Burke placing emphasis on rebuilding Leafs' blue line

Call it Burke's Law.

The 2009 Entry Draft was nearly complete and every reporter from Maine to Maui was surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, asking him where he was going to start in a rebuilding process that seemed hopeless a while back -- going from 34-35-13 and 12th in the Eastern Conference to a potential playoff team. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. But it does look like there is progress.

"I wouldn't agree to take any job unless the owners let me do it with both hands on the wheel," Burke said, explaining how he wanted full autonomy in the rebuilding process. "Everyone knows I like to drive the team with six strong forwards up front and another six hard-to-play-against forwards at the other end of the spectrum -- guys I like to call pick-and-shovel players who come to work every night and give the team the sandpaper element that is hard to play against.

"But the part of my roster that makes the most sense to me is setting a value on our defense being strong both defensively and offensively."

Since free agency began, Burke has acquired size, skill and toughness -- starting with fourth-line tough guy Colton Orr -- but has really emphasized the back end.

Mike Komisarek was plucked from the Montreal Canadiens and Francois Beauchemin from Burke's old team in Anaheim via free agency. He also traded defenseman Pavel Kubina for tough-as-nails blueliner Garnet Exelby from Atlanta in a trade -- that on top of holdovers Tomas Kaberle, Luke Schenn, Jeff Finger, Ian White and Jonas Frogren.

While it's not the same as Burke's Stanley Cup-winning defense corps in Anaheim in 2007, which included former Norris Trophy winners Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, plus Beauchemin, Sean O'Donnell, Kent Huskins, Joe DiPenta and Ric Jackman, this Toronto defense might be deeper than that Ducks' group.

"When I was in San Jose, I had to face those Anaheim teams a lot ... and it was tough," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "Here in Toronto we needed to make ourselves bigger and change the tenor of our team.

"I can tell you right now, people are already thinking, 'Boy you go across the blue line against the Leafs and this is a big defense and getting bigger.' "

Spending your salary cap dollars where it counts, on defense -- yeah, that's Burke's Law.

While everyone in the hockey world is waiting for a Kaberle trade, Burke said he wouldn't rule out a top four on defense that featured Kaberle, Schenn, Komisarek and Beauchemin.

"In fact," Burke said, "my prediction is that he will be here to start the season, unless someone blows the doors off with an offer."

What is interesting is that Beauchemin didn't stay in Anaheim and he didn't choose to go home to Montreal. He might be the key piece to Toronto's defense -- just like he was with the Ducks when they acquired him from Columbus along with Tyler Wright in what seemed to the dumping of Sergei Fedorov's salary back in November 2005.

"Francois will be a welcome addition to our blue line," Burke said. "He's a rock-solid, steady defender that will add character to our team."

In Anaheim, Beauchemin went from a throw-in to Scott Niedermayer's partner on the Anaheim defense, he was playing important minutes.

"He was on our radar long before we made the deal with Columbus," Burke said at the time. "We had gotten some pretty good reports on Francois in the American Hockey League from (then VP of hockey operations) Bob Murray, who said, 'The guy you have to get in the deal is Beauchemin.' Boy was he right."

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, who had coached at Manitoba of the AHL, also remembered seeing Beauchemin during his three seasons of playing, with Hamilton and Syracuse.

"I remember thinking he was a workhorse down there, played a lot of minutes in a lot of different situations. He had paid his dues," Carlyle said. "As it turned out, we feel that we got a great player that hadn't really had an opportunity to show what he could do at this level."

What was so impressive was that Beauchemin still was a wide-eyed youngster looking at the challenge and opportunity he had gotten in Anaheim.

"When you consider where I was and where I'm at now, you have to look at my story as some sort of fantasy, don't you?" he said back then. "I looked at moving to Anaheim as more of a challenge, more of an opportunity to prove myself. Not trying to be as good as Sergei Fedorov."

And now, the move from Anaheim to Toronto? Another challenge? Sure is.

This time, though, Beauchemin is no throw-in, no afterthought. He was obtained for what he's done in the past four seasons.

Remember, the first tenet of Burke's Law is being able to build a defense that is strong defensively and offensively.