Burke flexes muscles

The Maple Leafs had better have a pretty good penalty killing unit next season.

They're going to need one with the tough, take-no-prisoners kind of players GM Brian Burke picked up yesterday in defencemen Mike Komisarek and Garnet Exelby and enforcer-winger Colton Orr.

Combined, they've played 963 games, accumulated only 22 goals but have 1,556 penalty minutes.

Indeed, on a day when offensive stars like twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Marian Hossa and Mike Cammalleri were making big-money deals, the Leafs opted to go after players who exude pugnacity - exactly the type Burke talked about when he started his reign with the club.

"It was apparent from the time Brian Burke took the job, he wanted the Leafs to be tougher," said assistant GM Dave Nonis. "We wanted players who would not just fight, but play hard. We think we accomplished that."

The Leafs also got younger, with the players acquired yesterday in their mid-20s, while they parted ways with 32-year-old defenceman Pavel Kubina.

"They'll be with this team for the long haul," said Nonis of the newcomers. "We know we need time to make our team into a contender. We wanted guys who could be here when we become contenders."

There is more to come. The Leafs are listening to proposals for defenceman Tomas Kaberle, hoping to flip him for a scoring forward they failed to land yesterday.

Burke was in Sweden, foiled in his attempts to talk to the Sedins, who re-signed with Vancouver moments before they could have opted for unrestricted free agency. It won't be a wasted trip, since he'll get to make another pitch to free agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson.

Komisarek, 27, is the prize blue line acquisition.

An alternate captain with the Habs, Komisarek signed a five-year deal at $4.5 million (all figures U.S.) a season, adding size and toughness to complement Luke Schenn.

Komisarek was 25th in the league in hits, with 191 in just 66 games.

"He's a guy that's just coming into the prime of his career," said Nonis.

"He's a high-end player and plays a hard-nosed style of game, he brings leadership qualities to this team."

The Leafs came close to trading for Exelby - another player who can deliver big hits - during the season and finally landed him yesterday, along with prospect centre Colin Stuart from the Atlanta Thrashers, in exchange for Kubina and minor league forward Tim Stapleton.

"People are going to enjoy how (Exelby) plays," said Nonis. "He's a terrific shot blocker, one of the leaders on hits on his team and his hits are quite violent.

"He's a guy who can put up a hit, which can be a major momentum-changer for his team."

Exelby, 27, earns $1.725 million, much less than Kubina's $5 million annual stipend. Stuart earns $500,000. Both will be unrestricted free agents next summer and give the Leafs a little extra cap room.

"It made it easier to sign Komisarek to a long-term deal," said Nonis. "Kubina played well here, he put a lot of pucks in the net. But we thought bringing a younger defenceman back in that deal, who plays the style we want to play, was important, and we have a lot cap space left to improve our team."

Stuart, 26, scored three short-handed goals as a bit-performer for the Thrashers last season. His brother plays for the Bruins, and his father is a doctor for Burke's Team USA entry into the 2010 Olympics.

Orr, 27, signed a four-year deal worth $4 million and gives the Leafs the kind of drop-your-gloves enforcer the team has lacked.

Offensively, the best you can say is Orr is on a three-year scoring streak. He scored twice in the 2006-07 season, once in the 2007-08 season and once last season. He averaged a little more than six minutes a game last season.

The Leafs continue to lack scoring. They had hoped to go after the Sedins and were frustrated when Montreal scooped up Cammalleri. But Nonis said he's not worried.

"You find out if certain players who haven't been given an opportunity can score," said Nonis. "You would have said last year's team would have had a difficult time scoring as well, but when certain players got the opportunity, they were able to put the puck in the net.

"If we have to start the season with the players we have right now, I'm sure we'll be competitive enough and some of these guys will surprise all of us."

Kaberle price tag is set

It's hard to believe two Harvard-educated hockey executives like Brian Burke and Peter Chiarelli would have, in the famous words of Strother Martin, such a failure to communicate.

