The Toronto Maple Leafs finished last season with the single worst penalty kill in the entire NHL with an abysmal 74.6% success rate. Their penalty was as far beyond bad as Wayne Gretzky was beyond good.
With a mere 27 games left in the season last year, Brian Burke pulled off a pair of blockbuster deals that officially put the world on notice. These will be Brian Burke's Toronto Maple Leafs.
The morning of January 31st 2010 was a day that fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will remember for a lot of reasons. They disposed two contracts in Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala that were thought to be impossible to trade because they were over-valued.
Burke brought in Dion Phanuef, Fredrik Sjostrom, and veteran goal tender Jean-Sebastian Giguere.
The addition of Phanuef accomplished two things, and one almost as quickly as the other. Phanuef managed to almost single highhandedly change the aura of the Leafs' on-ice product.
From walking into the dressing room, changing the music station and cranking the tunes to writing words of motivation on the butt of his stick to yelling at and communicating to his teammates, the once virtuall ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Eric Warren
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