Burke proud of Leafs who remain from his tenure as club GM

When Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly hit National Hockey League milestones on Monday night, Brian Burke couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction. The 63-year-old Burke, now an analyst with Sportsnet, has been adamant that his days running an NHL club are over. Left for Burke to ponder is what remains with the Maple Leafs from his time as general manager of the club, a tenure that started in November 2008 and ended in January 2013. The Leafs didn’t earn a playoff berth under Burke’s watch, but several players — Kadri and Rielly especially — who became part of the organization when Burke was the GM are making a significant impact. Burke made sure to congratulate Kadri on his 500th NHL game, the same night Rielly hit 400. “I’m proud of him,” Burke said of Kadri, who is the longestserving current Leaf.

“He was a star in junior and he hadtoworkhiswayupthedepth chart and become a proficient defensive player . ... He has turned himself into a complete hockey player.”

Burke has maintained that the Leafs had Rielly ranked No. 1 in 2012, and is positive that had Rielly been healthy in his draft year the defenceman would have beenofftheboardbythetimethe Leafs picked at No. 5. “I watched every shift he played,” Burke said of Rielly’s shortened 2011-12 season. “I had our video guy cut it, I watched it all twice. We were lucky to get him.

The list of players who became part of the Leafs organization under Burke includes defenceman Jake Gardiner (acquired from Anaheim in February 2011), winger Josh Leivo and goalie Garret Sparks (drafted 86th and 190th in 2011, respectively), and winger Connor Brown (drafted 156th in 2012).

“Your job is to leave building blocks even if you don’t have success,” Burke said. “I am proud of the guys we left here. They are all contributing.”

RIELLY REMEMBERS

Rielly has been a model of health, playing in all but 22 games in his first five NHL seasons. Yet Rielly can sympathize with the plight of Auston Matthews, who has started another long stretch of recovering from an injury, this time his left shoulder. Rielly played in just 18 games in the 2011-12 regular season with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League as he suffered a knee injury in November 2011, and can recall the loneliness as his Warriors teammates went about their game-by-game business. “It’s tough mentally. You work hard every day when you go to the rink to get better physically, and road trips can be tough when the guys are not around,” Rielly said. “But Auston is a mature young man. He has had to handle this before and he has handled it well. We don’t expect anything different this time around.”

WHERE’S JOHNNY?

Held to one assist in seven games, Andreas Johnsson has been a ghost at times, and he doesn’t have to be told that few thought he would have a disappointing start after he starred for the Toronto Marlies in their Calder Cup run last spring, garnering the MVP award in the American Hockey League

playoffs.

“I wanted it to be good right away, but the NHL is the best league in the world and it’s hard,” Johnsson said. “I feel sometimes I have been playing good, but the consistency has not been what I want it to be.

“The only thing I can do is to keep working hard and eventually the puck is going to come with me.”

Johnsson’s presence around the net for the Marlies last spring, his ability to fly up and down the ice, was eye-opening. With the Leafs, he has six shots on goal. That can’t continue.

LOOSE LEAFS

Kadri kept saying during his goalless string of nine games to start the season that he was confident the puck was going to start dropping for him. Kadri was right, as he has scored in three consecutive games since. When the Leafs play host to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, Kadri will attempt to score in four games in a row for the second time in his NHL career. The month of October was the best of the three that goaltender Frederik Andersen has played in a Leafs uniform, as he had a 6-4-0 record with a .919 save percentage and a 2.53 goalsagainst average. Last year, he was 6-5-0, .896 and 3.46. As for the month of November? The Dane has been great, winning 17 of his 24 decisions the past two seasons and averaging a save percentage better than .930 in each.