From Damian Cox of the Toronto Star,
Last winter, the Leafs were an outfit adrift without personality, a club that had scored a bunch of goals early in the season, was terrible defensively, wasn't ornery to play against and, depending on the game, might fill out half or more of its lineup with skilled European-born and trained players.
Today, the Leafs are destined to be one of the NHL's goonier teams, a club dominated by North American talent and muscle, a team that surely has a distinct personality sculpted entirely by Burke.
He has changed the roster, added front office personnel, lured one of the game's top goalie coaches and revamped the pro and amateur scouting staffs. A club that not that long ago seemed unattractive to players with other choices has in rapid succession outbid stiff competition for Mike Komisarek, François Beauchemin, Colton Orr, Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak, netminder Jonas Gustavsson and, really, Kessel.
For each of these players there were at least three bidders and in some cases four times that many. But Burke got them all.
Suddenly, the Leafs are a destination, mostly because of Burke's personal touch. He pursued Hanson and Bozak for months. He twice went to Sweden to chase Gustavsson. Kessel, while disputing Boston GM Peter Chiarelli's assertion that he asked for a trade, clearly decided some time ago that being aggressively courted in Toronto was a great deal more enjoyable than being tolerated in Boston.
http://thestar.com/article/698302
Last winter, the Leafs were an outfit adrift without personality, a club that had scored a bunch of goals early in the season, was terrible defensively, wasn't ornery to play against and, depending on the game, might fill out half or more of its lineup with skilled European-born and trained players.
Today, the Leafs are destined to be one of the NHL's goonier teams, a club dominated by North American talent and muscle, a team that surely has a distinct personality sculpted entirely by Burke.
He has changed the roster, added front office personnel, lured one of the game's top goalie coaches and revamped the pro and amateur scouting staffs. A club that not that long ago seemed unattractive to players with other choices has in rapid succession outbid stiff competition for Mike Komisarek, François Beauchemin, Colton Orr, Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak, netminder Jonas Gustavsson and, really, Kessel.
For each of these players there were at least three bidders and in some cases four times that many. But Burke got them all.
Suddenly, the Leafs are a destination, mostly because of Burke's personal touch. He pursued Hanson and Bozak for months. He twice went to Sweden to chase Gustavsson. Kessel, while disputing Boston GM Peter Chiarelli's assertion that he asked for a trade, clearly decided some time ago that being aggressively courted in Toronto was a great deal more enjoyable than being tolerated in Boston.
http://thestar.com/article/698302
