Burke was hired to turn the franchise around and was given a lot of resources to do so. Burke talked about having the biggest scouting staff in the league and was allowed to hire whomever he wanted (Dave Nonis, Rick Dudley etc.). If you take away Burke's past accomplishments, who would have questioned Burke's firing? Only issue here is the timing of it all. But hey Burke still earned a paycheck throughout the lockout.
Burke made himself into the face of the franchise. It doesn't help the team sell tickets (the Leafs sell out every game). It doesn't help them sell more jerseys (seen any Burke jerseys?) The Leafs aren't in need of a GM or President be the face of the franchise.
One argument I hate is that Burke rebuilt the team's farm system. Any GM could have done that by simply not trading away draft picks. The Leafs were bottom feeders under Brian Burke.
Burke will certainly get one more crack at being a team's GM. He might not be the first choice to run the New York Rangers, but he can certainly turn around a low-budget money-losing franchise.
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