the new owners, Bell/Rogers, wanting to bring in their own guy that will "tow the corporate line" so to speak. 4 of the 6 board of directors of MLSE are either Rogers or Bell employees. The last two are minority owner Tanebaum, and Dale Lastman who is a high profile lawyer in Toronto. Do you think Bell/Rogers have their fingers all over this thing?

As for timing, I don't think it is that questionable. Burke was one of the Leafs representatives during the CBA negotiations. They could not fire him during the negotiation process. There is a trade freeze until the new CBA is ratified. Teams cannot make deals until it is signed on the dotted line. If the board of directors wanted a new guy, their new guy, why not wait till Burke has finished the negotiations, and then relieve him of his duties before he can make any personnel decisions/moves/trades. Then bring in your new guy just before the trade freeze has lifted and he can start making all of the decisions.

Look what the new owners have done to the TFC. They have already changed the manager, coach, etc. Now they are doing it to the Leafs. If I was Bryan Colangelo of the Raptors, I would be calling my agent and my real estate agent!

Just my take on the whole thing. Your thoughts/opinions would be appreciated!