BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

ST. PAUL — The addition of Rick Dudley to the Toronto Maple Leafs management team is a hire with roots dating back to 1999, when Dudley was general manager in Florida and Brian Burke was running the Vancouver Canucks.

In a succession of trades leading up to draft day in Boston, Burke had to make a deal with the Panthers that would set the table to bring both Daniel and Henrik Sedin to Vancouver.

"I traded the first pick (overall, to Vancouver), and we had to spend a lot of time together," Dudley said Friday, on the day he was hired by Burke as a consultant. "We got a certain trust level because a lot of that deal was based on handshakes. A lot of the parameters were based on a handshake. I think from that time on we got along pretty well.

"If we hadn’t had that relationship the deal would never have gotten done."

Later that day the Leafs acquired defenceman John-Michael Liles from the Colorado Avalanche for a second round pick in the 2012 draft. All in all, a good day’s work even before the first round of the draft was held.

"A puck-moving defenseman who can join the rush," Dudley said of Liles, who has played 523 NHL games, all for Colorado. "Today’s game, the offensive part of the game has become predicated on the fourth man joining the rush. He’s someone who can do that.

"I think he’s a player that maybe a change in scenery to a place like Toronto, it will be very good for him. The fact that the Leafs traded a very good puck-moving defenseman (Tomas Kaberle) made it important that they get somebody like him."

Dudley did not join the Maple Leafs scouts at the draft table. In a strange turn of events, his draft list was being used by the Winnipeg Jets, who of course came from Atlanta, where Dudley had been GM.

"The Leafs have a good staff, and they’ve worked their butts off," Dudley said. "I shouldn’t be (at the table). They’ve put so much time into this … I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me."

Dudley is a noted personnel man, who helped to build the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, and then acquired several of those players in Atlanta when the Blackhawks found themselves with cap trouble.

"Well, the Leafs are ahead of where Chicago was when I arrived," Dudley said. "There are some pieces in place. There are some very likeable pieces in place. That’s a key thing."

What will Dudley’s role be?

"Whatever Brian and David ask me to do," he said, noting he does not even have a title yet. "I see the team as evolving into something good. And I’d like to be part of that to be honest."