There they were on the NHL draft floor Friday night, both poised to consummate a major trade that had been negotiated over the previous two days. Burke wandered over to Chiarelli at the Boston Bruins table and said he planned to wait until after he'd made the seventh pick in the draft, and then announce a deal that would send veteran Maple Leaf defenceman Tomas Kaberle to the B's in exchange for winger Phil Kessel and a 2010 first-round pick.

"What do you mean? I'm making that pick," responded Chiarelli.

The Bruins GM believed the Leafs had included the seventh pick in this draft in the transaction, something Burke didn't think he'd tossed into the mix.

The deal collapsed then and there and the hockey world will have to wait to see if it's resuscitated next week, next month or never.

Both GMs, of course, are stuck in the position of having key players knowing that they were about to be traded away, uncomfortable for everyone involved. That said, Chiarelli shouldn't have a problem trading away a 21-year-old winger who scored 36 goals last year, and likewise Burke expects the market for Kaberle to expand in the coming days.

That belief was buttressed when two high-profile defencemen, Chris Pronger and Jay Bouwmeester, were shuffled to new teams in separate draft weekend deals, which could leave Kaberle as the best available blueliner out there this summer.

The decision by Scott Niedermayer to return to the Anaheim Ducks next season opened the door for GM Bob Murray to move Pronger to Philadelphia for a sizable package of youth, including talented defenceman Luca Sbisa and high draft picks.

"It was a lot to give up for anybody," said Philly GM Paul Holmgren. "Hopefully the ends will justify the means."

The Flyers had been expected to be a bidder for Bouwmeester when he becomes a free agent July 1, but instead chose to lock down Pronger, who has one more year on his contract at $6.25 million.

Calgary, meanwhile, jumped the queue and bought five days of exclusive negotiation rights with Bouwmeester yesterday by sending defenceman Jordan Leopold and a third-round pick to Florida for the big blueliner. Bouwmeester is expected to be looking for upwards of $6 million per season, and his agent, little-known Bryan Baltimore, now has the hammer in negotiations with the Flames.

"I understand the logic, but it's just not something I would do," said Burke. "Was it a good move for Calgary? We'll find out in five days."

If the Flames do sign Bouwmeester to a multi-year pact, it will leave Kaberle out there as an attractive commodity. Burke said yesterday that teams would still have to "knock his socks off" to land the Czech rearguard, but the fact is the price has now been set - a quality, established NHLer and a high draft pick - and it would be difficult to bring Kaberle back in the fall having already come so close to moving him.

"I predict my phone will start ringing on Monday morning," said Burke.

Including yesterday's draft, Burke has successfully added some youth and hope to the Leafs in the form of Christian Hanson, Tyler Bozak and first-rounder Nazem Kadri. He could know as early as today whether Swedish free-agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson will sign with the Leafs, and at noon on Wednesday will begin trolling for free agent help along with 29 other talent-hungry clubs.

If Burke can realize a profitable deal for Kaberle, the club's most talented European, the club's new North American-first direction will be furthered and another younger talent will be added to the pile.

Maybe he and Chiarelli didn't combine their Ivy League educations successfully on Friday. But nothing was lost, with much still to be gained.

Burke drafts 'pick and shovel men' to rebuild Leafs

MONTREAL-K.C. Ryan knows something about iconic teams.

He played football as a linebacker at Notre Dame alongside Joe Montana and proudly wears a gold 1977 national championship ring. The ring includes a small green emerald, emblematic of the famous decision by Irish coach Dan Devine to secretly outfit his squad in green jerseys before a home game against archrival Southern Cal.

One of Ryan's sons went to three Rose Bowls as a kicker/punter with the University of Michigan Wolverines. Yesterday, another son, Kenny, became property of one of hockey's most famous franchises, the Maple Leafs, in the second round of the NHL draft.

"All Kenny said to me before this draft was, `I hope I play in Canada,'" said the Ryan family patriarch yesterday. "Of all my boys, he was the one who wanted to play hockey ever since I started building a rink in our backyard when he was 3. Hockey was his passion, and it's what he wants to do.

"He wants to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs."

