“We had a passive group, all year long our trainer was on the ice,” Burke said at Mohawk Racetrack where he was the guest drawmaster for Saturday’s $1.5 million North America Cup harness race. “We are going to be a much more hostile group.

“We will be tougher. I’m not watching this again.”

First off. Burke was just 15 mins up the road from me and no one told me? I could have invited him over for slabs of brisket pork and smokey barbequed turkey. Maybe next time

But in all seriousness you doncha’ just love Burkies attitude? He’s not talking about winning more games or making the playoffs his priority first is to make the Leafs an absolute nightmare to play against. And at the same time isn’t this a bit of a shot at the supposed tough guys we had last year? Jamal Mayers we’re looking at you. I guess it didn’t seem like it was a critical issue to me last year but that is probably because the Maple Leafs haven’t really been a tough team to play against in the physical department since Roberts decamped to Florida at exactly 12:01 of the free agent signing period some years ago.

The great thing about this is the Leafs were pretty entertaining last year despite their awful record so even if they finish with roughly the same number of points this season they are going to be even more entertaining to watch and less fun for other teams to play against. Remember that game in Montreal when Grabovski was practically challenging the entire Canadiens bench? How recklessly will he act if he actually has some muscle to back him up? Recall if you will that in future games after that both Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainey decided it would be prudent to match lines by putting Georges Laraque on whenever Grabovski was on the ice. For some reason or other this brilliant move garnered neither of them a Jack Adams nomination.

Here’s a second gem from our newest favoritest GM:

When I do go to mass on Sunday, I pray for our goaltending,” Burke said.

Hopefully that includes a prayer that Jonas “the Monster” Gustavsson is in God’s plans for the Maple Leafs.

BTW has anyone noticed that there has been a real dearth of rumors around what trades or moves the Leafs have in mind coming up this summer? This is potentially the most important off season for the Leafs in quite some time yet the papers and radio haven’t talked a lot about what the LEafs might do. Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina are both trade eligible because their no trade clauses are void during the off season if the Leafs didn’t make the playoffs but we don’t hear a peep about what might happen to them. Last year the papers regularly had stories speculating as to where they might land. This year nothing. In fact the only time a story seems to appear is when Burke is directly quoted in public.

Could it be that Burke has finally clamped down on what was one of the leakiest front offices in the League? IF so there are going to be a lot of bored reporters around.

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