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| Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has gone against conventional wisdom and has chosen to tweak his roster rather than building it through the draft. |
History would suggest that Stanley Cup contenders are a result of a number of characteristics - patience, player development, good luck and staying healthy - just to name a few. But more importantly, championship squads are built over time from a core of draft picks augmented by the timely addition of experienced players to fill the gaps.
There are many examples to support this, but let’s take a look at the past two Stanley Cup champions and one up and coming team. The Pittsburgh Penguins struggled mightily in the early part of this decade. At one point, it even appeared that the Pens might be moving out of Pittsburgh. They started laying down the groundwork for their future in 2003, when they selected goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. In the next three drafts, they picked Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal. Then they tweaked their lineup by adding Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko, who led them to the Stanley Cup in 2009.
The Chicago Blackhawks nearly went bankrupt and missed the playoffs seven times from 2000-2007. Their poor play was rewarded with high draft picks. This resulted in the Hawks being able to select Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Blackhawks added Patrick Sharp, Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa to complement their young core, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 for the first time since 1961.
The Washington Capitals also received top-end draft picks after consecutive seasons in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. They used those picks to select forwards Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and defenceman Mike Green. They were upset in the first round of the playoffs last season to the Montreal Canadiens. Arguably, they are only one tweak away from being an unstoppable team. The missing link is in between the pipes.
So what approach has Brian Burke employed during his time as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Since being hired in November 2008, Burke has made a number of player transactions. He started building the foundation by drafting Nazem Kadri seventh overall in 2009. He then appeared to deviate from the proven successful strategy by trading his 1st round picks in 2009 and 2010, plus a 2nd rounder in 2009, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for 23-year-old Phil Kessel.
He then tried to compensate for his lost draft picks resulting from the Kessel trade by signing undrafted players from US Colleges in 2008. These included Victor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson. Burke has made several other tweaks, including the additions of Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Kris Versteeg and J.S. Giguere
It would appear that Burke’s plan is to ignore conventional wisdom and tweak his roster first, and then build. Why has he done this? Well, that is all he knows and what he did when he was the General Manager in Anaheim.
When Burke first joined the Ducks in 2005, the foundation was in place as the hockey club had already drafted three up and coming prospects in Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz. Burke’s role was to add the missing pieces to their puzzle to build a championship contender. He tweaked the roster by adding added the likes of seasoned veterans including Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin. All of these players were key contributors to the Ducks winning their first ever Stanley Cup championship in 2007.
The fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks had to endure a lot of hardship throughout their years of trouble. Now that the young players who they originally drafted have developed into stars in the NHL, their teams are poised to be formidable for years to come. Can Brian Burke change his philosophy to build first and then tweak? Does Leaf nation have the patience to wait for a rebuild?
Only time will tell.
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