History suggests Brian Burke wasn't just blowing hot air when he announced his desire to land John Tavares.

Two things I’ve always admired about Brian Burke are that he doesn’t walk around with a chip on his shoulder or a mumble under his breath.

He will, when it suits his best interests, tell you exactly what he thinks and lets the pieces fall from there. He also has a tendency not to work in secret, but to stick his jaw right out there and dare you to take a swing (I’m talking figuratively here though that might not have been the case in his minor-pro days).

Tuesday the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs stuck that jaw smack into the face of a dozen microphones and said he wants John Tavares, a likely No. 1 overall pick for a good many teams entering the upcoming NHL Entry Draft and with lower standing than the also-ran Maple Leafs. He also said that he’s going to develop a game-plan to get him.

Idle talk: from most GMs yes, without a doubt.

Idle talk from Brian Burke: I could go out on a shaky limb and say “maybe not” but I’m a good deal more confident than that. This guy doesn’t talk to hear himself speak or to appease the fan base or even to stoke the hopes of corporate owners and investors who dream of post-season profits the way that blue and white face-painted fans dream of a Stanley Cup in Toronto in their lifetimes.

Burke said what he said because that’s what he wants to do and that’s what he intends to do. He might not get it done, but it won’t be for a lack of trying. It also won’t be because he’s good at slight-of-hand or pulling wool toques over rival GMs’ eyes. It will happen only if he can construct the deals and deliver the assets that other teams want.

That’s not easy. It requires hard work, a gifted ability to convince others that it might be in their best interest to see things in a different reality. It might even involve a little fiscal muscle and some creative roster moves not to mention the power of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment in the NHL boardroom, but it is doable. Not likely I might add, but doable and Burke has the track record to prove it.

Do you think for a moment it was in anyone’s best interest to have Chris Pronger, then a draft prospect with extraordinary appeal to start his NHL career in Hartford? Not on the day the final rankings were released, but overtime Burke made offers, deals and designs to make it happen.

He was a newbie general manager in a going-nowhere market, but he knew the Ottawa Senators were locked in on Alexandre Daigle and so he didn’t have to get to No. 1, he needed only to get to the first open slot where Pronger would be available. He made two moves to get to that No. 2 spot and drafted Pronger.

He made a similar series of moves as head of the Vancouver Canucks, convincing several GMs to take deals that would allow him to draft the Sedin twins. The strength of both transactions was that Burke talked to enough GMs and structured enough worthy-of-consideration deals that the players they wanted would be there when they wanted them while still allowing Burke to draft the Sedins.

That’s not easy and in what is now a 30-team NHL handicapped (from a deal-making perspective) by a draft lottery and, with a salary cap, it might be darn near impossible, but if you have vision, obstructions can become opportunities, cap restrictions can be transformed into cap relief, players (anyone remember Craig Simpson’s stance on Toronto way back when) can exert some influence with teams they might not like to be drafted by. Having room to create cap space and a high first and two high second-round picks doesn’t hurt either.

In short a lot can happen or can be made to happen if a GM is willing to use his influence, roll up his sleeves, do some convincing (maybe even in the form of arm twisting) and, most importantly, find what is or at least appears to be a win-win situation for everyone involved.

It will be darn-near impossible if Burke is locked into seventh place or worse in the draft lottery, but it becomes very doable if he can move as high as third. Even if that doesn’t happen there’s likely to at least be a plan on the table

The first step—as Burke honestly pointed out, starts with the draft lottery.

"We'll contact the teams once we know the sequence (of picks)," said Burke in the press conference where he clearly took his other first step, using the media to send a clear signal to Tavares and his agent. "It's a long process. It's like farming. A lot of work goes into farming and the harvest only takes a couple of days. It's like that at the draft. You've got to put a lot of work in before and (see) if you're lucky enough to pull it off on the floor."

Will it happen?

The odds and the sentiment among today’s GMs (Rule No. 1 Thou Can Keep a Job for a Long Time Waiting for a No. 1 to Reach Full Potential) say no, but you’ve got to respect a man who is willing to try.

That’s why the jaw was in front of all those microphones Tuesday morning.

That’s why the Whalers once had Chris Pronger and the Canucks now have the Sedins.

That’s also why MLSE went to such extraordinary lengths to get a sitting general manager with a Stanley Cup ring from another team who was still under contract. To the best of anyone’s knowledge that’s a first in the history of the league as well.

Do you think for a moment Burke’s jaw wasn’t out there on that one?