ON THE MARK.

SIX REASONS WHY BRIAN BURKE WAS FIRED.
Was I shocked?  Yes.   Not by the decision, by the timing.   Who fires their President and G.M. before the season started?  Oh yeah, the Toronto Maple Leafs.   Remember, this organization has a history of making ridiculous, head scratching moves, so it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that Burke was dumped entering the 5th year of a six year contract.
Here are the top six reasons why they fired Burke.
1) LOSING.    I don't care how nice a guy you are, or how successful you were with other organizations.  If you don't win, you're a loser.   Brian Burke as GM of the Leafs was a loser, plain and simple.  His teams never made the playoffs during his four year reign.  In any other business, if you can't win after four years, you are gone.   Unless you're the consummate "yes" man, which Burke is not.
 
2) NEW OWNERSHIP.  Is it possible that Burke rubbed the new ownership group the wrong way?  Sure.  Did they think they could get him to change his ways?  Probably.  When they realized that it was going to be difficult working with him, did they then decide he wasn't the right guy for the job?  Absolutely.  If Burke was the face of the franchise, and he always had the sourpuss look on his face, how were you going to change him?   Even when the Leafs were winning, Burke didn't appear to be a happy guy.   Once the new ownership group was in place, it was only a matter of time before they decided it was time for a new man, a guy who was UNLIKE Brian Burke.  In Dave Nonis, they have that guy.  When there's a personality clash between ownership and management, it's rare that ownership backs down.

3)  LUONGO.   The story may never come out, but I believe the new ownership really wanted to get Roberto Luongo, and Burke didn't want to make the trade, or spend the money, or whatever.  With the Bluejays having made such big news by acquiring a bunch of expensive and talented players, the Leafs were left holding the bag.   Once it was apparent that the NHL lockout had ended, the Leafs HAD to get back on the front pages and take the focus away from the Bluejays.   By firing Burke, they're back on the front pages.  If they acquire Luongo, we can expect the Bluejays news to be pushed to the back burner for a while anyway.

4) USA HOCKEY.  I've been bitching for a few years about the fact that Burke and Ron Wilson were allowed, by MLSE, to manage and coach the U.S. Olympic team while STILL working for the Maple Leafs.   This was a conflict of interest that was overlooked by many people, and it definitely affected the Maple Leafs.  Instead of Burke using all his energy to make the Leafs a better team, he used some of it to create a U.S. squad that came within a goal of winning the gold medal.   Thank goodness for Sidney Crosby.  Still, had the U.S. won the gold in Vancouver, with Burke as G.M., how would Maple Leaf fans have responded?   Not very kindly, I'm sure.  When your two greatest accomplishments are Stanley Cup winning GM (Anaheim) and Olympic Silver Medalist (U.S.A.), you've got a lot of 'splainin' to do to your Maple Leaf fan base.

5) ARROGANCE.  I've been called arrogant before too, but in Burke's case, he had nothing to be arrogant about.   When you've won a Stanley Cup you can be that way.  When your team makes the post season, you can walk around with a chip on your shoulder.   But when you swagger into a job by using words like "truculence" and "testosterone", it sounds like you're trying to turn your team into an extension of yourself.  Burke seemed to enjoy battling it out with the media, rather than allow his coach, or some player to be the "face" of the franchise.  By contrast, Bryan Colangelo with the Raptors and Alex Anthopoulos of the Jays, are a lot more low key, and even "media shy" to an extent.   I wouldn't describe either one of them as "arrogant".  Remember, neither has gotten his team to the playoffs either.

6) RUMOURS.  Depending on who you believe, Burke was doing stuff that he shouldn't have been doing.  Maybe ownership knew about it.  Maybe not.  When you're winning, these things get swept under the rug.  When you're losing, these are the issues that eventually get you fired.   Maybe one day we'll find out the REAL story behind the Burke firing, besides the fact that his teams couldn't win.

So there you go.  4 years, no playoff appearances.   The Brian Burke era was not as successful as the Floyd Smith era (1989-1991).  At least he got his team to the playoffs....once.