Brian Burke rips the Leafs over Nylander contract.

Burke pops off on the Maple Leafs.

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HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Brian Burke rips the Leafs over Nylander contract.
Larry McDougal/Zuma

Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke had plenty to say following the major announcement on Saturday that revealed the Leafs and restricted free agent forward William Nylander had agreed to a new deal, and none of it seemed to be good. 

Burke was a guest on Sportsnet's To The Point with David Amber and during that segment he made plenty of disparaging comments towards the Leafs regarding the contract that the organization opted to give out to the young Swede. Burke criticized the Maple Leafs and by extension Toronto Maple Leafs general manager for just about every aspect of the process and for how the Leafs handle the entire situation.

"My objection to the Nylander deal is twofold. One, he's the sixth best player on the team... arguably the 7th best player on the Toronto Maple Leafs and they paid him all this money. I also think that if they were gonna throw this much money at him they should have done it in August and not had him miss training camp. If you're going to give away the farm like this, do it early, and get him in training camp."

When asked point blank if he felt that Nylander had gotten the better of the Leafs in this negotiation Burke did not hesitate to answer in the affirmative. Additionally Burke also indicated that he believes the Nylander deal will hurt the Leafs in future negotiations because of how the process played out in the eyes of player agents.

"I do believe he did and also I think the notion that you will put more money on the table late, that's a lesson that the other agents for these other players are gonna learn. With Toronto all you have to do is hold out and they will up the ante, and that's dangerous ground boy."

Now Burke does of course raise some interesting points here but I do have to wonder how seriously his comments will be taken in the Toronto market due to his own track record in the city. It's no secret that Burke made some comically bad moves during his tenure as general manager of the Maple Leafs and that will likely sour fans to any negative comments he may have to make about their beloved team.

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