Brian Burke Has For Sale Sign on First Round Picks

February 19 2011 Last updated at 11:30 AM ET

TORONTO ? Brian Burke has first round draft picks to burn but his master plan doesn't call to transform the Toronto Maple Leafs into a Stanley Cup contender through the annual lottery.

The Maple Leaf general manager picked up two first-round picks in the June draft in the last week. The first came in the Kris Versteeg deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, and the second arrived via the Tomas Kaberle trade to the Boston Bruins. If the draft was held on Saturday, the Leafs would have the 25th and 29th overall picks, which in Burke's way of thinking translates into one thing: trade bait. And it is hardly a surprise he has hung a For Sale sign on the first-rounders.

"Anytime you can add an asset that has that weight I think it is useful,'' he said at a news conference after trading Kaberle. "We are immediately going to try parlay the two firsts into something higher in the first round."

In his next breath, Burke said he'd gladly deal the picks by the Feb. 28 trade deadline.

"We are going to try to turn it into something that helps us now. Draft picks have never been a priority. I said that about a month ago and when we made a couple of trades and got a couple of draft picks and I am sure people are saying, 'Well he just told us draft picks are not his priority' and they are not.

"But at some point the value that a draft pick brings you have to make the deal because you say, Is this deal going to be there? Would this deal be there on the deadline on the 28th with the Boston Bruins? I do not think. I think they would have made a deal (for a defenseman) somewhere else.

"It (what Toronto got from Boston in return for Kaberle) is not what we wanted precisely. But it is assets in the shopping cart and now we can see what we can turn them into. Ideally we turn them into a young player."

Besides the two first-round picks, the Maple Leafs picked up two young prospects in the trades Burke engineered in the last week. He acquired college prospect Jake Gardiner from Anaheim, along with veteran Joffrey Lupul, in exchange for defenseman Francois Beauchemin. Burke followed that up by getting AHLer Joe Colborne from the Bruins in the Kaberle deal.

For those keeping score, the Maple Leafs now have three of the top 17 players taken in the 2008 draft. Maple Leaf regular Luke Schenn was the fifth overall pick, while Colborne was the 16th pick and Gardiner was 17th.

Burke was criticized for surrendering Toronto's first round pick in the 2010 and 2011 drafts to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Phil Kessel. But you can bet residents of LeafNation are likely euphoric about having prospects in the organization.

With Kaberle and Beauchemin sent packing, the Maple Leafs now have only four players over 30 in the entire organization, and three of them play for the AHL's Toronto Marlies.

Burke's philosophy is to add prospects that are close to taking the next step to the NHL -- Gardiner is expected to play next season while Colborne is still a ways away -- and then add key players in free agency.

So far, only half of that equation has worked. The Leafs are stocked with young talent.

But the Maple Leafs have not made the playoffs since Burke took over three years ago and it's a stretch of the imagination to think they'll make it this year.

However, you could counter that Burke has stayed true to his plan by exchanging veterans for prospects and draft picks that the GM hopes to turn into another young player (or players) in the trade market.

"The process is taking longer than I want it to, longer than anyone wanted it to. But the game plan and the blueprint has never changed,'' said Burke. "It was never about getting older assets and trying to be better for a year or two."

When Burke talked about why he traded Versteeg, he explained, "it just wasn't a match."

"Sometimes it doesn't work. You ask a girl out, sometimes it doesn't work. Not her fault, not your fault, it just doesn't work. This one didn't work."

Time will soon tell whether Burke's plan will work.

Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/19/brian-burke-has-for-sale-sign-on-first-round-picks/

basketball games horse basketball games online basketball hall of fame basketball history