Five days have now come and gone, and all remains quiet in hockey's most scrutinized market.
Other than a few niche signings, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke has been relatively inactive over the first week of NHL free agency.
As is normal in Toronto, fans are getting restless, hoping that Burke and his team will eventually make some sort of move to improve this Maple Leafs squad.
While many fans are fed up with Burke's outdated philosophy and refusal to sign players to long-term "cap circumventing" contracts, a great deal of others applaud his discipline and ability to hold back from overpaying the top players on the market.
Truthfully, both groups have a point.
Burke's free-agency periods in Toronto have been downright embarrassing.
Signings like Tim Connolly, Mike Komisarek and Colby Armstrong were disastrous.
Yet he's been excellent when it comes to trades (the Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner for Francois Beauchemin trade comes to mind, as does the Cody Franson and Matthew Lombardi for Brett Lebda deal), showing he can bring in talent without overpaying free agents and inking them to wha ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Jonathan Reid
NHL Free Agency 2012: Are the Toronto Maple Leafs Wise to Stay so Quiet in July?
July 6th, 2012 by Jonathan Reid Leave a reply »
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