The young right winger, part of the U.S. developmental program in Ann Arbor, Mich., was part of the flood of exclusively North American talent harvested from the 2009 draft over the past two days by Leaf GM Brian Burke. Burke, who curiously enough said this draft would be remembered most for the rebirth of serious interest in Swedish hockey prospects, viewed the six players he selected yesterday - two Toronto-born prospects and four Americans - as a statement of intent about where he plans to take the Leaf franchise.

"It wasn't an accident," said Burke, who grabbed London-born centre Nazem Kadri with the club's first-round pick. "European players are important in our league. But the mix has to be right too. To play the way we're going to play, you need pick and shovel men."

That may allow the team's chief scout, Thommie Bergman, to take a few extended vacations in the next few years. The linebacker-like Ryan, meanwhile, will be a leading candidate to be one of those "pick and shovel men" in a few years.

Before that, however, he'll be part of the intensifying tug-of-war between the CHL and U.S. colleges for top-end American talent. As of now, Ryan is committed to attend Boston College next season. But the OHL's Windsor Spitfires own his rights and there appears to be a growing possibility the Spits might be able to lure Ryan away.

Windsor GM Warren Rychel successfully convinced another top U.S. prospect, defenceman Cam Fowler, to forego a full scholarship at Notre Dame to join the Memorial Cup champs in the fall.

"Our mindset right now is that Kenny is going to Boston College," said K.C. Ryan. "We're talking about a scholarship worth about $220,000 U.S. But we've been talking to (Rychel)."

Changes in OHL education plan rules in the past year have allowed teams like Windsor to more aggressively court U.S. players.

"Right now I plan on attending Boston College," said Kenny Ryan. "But we've always kept in touch with Windsor."

Along with Kadri and Ryan, the Leafs took Toronto-born defenceman Jesse Blacker, also a Windsor junior, along with GTHL-trained, 6-foot-5 centre Jamie Devane (Plymouth), RPI-bound centre Jerry D'Amigo from Birmingham, N.Y., and 6-foot-6 Philadelphia Jr. Flyers defenceman Eric Knodel.

Finally, on the same day the sons of former NHLers Ulf Samuelsson and Ray Ferraro and the grandson of the great Andy Bathgate were drafted, the Leafs used their final selection to snare 6-foot-5 Peterborough Petes defenceman Barron Smith, the Illinois-born son of former NHL rearguard Steve Smith.

"Hopefully he won't share the penchant for shooting the puck into his own net," said Burke, with a playful poke at Steve Smith's infamous error while playing for Edmonton in the 1986 playoffs.

"But this shows our commitment to size and toughness," said Burke. "We're not just talking the talk."

Bigger, meaner and more North American. The course has been set.

Newest Leaf's hockey-mad home

MONTREAL - Nazem Kadri - the Maple Leafs' newest reason for hope - is all about family. And the Kadri family is all about sports.

But yesterday they were all about each other. Kadri's 9-year-old sister, Rema, was in hospital after an asthma attack.

She's okay, and the family breathed a sigh of relief as it began to absorb the life-altering changes Kadri will undergo after the Leafs made their historic selection in Friday's NHL entry draft. Kadri will be the first Muslim to play for the Leafs; at seventh overall, it represents the highest a Muslim has ever been drafted.

"It's surreal," said Kadri, a feisty 5-foot-11 centre who plays bigger with good speed and hands. "I've been waiting for this day a long time ... it's definitely special.

"It's going to be a big summer ahead of me, and hopefully I can crack that roster next year. My goal is to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs next season."

Much will be made of Kadri's background - there just aren't that many elite-level Muslim hockey players. Montreal-born Ramzi Abid played parts of four seasons in the NHL before moving on to Europe a couple of years ago, and Justin Abdelkader of the Detroit Red Wings is of Jordanian descent.

Kadri, who's of Lebanese heritage, may inspire youths from other immigrant families from the Middle East to take up the sport, a role he's very comfortable with.

"It's nice to be a role model, and hopefully I can open up some eyes," said Kadri.

The Kadri story reads like a slice of Canadiana. His father, Sam, came to the country in 1968 when he was 3 years old. One of seven children, Sam desperately wanted to play hockey like all the other kids, but his father couldn't afford it.

