Burke’s Transactions 2.0
By Gus Katsaros
11 years ago
Continuing from the previous post where we looked at the Maple Leafs draft picks and some of the trades involved to acquire them.
Wading through these below listings leaves one underwhelmed, aside from a few notable transactions. There’s a blessing and curse in the types of transactions he didn’t make. Brad Richards, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Ilya Kovalchuk, and perhaps a trade for Roberto Luongo all could have been in a Leafs uniform to start the imaginary 2012-13 season. The only remote possibility now remians Luongo and that is on hold for the same reasons 2012-13 is as imaginary as the Great Gazoo.
It’s not easy to be an NHL general manager. Especially one with a personna on display by Leafs GM, Brian Burke in a place like Toronto. Those that want him to succeed are balanced out by others who want to see him fail. Some of those are in management with other teams, making it even more difficult.
It’s not as surprising to see then that since he took over on November 29, 2008 the Leafs have made 11 trades with the Ducks. It’s telling of the difficulty and dipping into the franchise Burke left looking for assets. He was familiar with the assets already and when he needed to move up in the 2011 draft, he reached back to his California connections.
A similar case can be made with Glen Sather of the NY Rangers. You know him, he co-owned a WHL franchise with Burke, but they’ve only made two deals with each other, most notable the Nik Antropov trade that turned out to be Kenny Ryan.
During Burke’s regime, the Maple Leafs made 13 trades that returned a draft pick without giving up one.
Teams | # of trades |
| trade with Ducks | 3 |
| 2011 conditional pick (#172-Dennis Robertson) | 1 |
| Justin Pogge | 1 |
| 2011 7th rnd pick (#202-Max Everson) | 1 |
| Joey MacDonald | 1 |
| Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner, 2013 conditional 4th rnd pick (?-?) | 1 |
| Francois Beauchemin | 1 |
| trade with Rangers | 2 |
| 2009 2nd rnd pick (#50-Kenny Ryan), 2010 conditional 4th rnd pick (conditions unconfirmed – not exercised) | 1 |
| Nik Antropov | 1 |
| 2012 7th rnd pick (#209-Viktor Loov) | 1 |
| John Mitchell | 1 |
| trade with Jets | 1 |
| 2013 conditional 7th rnd pick (not exercised) | 1 |
| rights to Jonas Gustavsson | 1 |
| trade with Bruins | 1 |
| Joe Colborne, 2011 1st rnd pick (#30-Rickard Rakell), 2012 conditional 2nd rnd pick (#54-Mike Winther) | 1 |
| Tomas Kaberle | 1 |
| trade with Coyotes | 1 |
| Matt Jones, 2010 4th rnd pick (#112-Philipp Grubauer), 2010 7th rnd pick (#202-Kellen Jones) | 1 |
| Lee Stempniak | 1 |
| trade with Lightning | 1 |
| Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers. 2009 4th rnd pick (pick forfeited) | 1 |
| Richard Petiot | 1 |
| trade with Devils | 1 |
| 2010 5th rnd pick (#144-Sam Carrick) | 1 |
| Martin Skoula | 1 |
| trade with Sabres | 1 |
| 2009 2nd rnd pick (#59-Jesse Blacker) | 1 |
| Dominic Moore | 1 |
| trade with Blackhawks | 1 |
| 2010 2nd rnd pick (#43-Brad Ross) | 1 |
| Jimmy Hayes | 1 |
| trade with Flyers | 1 |
| 2011 1st rnd pick (#25-Stuart Percy), 2011 3rd rnd pick (#85-Josh Leivo) | 1 |
| Kris Versteeg | 1 |
| Grand Total | 13 |
Along with trades, heres’s a breakdown of Burke’s signings excluding entry-level deals.
Signing Details | # of Signings |
| re-signed restricted free agent to a 1-year contract | 9 |
| Alex Foster | 1 |
| Christian Hanson | 1 |
| Jussi Rynnas | 1 |
| Korbinian Holzer | 1 |
| Mark Fraser | 1 |
| Matt Lashoff | 1 |
| Ryan Hamilton | 2 |
| Simon Gysbers | 1 |
| re-signed unrestricted free agent to a 1-year contract | 8 |
| Andre Deveaux | 1 |
| Ben Ondrus | 1 |
| Darryl Boyce | 1 |
| Joey Crabb | 1 |
| Mike Zigomanis | 1 |
| Ryan Hamilton | 1 |
| Tim Brent | 1 |
| John Mitchell | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 1-year contract | 6 |
| Clarke MacArthur | 1 |
| Joey Crabb | 1 |
| Joey MacDonald | 1 |
| Keith Aucoin | 1 |
| Mike Kostka | 1 |
| Tim Brent | 1 |
| re-signed restricted free agent to a 2-year contract | 6 |
| Ben Scrivens | 1 |
| Darryl Boyce | 1 |
| Matt Frattin | 1 |
| Nikolai Kulemin | 2 |
| Greg Scott | 1 |
| signed free agent to a 2-year entry level contract | 5 |
| Jussi Rynnas | 1 |
| Marcel Mueller | 1 |
| Mark Owuya | 1 |
| Tyler Bozak | 1 |
| Tyler Brenner | 1 |
| re-signed to a 1-year contract | 5 |
| Alex Foster | 1 |
| Ben Scrivens | 1 |
| Jay Rosehill | 1 |
| Luca Caputi | 1 |
| Ryan Hamilton | 1 |
| signed free agent to a 1-year contract | 3 |
| Jeff Hamilton | 1 |
| Mike Zigomanis | 1 |
| Rickard Wallin | 1 |
| signed to a 2-year contract | 2 |
| Alex Berry | 1 |
| Christian Hanson | 1 |
| re-signed to a 2-year contract | 2 |
| Carl Gunnarsson | 1 |
| Jonas Gustavsson | 1 |
| signed free agent to a 1-year entry level contract | 2 |
| Ben Scrivens | 1 |
| Spencer Abbott | 1 |
