Maple Leafs Fire GM Brian Burke; Name Dave Nonis New GM
 

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Wednesday that David Nonis has been named to the role of Senior Vice-President and General Manager, effective immediately. Nonis becomes the 14th General Manager in franchise history, having previously served as Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations since joining the club December 6, 2008. Brian Burke has been relieved of his duties as President and General Manager, but will stay on in a Senior Advisory role to MLSE President and C.O.O. Tom Anselmi and the MLSE Board of Directors.

“I’ve worked closely with our Board to evaluate the long-term direction of the Leafs, and as a result of this assessment we have decided to make these leadership changes,” said Anselmi.

“We are grateful to have such a deep and talented hockey operations department to allow us to make such significant changes seamlessly. We believe in Dave and the team and their abilities to lead the Maple Leafs out of this lockout and into the upcoming season.

“Brian will not have direct authority over hockey operations, however this new role will allow our Board and I to continue to benefit from his hockey expertise. We want to thank Brian for accepting his new role and staying on with our organization.”

Burke became the 13th general manager in Leafs franchise history on November 29, 2008.

In his role as senior vice-president of hockey operations, Nonis served as the general manager of the Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Maple Leafs. Nonis also recently served as the general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team for the 2011 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia.

Prior to joining the Maple Leafs, the British Columbia native was the senior advisor of hockey operations with the Anaheim Ducks. Nonis began his hockey management career in 1990 with the Vancouver Canucks following a standout hockey career at the University of Maine that saw him captain the team to back-to-back NCAA championship tournaments. While with the Canucks he served in a number of roles before joining the National Hockey League as the League’s manager of hockey operations in 1994. He returned to the Canucks in 1998 as the senior vice president, director of hockey operations where directed all areas of the team’s hockey operations department. On May 6, 2004 he was named the ninth and the youngest general manager of the club.

While general manager of the Canucks, Nonis’ teams compiled a record of 130 wins, 91 losses, and 25 ties.

Great timing!

Seems like strange timing. Can't believe they would wait until right before the season starts. Its not like he was able to make any moves during the lockout.

Overall i like Burke and I think this is a mistake. This also came out of nowhere for me anyways I'm very surprised. At least give him the half season lol

Seems wrong to fire a top guy right after a lockout. Business is business. "Way to get a deal done....here's the door."

Terrible move. Sure Burke's rebuild was taking longer than he said it would but anybody with a brain knew it was going to take him 5-7 years to fix the mess he inherited. Now they are going to have to start the rebuilding process all over again with a new GM. **** MLSE.

Edit- Apparently Burke was fired because he didn't want to trade for Roberto Luongo. What a joke.

While I think Burke is an overrated, attention seeking buffoon who should be fired. It is pretty strange timing indeed. Wonder if him and the the brass were at odds over something. Maybe Luongo?

This....well. Rogers taking over was a huge mistake. If they are anything like their customer service. This franchise will continue to be doomed for another 50 ****in years.

Who in hell?? Nonis? Fletcher? The CEO of Rogers wife? I was hoping to see the cup before I die.

**** this ****, see ya Colton, see ya Brown. :(

Orr is definitely gone now. Brown will likely survive as long as Carlyle is around, which may not be long depending on who the new GM is.

i hope they hire pierre gauthier

I live in Toronto. I am not a Maple Leafs fan.

However, I really do feel sorry for all the people that are fans of the team. This org. has to be the poorest run franchise in any sport that is imaginable to the mind.

I have always hoped that I would see the Leafs win a cup, however I really don't know if I will. Why wait until the beginning of an abreviated (sp?) season? I cannot believe nor understand why they would do this right now. It just gets worse everytime MLSE decides to "act".

Good luck, to whatever sucker they get to try and right this ship.

****in joke

Someone should dig up the decayed corpse of Harold Ballard.

Islanders now have some serious competition in the "Worst Run Team in Hockey" sweepstakes. While I love the idea since it means the Leafs will miss the playoffs for another season, from a hockey perspective this makes no sense at all as far as the timing goes. Firing Burke is justified (IMO) but not now for crying out loud. And if ownership thinks Luongo is the answer to their problems then they misheard the question. Just ask VanCity. Nonis? Dudley? Ghost of Punch Imlach?

so they give him a year to turn things around, he doesn't accomplish that, but instead of letting him go at seasons end you wait until half the season is over and days after the lockout has ended?
the owners of this team just took this franchise from 1 step forward to 1200 steps back. I have a hard time believing whomever they bring in will move this team up any faster then burke did in the next 5+ years