"I wish I played hockey, but hockey's an expensive sport, and very time-consuming," said Sam.

When he had a family of his own and a successful garage and car dealership in London, Ont., he made sure his son and four daughters could play the sports they wanted. For Nazem, it was hockey.

"He just loved the game so much," said Sam. "He was playing winter hockey, spring hockey, summer hockey, 24-7."

When Kadri was only 2, his father bought him rollerblades. "He tore up my hardwood floors learning," Sam says. "He was unbelievable, for that age. ... My hardwood floors were gone, but I didn't care."

When Kadri got out on the ice at age 4, "he was just skating around kids, so they ended up moving him up two age groups," Sam said.

In high school, Kadri was "Naz" to his classmates and teachers, but he was such a phenomenon on ice that he got the nickname "Phenaz" amongst his hockey friends.

About 100 family and friends were in Montreal two days ago for the NHL draft, cheering him on even as the Montreal crowd booed a Leaf selection. His cousins almost immediately started walking around with Leaf hats autographed by him.

Kadri calls himself a practising Muslim and tries to pray regularly and eat halal, but admits his busy schedule can make that difficult.

"I try my best," he says.

Defenceman Luke Schenn - the Leafs' first-round pick last year - wanted to know all about him. Schenn came away impressed with Kadri's hockey resum?, feeling GM Brian Burke has added the kind of truculent, pugnacious player he believes the Leafs have been lacking.

In 2008, at the Ivan Hlinka under-18 tournament in Slovakia, Kadri was one of the best players on a Canadian squad that featured Steven Stamkos - the No. 1 pick in 2008 - and Cody Hodgson - another 2008 first-rounder. Kadri had four points in four games.

Last summer, Kadri proved to be among the best in the world at the national junior team training camp. A jaw injury 20 games into the OHL season was why he didn't make the team. He got his jaw unwired early so he could go to the December camp, but not having played for a couple of weeks put him behind the other players and he was cut.

"It was an awful feeling," he said. "I set my goal to make that team."

Al Murray, Team Canada's head scout, said Kadri is a better skater than John Tavares, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft.

"He can play all three forward positions, and all roles, from first line to fourth line," said Murray. "He's real versatile."

Kadri was the best player on the London Knights last season, until an OHL trade deadline deal saw Tavares hop over from Oshawa. Kadri gave up his No.1 centre job, and moved to Tavares's wing. He finished with 25 goals and 53 assists in 56 games.

"He's got great skill and he plays with (heart)," said Knights coach Dale Hunter. "He hits hard. And he's a playmaker. He puts up points, and he's a winner.

"I know Burke wants the Leafs to be more aggressive. He picked the right guy. ... He's the type of kid who will run over the best player on the other team hard and score goals and get points. He's unique that way."

Note Hunter's use of "unique." It came up in a conversation with John Caldarozzi, Kadri's coach in bantam and minor midget with the London Jr. Knights.

"He's a unique kid. He's a throwback. He's not caught up in the silliness or ego. He loves hockey," said Caldarozzi.

In Arabic, Nazem means "leader." His father sees him that way.

"He was captain in a lot of his minor hockey teams," said Sam Kadri. "I can see him as captain in the NHL. He's that kind of player."

Leafs settle for 7th

It had started out as a day full of optimism and intrigue. But as the hours wore on, it quickly transformed into disappointment.

The Toronto Maple Leafs did not land John Tavares. They did not trade up for the second straight year to allow top prospect Brayden Schenn to join his brother in the Leafs lineup. And they failed to acquire an extra first-round draft choice or potential 40-goal scorer by moving Tomas Kaberle out of the city.

But general manager Brian Burke, who selected forward Nazem Kadri of London, Ont., with the seventh-overall selection at last night's NHL Draft, does not believe he failed -- even if the sold-out Bell Centre serenaded him with a chorus of boos.

"Could we have moved up? Easily," Burke said. "We could have done it on the floor and we could have done it two weeks ago if we put Luke Schenn in the deal. And, to me, that's a step backwards for our franchise. My ego is not that big where I have to get up there with the first two picks."

