Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Brian Burke thinks his Toronto Maple Leafs can still make the playoffs.

Seriously.

Despite the fact Toronto is mired in 29th place following Saturday’s humiliating 5-3 home loss to the Vancouver Canucks, a game in which the Leafs built a 3-0 first period lead and chased Olympic goaltender Roberto Luongo from the net, the bold-speaking GM insists his team can still make it to the dance.

"I know there are people here who are going to have an issue as far as my sanity is concerned, but that is still our goal," Burke said.

Can't blame a guy for dreaming, I guess.

On one hand Burke appears to have brightened his team's future by bringing to town a young defenceman with a solid track record and massive potential. The flip side is Burke has invested heavily in two young players, Phil Kessel and Phaneuf, neither of whom has a reputation for being leaders. To build a team around these two represents a huge risk. Burke had better be sure he adds veteran leadership to his group moving forward.

There was a rumour Burke had secured a first-round pick from the Anaheim Ducks in the deal that sent Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala to California for goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, but that proved false.

"There was never a discussion about a first-round pick; I don't know where that came from," Burke said.

Too bad because the deal Burke made earlier this season when he sent his team's next two first-round picks, along with a second-rounder, to Boston for Kessel could be a black cloud that hangs over the Toronto organization for years to come. The deal has been universally panned because many feel Burke gave up too much.

So at the end of the day, the Leafs wind up with a stud defenceman and an expensive goaltender on the downside of his career; kind of a good-news, bad-news scenario.

Despite the struggles of the Calgary Flames this season and the fact he was not included on Team Canada for the Winter Olympics, Phaneuf still has the potential to be a star defenceman in the NHL. Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos mentioned the Flames were shopping Phaneuf back on Hockeycentral Saturday on Jan. 24.

The 24-year-old Edmonton native enjoyed seasons of 20, 17 and 17 goals in his first three years with the Flames, but his offence has tailed off the past two seasons. He had 11 goals last season and has 10 in 55 games this year. That has him on pace to score 15.

"In the past four months we have added Phil Kessel, whom I consider to be an elite player, and Dion Phaneuf, whom I also consider to be an elite player," Burke said. "He is a big open-ice hitter and a quality person."

If Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek play to their potential, and the Leafs decide to keep Tomas Kaberle, they could have a very strong top four on the blueline next season. Burke won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07 with a team that featured Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell.

Fredrik Sjostrom, 26, was Phoenix's first-round pick (11th overall) in 2001, and has one goal and six points in 46 games. He has one more year left on his contract at $750,000. Keith Aulie, 20, is 6-foot-5 and 208 pounds. He has two goals and six points in 43 AHL games this year.

"If you don't have good defence you won't win no matter how good your forwards are," Burke said. "That has always been a hallmark of my teams."

There has been talk the past two years Giguere would wind up in Toronto at some point. At $7 million for next season (a $6 million salary cap hit) he is expensive and if you have seen him play lately, then you know he's not close to being the goalie that won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003 and helped the Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2006-07. Giguere has a long and fruitful relationship with Leafs goaltending coach Francois Allaire.

At just 32-years old, it's hard to paint Giguere as being over the hill, but his stats this year -- a 4-8-5 record with a 3.14 goals-against average and .900 save percentage -- are kind of scary, especially when you consider his salary.

If he can find his game and mentor Jonas Gustavsson at the same time, perhaps he can be useful.

Burke said he remains open for business and will continue to try to improve his team in an effort to make the playoffs. Frankly at this stage of the game he would be better suited to trying to secure draft picks -- a first-round pick if that is possible.

So Burke continues to make the Maple Leafs different. Are they better? That remains to be seen.

The Flames, meanwhile, have potentially addressed their lack of scoring issue with the arrival of Stajan, Hagman, and to some degree, White. Stajan is a responsible two-way centre who was second in Leafs scoring with 16 goals and 41 points in 55 games. Hagman is a streak scorer who has 20 goals in 55 games. He scored 27 goals two years ago for Dallas. It's hard to imagine either of these players being the spark the team needs to get captain Jarome Iginla rolling.

White has been a bright light in an otherwise dismal year for the Leafs with nine goals and 26 points in 56 games. He'll help ease the pain of the loss of Phaneuf on the Flames belueline.

The Flames also get veteran winger Jamal Mayers who brings grit and leadership to the table.

Calgary GM Darryl Sutter has been looking to replace the offence his team lost when Michael Cammalleri walked as an unrestricted free agent last summer.