Brian Burke Fired by the Leafs

So, on the Fan590 this morning, word was that the new Bell/Rogers ownership did not like Burke at all from the start. They didn't care for his methods and his overall behaviour/personality. He was very combative with the media in Toronto, which is largely owned by Bell and Rogers so I'm sure that didn't help too much. Sounds like they wanted a more "corporate" person in there to be the face of the team, for whatever reason.

Burke's record in Toronto speaks for itself. I don't think anyone doubted his time in Toronto was coming to an end sooner or later. The biggest surprise in all this was the timing. Why now? Why not a few months ago?

I can understand wanting to start the season with the GM you want, but that should have been done long ago as it sounds like these discussions have been going on for some time with ownership.

If they let it go this far, they at least deserved to give Burke the benefit of a 48-game season to try and do something with what he put together. The new CBA has Burke's finger prints all over it.

The Luongo "situation" may have played into this but I don't think it was the main factor, if one at all. He may have told ownership he has no interest in trading for Luongo or that the price that was being asked was way too high (which Nonis agrees with from what I hear) or that the contract was way too long etc... but the GM is the guy that should be making those decisions. Ownership should not be getting into those details and trying to control those decisions.

I'm sure pieces of the truth will leak out eventually. Some media have mentioned that since his son's death, he has not been the same, which is understandable. Some mentioned that he was more aggressive and angry with the media. Maybe that was a factor too. Who knows.

As always, never a dull moment here in Toronto. The donkey rodeo continues...

This was, as mentioned, a corporate decision. Every "hockey person" knows it is just dumb to fire your GM right before the season begins, when you've had something like 6 months to do it (since new ownership took over). This was a decision made by a bunch of suits who know diddly about running sports teams. This is just a massive sideshow for the team, including the players, at the worst possible time.

Pretty much every hockey insider on TV yesterday was pretty much dumbfounded by the situation. No one could justify the timing of this at all. Right move, worst possible time. A typical Maple Leaf situation. Good god I'm glad to be a Sens fan.

tim1_2 wrote:This was, as mentioned, a corporate decision. Every "hockey person" knows it is just dumb to fire your GM right before the season begins, when you've had something like 6 months to do it (since new ownership took over). This was a decision made by a bunch of suits who know diddly about running sports teams. This is just a massive sideshow for the team, including the players, at the worst possible time.

Pretty much every hockey insider on TV yesterday was pretty much dumbfounded by the situation. No one could justify the timing of this at all. Right move, worst possible time. A typical Maple Leaf situation. Good god I'm glad to be a Sens fan.

This is all quite delicious.

This makes me appreciate Melnyk so much more. He lets Murray run the team, the way it should be.

Just morons who don't know anything about assembling a hockey team. This should have been done a year ago, not 10 days before the start of a half season. Dumb and funny.

SpezDispenser wrote:Just morons who don't know anything about assembling a hockey team. This should have been done a year ago, not 10 days before the start of a half season. Dumb and funny.

The fact they said "this is what our shareholders want" is all you need to know. Good luck to the Leafs... people in Toronto might want to jump on board that Markham team in short order.

shabbs wrote:So, on the Fan590 this morning, word was that the new Bell/Rogers ownership did not like Burke at all from the start. They didn't care for his methods and his overall behaviour/personality. He was very combative with the media in Toronto, which is largely owned by Bell and Rogers so I'm sure that didn't help too much. Sounds like they wanted a more "corporate" person in there to be the face of the team, for whatever reason.

Burke's record in Toronto speaks for itself. I don't think anyone doubted his time in Toronto was coming to an end sooner or later. The biggest surprise in all this was the timing. Why now? Why not a few months ago?

I can understand wanting to start the season with the GM you want, but that should have been done long ago as it sounds like these discussions have been going on for some time with ownership.

If they let it go this far, they at least deserved to give Burke the benefit of a 48-game season to try and do something with what he put together. The new CBA has Burke's finger prints all over it.

The Luongo "situation" may have played into this but I don't think it was the main factor, if one at all. He may have told ownership he has no interest in trading for Luongo or that the price that was being asked was way too high (which Nonis agrees with from what I hear) or that the contract was way too long etc... but the GM is the guy that should be making those decisions. Ownership should not be getting into those details and trying to control those decisions.

I'm sure pieces of the truth will leak out eventually. Some media have mentioned that since his son's death, he has not been the same, which is understandable. Some mentioned that he was more aggressive and angry with the media. Maybe that was a factor too. Who knows.

As always, never a dull moment here in Toronto. The donkey rodeo continues...

Maybe they expected there would not be a season.

Since the Leafs are run by a board it took them that long to agree on this. Bell wanted to sack Burke right away, but Rogers wanted to hold off or something.

They probably wanted a corporate yes man, I can't see Burke being told what to do by execs who know nothing about hockey.

Nonis seemed to indicate they have some big decisions to make over the next few days which makes me think this is about Luongo. New ownership wants to make a big splash and Burke didn't want to do it.

MLSE has always meddled in hockey operations. New ownership, same mentality.

Dreger said this morning that Burke would have been fired somewhere around this time if it had been a full season and the team was not in a playoff position. He also said that this had nothing to do with Luongo.

wprager wrote:Maybe they expected there would not be a season.

On the day the CBA was being voted on by owners after an agreement? Nah...

File this under the category: "Just another stupid boneheaded move by MLSE."

SeawaySensFan wrote:Dreger said this morning that Burke would have been fired somewhere around this time if it had been a full season and the team was not in a playoff position. He also said that this had nothing to do with Luongo.

Heh. Interesting...

John Shannon on SNet is saying Nonis will be replaced in the summer, contrary to what is publicly said.

Hoags wrote:John Shannon on SNet is saying Nonis will be replaced in the summer, contrary to what is publicly said.

That makes no sense.

tim1_2 wrote:

Hoags wrote:John Shannon on SNet is saying Nonis will be replaced in the summer, contrary to what is publicly said.

That makes no sense.

John Shannon also reported in the summer that the Luongo deal was "done" and that the next jersey Bobby Lou would be wearing was a Leafs one.

So... we shall see...

shabbs wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Dreger said this morning that Burke would have been fired somewhere around this time if it had been a full season and the team was not in a playoff position. He also said that this had nothing to do with Luongo.

Heh. Interesting...

Maybe they figured that if the Leafs still weren't competitive by a certain date, then they'd can him. So they added a reminder in their Outlook Calendar, with a link to the NHL standings page. So yesterday morning the reminder pops up, they click on the link, find out the Leafs are 13th in the East and fire Burke.

It's as good an explanation as any.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Dreger said this morning that Burke would have been fired somewhere around this time if it had been a full season and the team was not in a playoff position. He also said that this had nothing to do with Luongo.

Heh. Interesting...

Maybe they figured that if the Leafs still weren't competitive by a certain date, then they'd can him. So they added a reminder in their Outlook Calendar, with a link to the NHL standings page. So yesterday morning the reminder pops up, they click on the link, find out the Leafs are 13th in the East and fire Burke.

It's as good an explanation as any.

That's outstanding!

Who's the bigger tool, Kypreos, Shannon, Spector or Simmons? My vote is Simmons, but it's close.

shabbs wrote:
John Shannon also reported in the summer that the Luongo deal was "done" and that the next jersey Bobby Lou would be wearing was a Leafs one.

So... we shall see...

Yeah I know but pretty much everyone is saying Lu is going to Toronto.

He's stuck his neck out a lot lately so it's interesting to see if he is correct.