Burke said the New York Islanders, who drafted Tavares with the first overall selection, did not entertain any offers for their No. 1 pick. He added that any talks to acquire Tampa Bay's No. 2 pick involved giving up Schenn, who was named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team last season.

"I think for the Toronto Maple Leafs we made a prudent decision to keep a kid who I think we'll be our captain in a couple of years," Burke said of Schenn, "and added another kid [Kadri] who is going to be an important part to our team down the road."

Though a deal fell through to trade Kaberle, the puck-moving defenceman will likely not be in Toronto by the end of the summer.

The exact details of the transaction were unclear. But the Boston Bruins had reportedly offered forward Phil Kessel as part of a package for Kaberle, which involved also involved draft picks.

While Burke refused to divulge what prevented the trade from happening, he repeated that he is in no rush to part ways with Kaberle, whose trade value should escalate after the July 1 free-agency period begins.

"I will only trade Tomas Kaberle reluctantly," he said. "I think he is a good player and a good person and he's at a good cap number. That being said, my job is to improve our team by turning over every stone.

"The sequence, in my opinion, is that now that [Chris] Pronger has moved, the next move will be [Jay] Bouwmeester and then my phone will ring off the hook."

For now, Burke is focused on the player he selected last night and the rest of today's draft. Barring any trades, the Leafs will have two picks in the second round (50th and 58th) and one each in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.

In Kadri, Toronto adds a 5-foot-11, 175-pound playmaking forward with speed to burn and a nose for the net.

The 18-year-old was believed to be ranked among the top three a year ago when he scored 25 goals and 65 points and helped the Kitchener Rangers reach the Memorial Cup final. But after breaking his jaw with the London Knights earlier this season, he was criticized for his lack of consistency.

Maple Leafs get role model

MONTREAL-The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted more than just a hockey player in Nazem Kadri with the seventh overall pick last night.

They drafted a symbol of change.

Kadri, a solid two-way centre with the London Knights, is of Lebanese heritage, and the first Muslim drafted by the Maple Leafs. That he grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan only adds to the mix for multi-cultural Toronto.

"Being a role model is an important thing for me," said Kadri, who hopes Muslim kids are inspired to take up hockey because of him. "Hopefully these kids can look at me and use me as a role model."

Kadri is likely to remain with the London Knights for another season. His arrival in Toronto coincides with a time when some teams in the GTHL are struggling with enrolment. In Scarborough, the youth from a heavy immigrant population aspire to play cricket and soccer, leaving youth hockey rosters barren and teams forced to fold or merge.

"A lot of Muslim kids are going to start playing hockey because they see someone like them be successful in that area," said Kadri.

There are about 250,000 Muslims living in Toronto, and the drafting of Kadri was welcomed.

"That's good news," Wahida Valiante, chair and national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress told the Star's Kenneth Kidd. "I hope he plays well, because we'll be cheering."

But while Kadri's faith is important, he's also "just Canadian," she said. "It speaks very loudly that we live in a healthy society."

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment worried in 2008 that hockey might lose its grip as the top sport in the city with the changing demographic.

GM Brian Burke acknowledged Kadri has leadership skills - he was the president of the Muslim Student Association in his high school - and the teenager's maturity showed in pre-draft meetings. Burke said he'd be happy if Kadri's career as a Maple Leaf inspired others to take up the sport.

"If this has a ripple effect on the young players in the Muslim community to take up hockey, then that's a wonderful side effect. If that increases our player pool in a part of society we're not touching right now, that's great."

Until now, Ramzi Abid has been known as the greatest Muslim hockey player. The Montreal-born left winger played 68 games in the NHL over four seasons with four teams.

"It's nice for my community to be recognized as a pro hockey player," said Kadri. "There's a lot of stereotypes about Lebanese, like they don't set foot on ice, but here I am."

Burke insists he drafted Kadri for hockey reasons and turned down trade offers for the seventh pick in order to get him.

