On the first day of free agency, Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke finally backed up his words and put his stamp on the team.
Leaf fans thought major changes were coming at the trade deadline. Nope. We thought the draft would result in some big moves. Nothing. But today, we finally got what we were waiting for.
First, the Leafs signed Rangers tough guy Colton Orr. Not a big move by any means, but he definitely fills a void in the lineup left empty since the departure of Wade Belak.
Then, Burke traded Pavel Kubina and his fat contract to the Thrashers for rugged defenceman Garnet Exelby and forward Colin Stuart. Sure, the Leafs probably could have gotten more for Kubina, but Exelby is a good addition to the back end and it freed up some salary.
Finally, the Leafs signed Mike Komisarek to a 5-year/$22.5M deal. $4.5 million a season seems like a lot, but he should help in two of the most glaring holes we had last season, toughness and defence.
With today's moves, the defence corps is looking a lot stronger than it was last year:
- Kaberle
- Komisarek
- Schenn
- Exelby
- Finger
- White
- Frogren
- Van Ryn
True to his word, Brian Burke has made the Leafs a lot bigger and a lot tougher. No longer will the Maple Leafs be pushovers. No longer will Luke Schenn be the only one stepping up for his teammates.
He's building a team that the people of Toronto can be proud of again, a team that will play hard and stick up for each other. Well done so far Brian, well done.