"This team is looking more like a Brian Burke team," Burke told FanHouse. "We have our top six. We have our bottom six. We are building a team that cares about winning more than they did a year ago. We put the ones that didn't on airplanes."
The exodus of players out of the epicenter of North American hockey has included Martin Skoula, Lee Stempniak, Ian White, Matt Stajan, Nick Hagman, Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake -- all players dealt midseason 2009-10.
"If you want to focus on our team, you have to go back to Jan. 31," Burke says. "That's when we made the trades with Calgary, Anaheim and New Jersey. From that point on, we had the seventh-best team in the East. We have the same team coming back plus [Mike] Komisarek, [J.S.] Giguere and [Phil] Kessel are healthy."
While not quite of the magnitude of the centerpiece of those January trades (defenseman Dion Phaneuf), the Leafs had some solid acquisitions this offseason in goalie Jonas Gustavsson, and forwards Kris Versteeg, Colby Armstrong and Clarke MacArthur.
But Burke said he'll leave it up to the pundits to say whether the moves put Toronto in position to end its five-season playoff drought.
Gretha Cavazzoni Gwen Stefani Halle Berry Hayden Panettiere Haylie Duff
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