"Our scouts think he's creative and explosive," said Burke. "He's intense. They like his physical play even though he's not a big guy."

Kadir said his father, Sam, put him on skates when he was 2 in his home town of London, Ont. He played on a team at 4 and was in the elite level by 6. Kadri's father, mother Sue, four sisters and about 40 other relatives were in the Bell Centre to hear his name called.

It was his father, who owns an auto dealership in London, who was the big Habs fan. Kadri said his dad would probably buy Leaf season tickets now and expected his family at just about every game.

Peter DeBoer, now coach of the Florida Panthers, coached Kadri with the Kitchener Rangers two seasons ago, Kadri's first in the OHL.

"I love him," said DeBoer. "He's a fierce competitor. He's got fantastic skill.

"He's got passion for the game."

Leafs add speedy Kadri with seventh-overall pick

Brian Burke got his man. Thing is, that man was not Brayden Schenn or John Tavares.

For weeks, reports had the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager trying to move up from the No. 7 slot in Friday's NHL entry draft in Montreal to grab Tavares, the OHL scoring sensation who went first overall to the New York Islanders, or Schenn, a rugged forward with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings and brother of Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn who went fifth overall to the Los Angeles Kings.

Instead, Burke landed Nazim Kadri, a speedy sniper from the OHL's London Knights.

"We could have had (Tavares)," Burke told TSN. "But we didn't want to deal Luke Schenn (to move up in the draft to select him). We're not frustrated at all. We think we got an excellent young player.

"We're very excited about this young man. It's a great day for Toronto."

Kadri, who grew up a diehard Montreal Canadiens fan, will have no problem suiting up for the Habs' historic rivals.

"I feel great," Kadri said. "It's a great feeling to be part of the Toronto Maple Leafs."

And by taking Kadri, Burke stuck it to the rival Ottawa Senators, who had designs on taking Kadri with the ninth-overall pick. Moments before the selection, TSN captured Burke and Senators GM Bryan Murray in a brief discussion about a possible trade involving the pick.

"Kadri is the kid we're going to take," told Murray. "Is that the kid you want?" Burke asks Murray.

"Yes," Murray responded.

"Well, we're going to take him," Burke replied.

"OK," Murray said.

End of conversation.

It wan't all bad news for Murray. With the ninth pick, he selected Jared Cowen, a six-foot-five shutdown defenceman from the WHL's Spokane Chiefs. Cowen could join Eric Karlsson, a puck-moving Swedish defenceman Ottawa selected in the first round of last year's draft, to one day bolster the Senators' blue-line.

The Edmonton Oilers followed Ottawa by selecting speedy Swedish forward Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson.

"We think he plays Oilers hockey," Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini told TSN. "He drives to the net. He's an emotional player and we're so excited to have him.

"To come to the Edmonton Oilers. That's a classic club. There's great hockey history there, with Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Kent Nilsson. I feel great to be here."

The Canadiens, slammed in recent years for snubbing Quebec players in favour of U.S. high school prospects, thrilled their fans with the 18th pick, selecting centre Louis Leblanc of Kirkland, Que., a Montreal suburb. Leblanc, who played last season with Omaha of the USHL, will play next season at Harvard University.

"It's important to have that element or have that flavour on our team," Canadiens GM Bob Gainey told TSN for drafting a Quebec-born player. "The Canadiens are really a part of the city, the province, the francophone culture. I really think Louis fit into our wheelhouse. We're all really happy with him as a player. We got a good, competitive player."

Leblanc told TSN he had hoped the Canadiens would call his name.

"You never know what team's going to pick you, but I was hoping it was the Canadiens," said Leblanc, who hopes to play two seasons at the Ivy League school before making the jump to the NHL. "It happened tonight, and there aren't really words to describe it."

The Calgary Flames traded their 20th-overall pick to the New Jersey Devils and ended up with pick No. 23. They selected Swedish defenceman Tim Erixon, son of former NHLer Jan Erixon.

The Vancouver Canucks - with star goalie Roberto Luongo, a Montreal native, announcing the pick - selected University of Minnesota defenceman Jordan Schroeder with the 22nd pick.