Sportsnet's Doug Maclean reports that new Leafs GM Dave Nonis will be signed to a new three year contract.
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Even the most ardent supporters of Brian Burke knew that the clock was ticking. After four seasons of missing the playoffs, making one of the most criticized and controversial trades in Toronto Maple Leafs history and continual battling with the press, Burke was relieved of his duties as Team President and General Manager Wednesday morning.
The move was sudden and unexpected, as even the most connected hockey insiders were taken aback by the firing. Burke and other members of the Leafs management team went to Hamilton last night to watch the Marlies-Bulldogs game and he was slated to head to New York for the Board of Governors meeting to vote on ratifying the new CBA.
Undoubtedly over the next couple days, the back story of what instigated the sudden dismissal will filter out through the media, but the picture being painted so far is that personal factors led to the move being made, rather than what should ultimately have been the reason for him to lose his job; the success or failure of his team on the ice.
Prime Time Sports host Bob McCown relayed a story about Burke being chastised by a member of the new MLSE board for using salty language in a recent meeting, while Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox mentioned that a segment of the ownership group wanted to fire the GM over the summer and that Bell Media boss George Cope disliked Burke's management style and confrontational nature, considering it an embarrassment to the organization.
There is no question that a case could be made for Burke to have been fired near the end of last season, after the team collapsed in the final two months and finished in the bottom five of the standings, but he was allowed to hire Randy Carlyle to replace Ron Wilson, go through the draft and free agency.
Now just 10 days before the regular-season starts, he is let go.
Not to hearken back to the crazy days of Harold Ballard, but the Maple Leafs franchise was a gong show up until his death in 1990, mostly because of his meddlesome interference in hockey operations. Only after his death was relative sanity and stability established and a level of success achieved under Cliff Fletcher in the early 90s and under Ken Dryden – Pat Quinn in the late ‘90’s/early 2000’s. The meddling returned after Steve Stavro sold his majority share to the Teacher’s Pension Fund in 2003 and Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie replaced Quinn with John Ferguson Jr.
In spite of the controversies and arguments between Burke and Don Cherry or other media members, the organization was revamped and rebuilt under Burke after being summarily demolished by Ferguson.
Speculation is that elements in ownership balked at Burke's refusal to overpay in a deal for
Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo and that may have been the final straw. It could be a case where ownership wanted to dismiss Burke before the season, because if the Leafs were able to make the playoffs, they would not have any basis to get rid of him. If either is the case, then it is a return to the pre-Burke days where day-to-day hockey operations and roster moves are being influenced by members of the MLSE board who know next to nothing about hockey.
Dave Nonis is a very capable hockey man and will be the 180° antithesis to Burke's bombastic nature, which will satisfy those who did not like the outspoken GM, but he will be judged very early in his tenure, if there is any truth to the rumors that a Luongo deal will get done and that Toronto will move significant young assets like Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner or Matt Frattin to get him.
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