Don’t Believe Burke’s Hype

June 25, 2012   Blogs, Kevin Striukas   10 Comments

Brian Burke is spinning another tall tale, praising Morgan Rielly as the best draftable prospect in the NHL.

Rielly is a great prospect but you need to take into perspective the risk of the pick and his ceiling compared to other players in the draft.

“We had this player (Rielly) rated first overall. Wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true just to build up the pick. This is a guy that if we had the first pick in the draft we would have taken him.” Burke said in a scrum after Rielly was drafted.

The problem is he is building up the pick and putting unrealistic expectations on a kid that will have his hands full when he enters the Toronto media.

Anyone who believes the hype Burke is trying to bring to Rielly will be disappointed when he isn’t rushed into the Leafs system the same way Luke Schenn was and when he has inevitable growing pains that come with being a young defenceman in the NHL.

The Leafs angle on drafting Rielly is the same angle the Canadiens have on drafting Galchenyuk, despite a significant injury limiting the sample size what was seen from both prospects was impressive enough to take a risk on them. If Rielly played the entire 2011-2012 season he might have been hyped as the best defencive prospect in the draft. If Galchenyuk had played the entire season he might have been picked first overall. We will never know.

Rielly has the potential to be an elite offensive defenceman if he can recover from his injuries and live up to his potential. The value of picking an offensive defenceman is not as important as finding an elite defencive defenceman that can make an impact shutting down other teams like Zdeno Chara does for the Boston Bruins.

If Burke had won the draft lottery and passed over potential superstar Nail Yakupov or Galchenyuk who has the best ability to fill an organizational hole at center the Leafs have had since Mats Sundin left he should be fired on the spot.

This isn’t the first bold faced lie Burke has told to hype the players he invested his reputation in. He said the Dion Phaneuf trade would be remembered as the Keith Aulie trade and scoffed at the idea of ever trading Luke Schenn before trading off both defenceman who experienced one season’s worth of growing pains as pure defensive defencemen under Ron Wilson’s run and gun system.

Burke’s bold statements on players have become background noise that people just label as posturing but the scary question is what if he actually believes what he says?

Kevin Striukas

Kevin is an avid Leafs fan and a journalism student at Humber College. He aspires to cover the blue and white beat in the media upon graduation. Kevin is a regular columnist for tmlfans.ca and a regular poster on tmlfans.ca's forums, going under the alias of McLeaf.

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  • hockeyfan1

    I agree in part. It is puzzling why Burke never even made any notable effort to try and get, as you mention, perhaps a player a la Galhenyuk or a Murray, or even Forsberg, Frk, etc., (the draftees that still were actually available).

    Many in the LeafsNarion echo similar sentiments an thoughts. But, it ha always been Burke’s style to showcase some form of bravado. He did it before, and he did it again. Only this time, many will wish that it is going to be true (about this Rielly kid blossoming in the near future when he will finally be ready to try and make the big club).

    For now, Burke will need to swing some more deals (via trades and/or free agency), if the Leafs needs are to be bet, for more of an ‘immediate! impact. Otherwise, sticking with the prospect route (meaning the ones they alreasy have with the Marlies) and uttering patience, patience, patience, is the other way to go.

    Personally speaking, I much prefer an in-between way — some prospects & some skilled NHLers available. And oh yeah, if only Burke had done a bit better at the draft.

  • Hendy

    “I reserve the right to change my mind” – Brian Burke

  • SMo

    Rielly was touted in much the same way as Galchenyuk, if not for injury he could have challenged to be selected first overall.

    Burke is selling the pick, no doubt, but I think you have to read between the lines a little bit. Before the draft Brian and the Burkettes hinted they were open to drafting by positional need, something they acknowledged they don’t usually do. Personally, I think that player was Galchenyuk.

    Dave Morrison noted that ‘in a perfect world we would have liked to have drafted a centre’… but couldn’t pass on Rielly when their pick came along. To me that says they had him rated very high, maybe higher than Galchenyuk but were considering going against tradition to fill a spot that is extremely difficult to manage.

    I’m struggling to understand why fans will be disappointed when he isn’t rushed in like Luke was, wasn’t that a mistake and shouldn’t fans be happy that a player is being properly developed?

    You should proof your columns a little better too, you misspelled Rielly in the second paragraph and left out the word ‘defenceman’ in the second sentence of the seventh paragraph.

    Personally I like the pick and can, at the very least, ignore all the huffing and puffing about Burke’s statements. If you’re caught up in it, you’re playing right into his hand.

  • http://www.tmlfans.ca/author/kstriukas kstriukas

    I was genuinely shocked and disappointed when I didn’t hear Grigorenko or Forsberg called but when I did some research I liked what I saw in Rielly. I think if everyone is healthy the draft would go 1.Yakupov 2.Galyenchuk 3.O’Rielly but he isn’t better than Yakupov who has superstar potential.

    As for fan disappointment when he doesn’t crack the team next season fans can’t have their cake and eat it too. Personally I thought that with an off season to get some confidence Schenn would have played much better in Randy Carlyle’s system than he did in Ron Wilson’s system where the defence pinch all the time. I am worried about Gardiner and Gunnarsson in Carlyle’s system and wonder where our big hitter on D is now that Schenn and Aulie are gone. I know it is supposed to be Phaneuf but he is overrated.

    As for the editing thanks for pointing that out. I usually get a couple typos but I’m still a little new at this and I asked Rob to edit the posts when he has the time.

    • http://n/a Igamalou

      Hopefully they don’t make the same mistake as they did with Luke, The Leafs really didn’t have too many options in their stable at the time and true, Wilson’s system wasn’t Lukes system. i’ve met Luke, and he is too laid back to worry about media and fan rumblings. He was focused on being a better hockey player and would go through a wall if he was asked to. We will miss him but we move on with JVR. I look forward to seeing how things develop.
      Great article and look forward to more when you graduate. go leafs

      • http://www.tmlfans.ca/author/kstriukas kstriukas

        Thanks man Appreciate the compliment :)
        Going to Miss Schenn but excited to see what JVR brings. It will be interesting to see who wins the Schenn JVR trade 10 years down the line.

        I understand the Schenn trade but I really think the Aulie trade might be worse than the potential that the kessel trade has to be. At least we got quality in Kessel.

        I do not see Carter Ashton as an NHLer on a playoff team and I don’t get the logic of that at all.

        In the future when you get rid of the vets Komisarek “the 4.5 million dollar pylon” YOU SHOULD HAVE A SHUT DOWN D PAIRING WITH SHUTDOWN D PROSPECTS! Honestly if we had Aulie I wouldn’t worry so much about the Schenn trade because I think he would cover the big hitter role well. Look at the Phaneuf, Aulie pairing now!

        Gunnarsson is defensively sound but not nearly physical enough. Phaneuf is the only thing we got and he is not a true superstar and vastly overpaid. Not to mention he had the C on during the great collapse of 2012.

        It bugs me that Burke hyped Aulie so much that he isn’t willing to be patient with his prospects. Defence take way longer to develop than forwards!

        What happens when Rielly has growing pains? Will he end up on the next trade in Burke’s carousel of deals?

  • Glurk?

    “lamenting?” Morgan Reilly? I think perhaps you meant to use another word?

    • http://www.tmlfans.ca/author/kstriukas kstriukas

      …this is why I need an editor, *sigh*

  • ace

    Morgan wil be a star in TO best junior i have seen in 25 years

  • Wayne Ihamäki

    I think the real difference came down to character, which is something intangible. Like any draft, only history will tell the story. And even then, who knows how a player’s career goes down based on different opportunities and teammates. End of story.