| re-signed restricted free agent to a 2-year contract extension | 2 |
| Clarke MacArthur | 1 |
| Tyler Bozak | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 2-year contract | 2 |
| Brett Lebda | 1 |
| Tim Connolly | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 3-year contract | 2 |
| Colby Armstrong | 1 |
| Francois Beauchemin | 1 |
| signed as a free agent by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) | 2 |
| Eric Werner | 1 |
| Todd Perry | 1 |
| signed by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) | 2 |
| Robert Slaney | 1 |
| Joe Ryan | 1 |
| re-signed to a 5-year, $27.5M contract | 1 |
| Phil Kessel | 1 |
| re-signed free agent to a 2-year contract | 1 |
| Jay Rosehill | 1 |
| re-signed restricted free agent to a 5-year contract | 1 |
| Luke Schenn | 1 |
| signed as a free agent by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) to a one-year contract | 1 |
| Dylan Yeo | 1 |
| re-signed to a 4-year contract extension | 1 |
| John-Michael Liles | 1 |
| re-signed by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) to a one-year contract | 1 |
| Will Acton | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 1-year contract (date 07-15 per LOH) | 1 |
| Danny Richmond | 1 |
| signed by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) to a professional tryout contract | 1 |
| Ben Simon | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 4-year contract | 1 |
| Colton Orr | 1 |
| signed for the remainder of the season | 1 |
| Jay Harrison | 1 |
| signed to a 1-year entry level contract | 1 |
| Leo Komarov | 1 |
| signed free agent (from Blackhawks) to a 3-year entry level contract | 1 |
| Richard Greenop | 1 |
| re-signed to a 5-year contract extension | 1 |
| Mikhail Grabovski | 1 |
| re-signed restricted free agent to a 3-year contract | 1 |
| Mikhail Grabovski | 1 |
| re-signed unrestricted free agent by the Toronto Marlies (AHL) to a 1-year contract | 1 |
| Mike Zigomanis | 1 |
| re-signed to a 3-year contract | 1 |
| James Reimer | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 1-year, two way contract | 1 |
| Philippe Dupuis | 1 |
| re-signed to a 3-year contract extension | 1 |
| Mike Brown | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 2-year contract | 1 |
| Jay McClement | 1 |
| signed free agent to a 3-year entry level contract | 1 |
| Robert Slaney | 1 |
| signed unrestricted free agent to a 5-year contract | 1 |
| Mike Komisarek | 1 |
| signed free agent to a minor league contract | 1 |
| Kyle Neuber | 1 |
| signed to a 1-year contract | 1 |
| Jonas Gustavsson | 1 |
| Grand Total | 80 |
An organization thought to be building for the future would likely desire to accumulate as many draft picks, instead of expending them for a roster player – or at least, a player you believe to be a roster player.
Below is the list of player acquired by trading away a draft pick. The Kessel trade as an argument in perpetuity aside, two of the three trades made with the Ducks involving a late draft pick were not exercised.
Draft pick traded for a player | # of trades |
| trade with Ducks | 3 |
| Aaron Voros | 1 |
| 2011 conditional 7th rnd pick (not exercised) | 1 |
| Brad May | 1 |
| 2010 conditional 6th rnd pick (if May re-signs – not exercised) | 1 |
| Mike Brown | 1 |
| 2010 5th rnd pick (#122-Chris Wagner) | 1 |
| trade with Avalanche | 1 |
| John-Michael Liles | 1 |
| 2012 2nd rnd pick (#54-Mike Winther) | 1 |
| trade with Penguins | 1 |
| Chris Peluso | 1 |
| 2010 6th rnd pick (#152-Joe Rogalski) | 1 |
| trade with Bruins | 1 |
| rights to Phil Kessel | 1 |
| 2010 1st rnd pick (#2-Tyler Seguin), 2010 2nd rnd pick (#32-Jared Knight), 2011 1st rnd pick (#9-Dougie Hamilton)
| 1 |
| trade with Devils | 1 |
| David Steckel | 1 |
| 2012 4th rnd pick (#96-Ben Thomson) | 1 |
| Grand Total | 7 |
This list would not be complete without a listing of the trades that involved only players, not draft picks.
Both trades that took place on January 31, 2010, changing the course of the franchise and finding a future captain did not involve any picks moving.
Trades involving players only | # of trades |
| trade with Lightning | 3 |
| Carter Ashton | 1 |
| Jay Rosehill | 1 |
| Matt Lashoff | 1 |
| trade with Ducks | 3 |
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere | 1 |
| Mark Fraser | 1 |
| Nicolas Deschamps | 1 |
| trade with Stars | 1 |
| Fabian Brunnstrom | 1 |
| trade with Wild | 1 |
| Ryan Hamilton | 1 |
| trade with Penguins | 1 |
| Luca Caputi, Martin Skoula | 1 |
| trade with Flames | 1 |
| Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, Fredrik Sjostrom | 1 |
| trade with Thrashers | 1 |
| Garnet Exelby, Colin Stuart | 1 |
| trade with Flyers | 1 |
| James van Riemsdyk | 1 |
| trade with Blackhawks | 1 |
| Kris Versteeg, Bill Sweatt | 1 |
| trade with Hurricanes | 1 |
| Phillipe Paradis | 1 |
| Grand Total | 14 |
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