Former Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke reveals the biggest regret he had during his time in Toronto

This week Brian Burke joined Jeff Marek on a podcast and opened up about his biggest regret during his time as the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager.

The Toronto Maple Leafs in today's NHL are one of the best teams in the NHL and a perennial contender to be in the Stanley Cup Playoff race.

In the early 2000s, this was not always the case with the Maple Leafs often struggling to find regular season success let alone any sustained success in the playoffs.

During the 2008-09 season, former Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke came in to try and change that narrative.

Within one season of his arrival, Burke made a splash move acquiring Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins and adding him to an exciting young Maple Leafs group including the likes of Tyler Bozak, Tomas Kaberle Nikolai Kulemin, and others.

One of those other players was Mikhail Grabovski who the Maple Leafs got from the Montreal Canadiens.

Burke's self-admitted biggest regret with the Maple Leafs ends up involving Kessel, Grabovski, and a couple of other players.

Brian Burke admits his biggest regret as the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs

Burke joined NHL analyst and podcast host Jeff Marek on the Offside Podcast and got an opportunity to speak about his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When speaking about regrets Burke pointed to deciding to allow Kessel to wear 81 as one of the biggest of his career.

Traditionally in his previous stops such as Anaheim and Vancouver with the Canucks Burke had a rule that players could only wear numbers up to and including 35.

This rule was enforced even on superstars like Ryan Getzlaf and the Sedin twins but when Kessel came to town Burke made an exception.

According to Burke, this was quickly taken advantage of by fellow new addition Mikhail Grabovski who also wanted a number in the 80s and then Burke says within a week several other players requested higher numbers as well.

It remains unclear exactly why Burke feels this was such a terrible and regrettable choice but considering the era that he came from having such specific rules makes sense.

Another GM who is cut from the same cloth is Lou Lamoriello who still will not allow his players to have facial hair unless it is the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Now the Maple Leafs are in a new era and surrounded by plenty of players both stars and depth who wear higher numbers and seem to be doing quite well for themselves.

If Burke ever gets back into an NHL front office it will be interesting to see if this is a rule he will stick to in the modern era or if he lets it be something of the past.

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