Brophy on Leafs: Burke looking to end slide
Posted January 15, 2012 11:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hmm, wonder if this will intensify Brian Burke’s desire to make a quick trade to upgrade his team?
It’s not like two straight losses is a reason to press the panic button under normal circumstances, but when you have missed the playoffs for six straight seasons, you kind of want to nip losing streaks in the bud.
The Leafs president and general manager traditionally likes to make his roster moves well before the trade deadline. He has admitted he has been working the phones and the word — according to a few pro scouts — is Burke would like to add a power forward, a veteran defenceman, and some are saying he might even be looking for an experienced goaltender, too.
Burke’s shopping list probably isn’t a whole lot different than most teams.
The Leafs have been in a playoff position for most of the year, but back-to-back losses against the Sabres in Buffalo Friday night and the Rangers at home on Saturday has them perilously close to falling out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto has four more games remaining in its long home stand (nine out of 10 games being played at Air Canada Centre before hitting the road again) and don’t want to waste them.
Toronto won four straight at ACC before Saturday’s loss to the Rangers.
Overall, considering the injuries they have had to deal with, this has been a bit of a breakout season for the Leafs. Realistically, however, while they remain playoff contenders, the only time their name is mentioned in reference to winning the Stanley Cup is when people talk about 1967 and black and white television. And winning the Cup is Burke’s goal.
He has done a nice job stocking his organization with young talent, but his work is far from over.
The defending Staley Cup champion Boston Bruins remain the team to beat in the East, but the Rangers are close. New York is a big, strong, physical team with good goaltending, a solid work ethic and high-end skill on its top two lines. That said, the Maple Leafs defeated New York twice this season by a score of 4-2, so that in itself is a good indication Toronto is moving in the right direction.
But Burke wants to win now.
“I’m not interested in getting our asses kicked in the first round,” Burke said in an interview on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 this week. “I’m not paid just to get in the playoffs. We could have got in last year if we traded our kids for a couple of 30-year-olds. I want to get in with a reasonable chance to advance or bloody somebody’s nose while doing it. I think we will do something (trade-wise).”
There had been talk the Maple Leafs were targeting big winger James van Riemsdyk of the Philadelphia Flyers, but he is out with a concussion so it is unlikely Burke would continue to push for him at this point. There has also been chatter that the Anaheim Ducks had put some of their best players – namely Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan – on the market, but the feeling around the league is GM Bob Murray said that to try to light a fire under his underachieving team’s butts.
Burke admitted fourth-year defenceman Luke Schenn could be moved, although he assured the 22-year-old he is not currently part of any deal he is working on.
One pro scout told sportsnet.ca the Leafs would be crazy to not be looking for an upgrade in net. While James Reimer and most recently Jonas Gustavsson have been adequate, neither is a proven starter in the NHL.
“Goaltending has not been a problem for the Leafs,” the scout said, “but if they want to make the playoffs and want to win a round, they might want to get somebody with playoff experience.”
For the third straight game the Leafs’ top scoring duo of Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul were held off the score sheet. That would be okay if the club’s second unit of Mikhail
Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and the variety of wingers that skated with them Saturday night pitched in as they have the past few games, but against the Rangers the line was silenced, as was the entire team.
The Leafs were thoroughly out-played in the first period, and worse, they were manhandled – out-hit by the visitors 27-8. The Rangers game plan was obvious from the outset and that was to target Toronto’s best players; namely Kessel, Lupul and captain Dion Phaneuf.
It seemed like every time they touched the puck, a Ranger slammed into them. Kessel, in particular, didn’t like the close checking and cross-checked in retaliation a couple of times after he was belted.
“With the fact we played (Friday) night — a game that we stretched right to the very end — we didn’t have the energy to really push back as me might have had we not played last night,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. “They did a good job. Our fourth line (David Steckel, Mike Brown and Darryl Boyce) played pretty well and I thought Grabovski’s line played well, but the Rangers focus was eliminating the Connolly line and they did a pretty good job with that.”
Wilson indicated that Tyler Bozak will likely return from a shoulder injury that has kept him out since Dec. 30 and that he could rejoin the top line skating between Kessel and Lupul Tuesday against Ottawa.
