It wasn’t supposed to be like this

When Brian Burke overhauled the goaltending and defense of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was supposed to make them stronger in their own end. When he traded away first round picks in the next two years to get Phil Kessel, it was supposed to give them the scoring boost they needed to scrape into the playoffs. Instead, the defence is atrocious, the goaltending is porous, and the team is off to a woeful and winless start. Oh yeah, and Phil Kessel is still on the shelf with a shoulder injury, and isn’t expected back for another month or so.

If the Leafs don’t pull it together, those traded picks could be a bigger bonanza than Boston could have ever hoped for when they were backed into unloading the young and talented Kessel. And Burke will look like a fool for filling up the Leafs salary cap, moving incredibly valuable draft choices (even moreso in the salary cap era) and not getting wins from all his bluster.

Or the Leafs will make the playoffs, win a round or two, and no one in Toronto will care about the draft choices. Who knows? When the Leafs are involved, no one knows.