Method to the Madness

I'm getting sick and tired of people criticizing Burke's methods for rebuilding the Leafs. In particular, I can't stand all those people who say building through the draft is the only way to build a winner. When I look at the players Burke has acquired and what he has gotten rid of since coming to Toronto, I'm very happy with the overall picture and I think we're on our way to being a good team. I could care less whether he followed the same model that other teams have followed in the past. I'm more than happy with the core group of age 25 and under players we have. In particular, I would note the following:

1. Everyone harps on the Kessel deal and it's obvious Boston won that deal in hindsight, but I can still understand why Burke made the deal. Regardless of what Burke says, there's no way he thought that the pick he traded would ever end up being the 2nd overall pick. He took a risk and it didn't pay off completely, but we still have Phil Kessel so get over it! Aside from that deal, has he "traded away the future?". No, he hasn't.

2. What Burke did do is get rid of Blake, Toskala, Stajan, Mayers, Hagman and White (Hagman and White being the only quality we gave up), but in return, got Phaneuf and Giguere in return. Handsdown, the Leafs won these trades.

3. He traded Stallberg and two unproven prospects for a proven young player in Kris Versteeg - he gave up unproven youth for proven youth.

4. He has done a great job of signing college players and young euro FAs. Bozak, Hanson, Gustavsson, Holzer and Mueller will all be contributors to this team (and some already are).

5. There's a lot of money on defence right now (see post below), but this is still an unsettled matter with changes to come. Who knows where Finger or Beauchemin end up? But until the Leafs are experiencing cap problems (which they aren't), does it really matter for the current year? I'm willing to give Burke the benefit of the doubt on D. Overall, it's asolid D. Moreover, it's not like there is a marquee UFA on the market that we are prevented from signing because of the salary being spent on D at this time.

6. Burke also made the decision to NOT give Kaberle away this week, which I'm happy with. No one here knows what was actually on the table, so we can't blame Burke for not trading Kabs.

Overall, people are criticizing Burke's method because it's different from those followed by teams who have "built through the draft". But quite honestly, I can't recall any other team ever utilizing this method - it's a "win now" mentality, but it's still a youth movement. The core players on this team are all 25 and under and it's not like the days of old where we traded draft picks and prospects for aged veterans. Burke is trying something novel in Toronto and he should be afforded an opportunity to prove himself before being unfairly criticized.