The point of this little essay is to show that the Brian Burke situation, for the moment at least, is about as real as the two-teams-in-Toronto story.
Anaheim Ducks' general manager Brian Burke left Toronto with nothing more than a victory. A victory earned in part by Ron Wilson's decision to switch goalies for the shootout, greatly increasing the chances of his struggling opponent leaving town with the extra point.
What should we draw from that?
Nothing.
Subbing Curtis Joseph for Vesa Toskala in the shootout portion of the Leafs' 3-2 loss to the Ducks on Tuesday was a decision every bit as meaningless as questions about whether Burke will be Wilson's boss next season.
Not that reason and logic matter one iota in a city that is so impressed with itself and its claim to the centre of the hockey universe that it easily and willingly accepts idle speculation about whether or not the city might someday get a second hockey team.
That story had more holes than the Leafs defence and still the Globe and Mail, an institution that claims to be Canada's national newspaper, rolled it out as if it were meaningful journalism and then ramped it up the following day with a series of quotes from players (as if they had a say in it) and stories on topics like how to run an arena with more than one tenant.
The fact the second-team scenario was not even a rumoured proposal by the league, any interested parties, or likely not even by a majority of governors was obviously of no concern to the editors of a publication that regularly slags talk radio for similar offences. Kudos to reporter David Shoalts, who at least had the good sense to acknowledge the talk was "informal" and designed to "stimulate" conversation.
But let us lay that relatively new journalistic mandate aside for the time being and deal with the other non-story that swept through Centreville this week: the near never-ending speculation that Burke will be general manager of the Leafs next season.
Now it apparently matters little that the powers that be at Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment have repeatedly stated they have made no decision regarding a future GM, except to shut down its search committee until near the end of this season.
It also apparently doesn't matter one iota that Burke has said - repeatedly - that he has not been approached by any team and that the single reason he hasn't made a decision about his future, which does include considering a multi-year offer from the Ducks, is based solely on personal issues aligned with family relationships and the difficulty of maintaining them on the West Coast.
Also left uncovered is the fact that Burke may not be the Leafs' No.1, 2 or 3 pick when it comes time to execute a plan and even if he is in that rarified air of a preliminary list, that list could change simply on the notion that someone more qualified could become available or that Burke might choose to examine other offers.
After all, if anonymous governors can randomly espouse theories as to why one or more "groups" could simply buy a team and move it to Toronto at will, is it so much of a stretch to consider that the Leafs could be interested in someone other than Burke?
Simple common sense would indicate the Leafs have to have at least one other person in mind simply to protect themselves if Burke decides to stay with the Ducks or, horror of horrors, decides that maybe moving to a city with a long history of lousy hockey, meddlesome ownership, demanding media and lousy traffic patterns isn't to his liking.
Why it's even remotely possible that even if he did want the job, he might actually price himself out of a range even the money-drenched Leafs are willing to pay. It's not like that's never happened in the long history of front-office machinations in hockey and especially Toronto Maple Leafs hockey. Couldn't we at least speculate that might have happened after Scott Bowman put his house-cleaning and salary proposals on the table last summer?
And what if Burke decides another location interests him? What if a position with, say, the Chicago Blackhawks, another Original Six team and one a little further along the rebuilding track than the Leafs, opened up? It's not outside the realm of possibility given the way they fire coaches there. Isn't it just as easy to get anywhere in the east from Chicago, the major transportation hub in the United States, as it is Toronto? Isn't it a heck of a lot easier to manage a franchise with one owner instead of one institutional owner and one very diverse management team?
It's like what those unaccountable owners are saying about Research in Motion co-founder Jim Balsillie: why does it have to be him who gets to put another team in southern Ontario? If you use that logic, aren't there other franchises that might have an interest in Burke? Aren't there other teams in the NHL that might woo Burke?
And isn't it at least reasonable to expect that if Burke's wife, said to be an accomplished broadcaster, could get a job in Toronto that she might be able to do the same in a city the size of Chicago? After all, if an American can get a hockey job in Toronto, surely a Canadian can get a broadcasting gig in Chicago or New York or Boston or Detroit. It worked for Alex Trebek.
The point of this little essay is that the Burke situation, for the moment at least, is about as real as the two-teams-in-Toronto story. Could it happen? Sure. Is it a done deal? Not even close.
Truth is there could be any number of general managers available at the end of this season just as there could be any number of general manager jobs available.
For the Leafs not to recognize that and act accordingly would be foolish, just as foolish as if Burke did not avail himself of the opportunity to examine all of his options as well.
Once you lift your head out of the centre of the hockey universe, you shouldn't need even an anonymous source to tell you that.
