Burke to stay course

“I want to get in with a reasonable chance to (advance deep) or bloody someone’s nose while doing it,” he stated in January when everyone in the Eastern Conference except Boston and the Rangers were tripping over themselves. Burke even said draft picks and prospects could be on the table to hit a home run.

Now, he’s tempered expectations to the point where something small could be all that results from the next day and half of discussions. If he doesn’t want to put precious resources such as Jake Gardiner on the market, the Leafs will be waiting for Plan B or C deals that spin off other teams’ dealings.

Everyone will want to know about bringing in a goaltender by 3 p.m. Monday and James Reimer’s inability to make the big save, never mind if it’s a teammate’s fault, is huge cause for concern.

“I said specifically that we’re going to listen on goaltending,” Burke of stinging comments earlier this week about Reimer and Jonas Gustvasson.

“We haven’t seen anything that makes sense yet, but we’re going to continue to try to add.”

He said the Jeff Carter deal between Columbus and Los Angeles started a domino chain, but that seemed to have stopped by Friday.

“I haven’t seen an appreciable increase in activity since then,” Burke said. “Everyone’s working the phones like crazy. So far we haven’t had any tough calls to make.”

He said the Leafs are in an awkward position, not a clear buyer or seller, while others have more defined needs.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/26/burke-to-stay-course