Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke satisfied with team for upcoming season –NHL offseason Update
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, Brian Burke, set a number of goals he wanted to achieve during the offseason and according to him, he has reached most of them despite a few missed opportunities here and there, but otherwise complete.
Burke opened up Tuesday afternoon about what his team has accomplished so far during the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason and whether they have become a Stanley Cup contending team or not.
"We think we made some changes that have made our team dramatically better", Burke said about the improvements. "We made some changes to the coaching staff, we made some changes on the blue line and we made some changes up front. And we think those things
will put us in the position where we want to be, which is in competition for a playoff spot".
Not being too bold during his press conference with a number of media representatives, Burke abstained from making statements that would show that would later on embarrass the team later on if they were not able to meet up with expectations. He believes
that there is more than enough talent to make his team a top-notch one and everything that can be done to make them even better is in the pipeline.
“I think this is as big and young and talented a group as we’ve had in a long time”, said Burke, who joined Toronto Maple Leafs in November of 2008. “Not just since I’ve been here”.
Burke faced a few speed bumps along the way as he missed the shot of hiring the top player to become a free agent in July, Dallas Stars centre, Brad Richards, even though he had made him a competitive offer.
Covering up the lost chance, Burke added Tim Connolly instead along with Matthew Lombardi and top-class defender, Cody Franson.
For GM Brian Burke, now is the time to start planning out how the talent can be used fully without any hesitation. Toronto went into a slump last season and was way out of the playoffs but hope to make it in a much better way next season.
Tags: