by Kelly Monteith

Created on: August 27, 2010   Last Updated: August 28, 2010

For years, Leafs fans have had to endure the promises made by owners and general managers that the coming season would be the one where the teams would make the playoffs, but instead fans were left with the sour taste of the same thing; a team who simply underachieved yet again, and, who have left those die-hard fans saying "Wait until next year".

Now, it looks like all that pain and suffering could be coming to an end with the arrival of Brian Burke as the new general manager, who has the reputation as a no-nonsense individual, who likes his players tough and skilled, with a willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Last season did not start well for Burke when he announced his hope his team would make the playoffs, after all he had signed Defencemen Mike Komisarek and Francois Beaucheim in the summer and added Forward Phil Kessel in a trade with the Boston Bruins, while giving up first and second round draft choices, it was if the team took the word "playoffs" as something terrible, and started their fall to last place.Burke did not liked what he saw, for if his team did finish last in their division, that first round draft choice would go to Boston for the Phil Kessel trade.

Watching the team losing more then winning sent Burke on his first mission to show this was his team by sending Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers, Ian White and Niklas Hagman to the Calgary Flames for Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie; then traded netminder Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake to Anaheim for goalie J.S.Giguere.

Many believed the Kessel trade was the choice, the team would be better spent in going younger, but Burke thought he was doing what was best for the team, and if the club did finish last, then so be it, it was time to move forward.

To compensate for the loss of draft picks, Burke signed two players out of college; Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson, and both proved they could play in the NHL, Burke also signed a young goalie in Johan Gustavsson and with a seasoned goalie in Giguere, would teach the younger netminder how to prepare for each game.

No doubt, last season will be one Brian Burke would like to forget; Gustavsson's heart problems to Phil Kessel's recovery from surgery in time for training camp, which took what seemed to be a lifetime in getting into game shape, and the loss of Komisarek to injury and eventually surgery which would shut down the rest of his season.

This past summer has seen the arrival of Kris Versteeg and Mike Brown via trades;Colby Armstrong via free agency, and a healthy group of players just waiting to start the season, while the speculation surrounding Tomas Kaberle and his future with the Leafs, if Burke cannot find him a new home, and with one year left on his contract, look for Kaberle to finish that contract in Toronto.

One thing which has been lagging was a player to step up and be named captain, well look no more; along with the summer signings, it was announced Dion Phaneuf would become the new Leafs captain.

So Leafs fans, now that your team has direction, this may be the year they make the playoffs, with the defence core the deepest in the league, and with the additions of Versteeg and Armstrong, this Leafs team maybe one the other teams in the league do not want to play against.   

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