The trade deadline is a sacred day among hockey fans globally. Whether it outdoes that of it’s brethren July 1st is an argument on it’s own, but we won’t dwell on that here. Today’s article is all about the upcoming trade deadline, and perhaps the last of it’s kind. Every year there are two days I mark on my calendar: trade deadline & July 1st. I then book off work/school/family gatherings/weddings/ you name it. These days make me both very excited and nervous at the same time – it’s like nirvana, or being high without the use of illegal drugs (like steroids, duh). As a Leafs fan, the past trade deadlines have been for the most part exciting on their own. Sure, trade deadline isn’t focused on the blue and white, and the other deals do make for entertainment, but the moves made by the Leafs are what I’m always frantically looking for, my priority, if you will.

Before the lockout, as a Leafs fan you could look forward to the deadline as a time where we were sure to add a veteran or two in order to gear up for a (hopefully) lengthy playoff run. Sure, back then prospects and picks were dealt like they were the plague, but at that point it was understandable and accepted. Anyone who complains now in hindsight is ignorant: at the time, we were gearing up for a playoff run, not predicting the post-lockout years would require youth/picks to facilitate a rebuild. Getting back on track, the eventual deals brought in a plethora of experience, leadership, and grit for the upcoming playoff battles. Although we never ended up getting to the cup itself, one could look back and say that they were fair deals, and that the intentions were honest.

Post-lockout trade deadline’s were of a different breed. Ever since the NHL resumed after a year of holding out, the Leafs have been in constant rebuild mode, no matter who confirmed nor denied anything. You could see the Maple Leafs were based on an old design: they were slow, and could not adopt to the new NHL. In a desperate attempt to fix the situation, rookie GM John Ferguson Jr. did the only thing he could. He resorted to trading the team’s picks and prospects in order to bandage the wound. What he didn’t realize however, is that fixing a team in the new NHL is done properly by use of picks/prospects. He thought he could bandage the wound and call it a day, when in actuality he needed the picks and prospects to act as antibodies, properly healing the wound and providing healthy skin for both the immediate and distant future. And so fans began to expect quick-fix deals at the deadline/draft day, and saw many. Although severely disappointed and infuriated with the deals, the amount of change that came could not be denied. The “jettison picks/prospects for quick fixes” approach was finally labeled as a failure, and Mr. Ferguson was promptly executed publicly.

Then came the days of the Silver Fox. Rather, then came the days of the Silver Fox v2.0. Cliff Fletcher took the reins of the pitiful team again in January of 2008, and so the rebuild came to be, properly. He decreed to all of how he would fight a glorious crusade of purging and smiting, changing the culture of the team and its makeup. His intentions were pure and good, but his aim with his bow of trades was not. Although he was able to turn spare parts into draft picks (Gill, Kilger, Belak, etc.), he also made some costly blunders(Hollweg,Stempniak). His greatest move, however, may have come in the form of his acquisition of Luke Schenn. Only time will tell if the trade was worthwhile, but as it stands Luke will be a stalwart on the blueline for years to come, and perhaps even ascend to captaincy. Trader Cliff faced much adversity in his time as king of Leafs Nation. The Muskoka Five, the band of disloyal vagabonds, vowed to never give in to “Dictator Clifford”. As such, he was unable to trade them for assets, and was forced into buying out, disowning, and even keeping several of them. The insurgency was too much, and Emperor Peddie called for the cavalry: Brian Burke had arrived.

I envision Brian Burke as a military general. This was, in part, due to the fact I watched/read this article by DownGoesBrown here. It extends beyond that though, I mean he is American after all. But no, stereotypes aside, he seems the type of guy that will give his boys drills, and if he doesn’t like what sees then he’ll give you hell, and.. wait.

You can’t say Burke hasn’t facilitated changes. He got rid of Antropov and Moore at last trade deadline, he removed Kubina, got some junk, traded it for some more junk, and somehow we ended up with Primeau. Oh yeah, he also traded the future of the team for Phil Kessel. Yup, thats a lot of change alright, but are any of them quality ones? You could say the acquiring of draft picks are great because we drafted some promising young lads with them. You could say the entire Kubina/Primeau saga is a bit disappointing. You can’t say anything about the Kessel trade, because: a) Kessel hasn’t even shown us a full season yet b) Boston hasn’t drafted yet. This trade will be evaluated down the line, but at the moment it looks like a good deal for both sides.

That’s your basic “Burke: Be a GM” timeline folks, and it may not look pretty yet, but we should be in for a treat in this upcoming trade deadline. Burke will most likely assume a seller’s position, and many of his players have already jumped ship and are demanding trades. We’re already practically assured of two trades (Mayers, Exelby) and there is bound to be a few others (possibly Stajan, Ponikarovsky, Hagman, Kaberle, Toskala). That’s right, this trade deadline will hopefully be legen …. wait for it …. dary!(How I Met Your Mother reference, ya dig?)  Burke will do his best to get rid of the parts he doesn’t want, bring in the stuff he needs, but most importantly prepare for next season. He will lay the pathway to the off-season, where as it stands, 17 players will come off the books in one way or another. At that point, the true testing of Burke will begin.

Come July 1st of 2010, Burke will be staring at a wall of essentially nothingness. At this point, he will roll up his sleeves, and let his “GM Sense” do the work. He will paint a canvas of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence. Once he is done, he will sit and rest. It is here that all the media critics and armchair GM’s will be allowed to openly critique his work, and judge him accordingly.

If all goes well, this trade deadline will be the last for a while that will feature a flurry of rebuild-flavored trades. With that being said, we should savor it, perhaps even document it, for it will go into history as the last of the dark ages in Leafs Nation.