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Well, he's not perfect, but he's completely rebuilt the farm system (into unquestionably one of the top farm systems in the league) and the scouting department, hired a respected manager and been pretty smart with both trades and re-signings. Yeah they just got destroyed by Oakland and I doubt...

We'd better save the latter for the Blue Jays thread, and admittedly the observation on coverage is based on anecdotal evidence. I mean you go to Blue Jays forums and they're just not that active and news is harder to come by. The Raps on the other hand, I know what JV had for breakfast today.

I think a lot of things go into media perception and far be it from me to quantify their values. I do believe that approachability factors heavily into these guys' opinions. Burke and Colangelo are very open, approachable guys. JFJ and Babcock gave off an undeserved air of confidence and seemed...

Disagree. I mean, JFJ and Babcock were pretty much detested by the media in Toronto, mostly because they were cut from the same cloth. They wanted to prevent any leaks and I remember Bobcat cutting Babcock off just because he wouldn't talk about anything that could get him fined for tampering...

JFJ tried. Made the media hate him more.

Burke has given up his Stanley Cup dreams in favour of Calder Cup glory. Go Marlies!

....So, no Pilar?

Nik, you forgot to mention market inefficiencies in regards to Moneyball. Just saying.

Burke said that there is very little chance (a remote possibility) that the team we see now is the team he starts the season with. Nonis, Poulin and now Burke clearly like the trade market, for whatever reason, as they seem to think they can improve the team there. Burke said that they have no...

That's a phase. I went through a phase when I was younger when I hated the Leafs and actively rooted against them. It was a dark time, but one I ultimately grew out of. The Leafs will always be the biggest game in town and eventually MLSE will start winning and all of the kids who root for...

The price is right but JVR + McClement put this team into the playoffs. Baby steps so far, but Burke still needs to take a giant leap.

Burke really has to show something. I can't imagine any other GM in Toronto lasting for five years with just Kessel, Phaneuf and a handful of middling prospects to show for it. 

My Pilar that girl is a piece of trash. Anyway, if Joffrey scores 70+ points this year, I'll conveniently forget this happened. If he doesn't, well, I'm going to bring this up every missed shot and errant pass.

Dire? No, of course not. But very telling in terms of Burke's ability to get performance for cost. On average, he's paying the 17 players locked up in contracts about $3.3m, without even filling two of the most important (and highest cost) positions. Last year, the Leafs were in the top 8 in...

Speaking of Keon14, I miss him. I would love to hear how Steen, Stajan and Colaiacovo would be crucial to the Leafs success right about now.

Well I just have two things to add: 1) The Leafs are in the bottom 7 of the league in available cap space 2) Sure, they'll be ok in two years (though that certainly depends on future contracts), but I'd like to see Burke build a playoff team sooner rather than later.

As noted by a few others, the Leafs still have to resign guys like Kulemin and Frattin, while still tending to their huge holes. Sure, if the Leafs had another top 6 center and a goaltender, this wouldn't be an issue - but they don't, and those players command a certain amount of money. As it...

What's really alarming about this whole thing is that Burke actually added salary, and somehow we're one of the worst teams in the league with very little room to maneuver under the cap.

It's safe to say that if Burke is done, then the Leafs are in trouble. What this move does do is open up guys like Kadri, Kulemin, Frattin and McArthur to being moved in a deal that might actually fill some of the glaring holes. Kulemin especially is, at least I think so, a semi-attractive...

This might sound stupid but here I go; in terms of the actual player JVR, I'm extremely lukewarm on this deal, but there's still a lot to like about this trade. I'm not sold on Lupul as a first line winger, and JVR can easily slot in at #1LW to play with Kessel. JVR also has a lot of untapped...