Leafs acquire May in deal with Ducks

TORONTO - Brian Burke's extreme makeover of the Toronto Maple Leafs began with the general manager adding what is to him a familiar face.

In Burke's first trade since his late November introduction as the Leafs GM when he said his new team required "proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence," the 53-year-old swung a deal with his former team in Anaheim to acquire veteran winger Brad May for a sixth-round draft pick.

"Brad will provide character, toughness, and he is a proven winner," Burke said in a statement. "We look forward to the veteran leadership that he will give our team."

The 37-year-old May, who has 126 goals, 245 points and 2,121 penalty minutes in 963 career games, played for Burke in Vancouver and helped Burke's Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2007.

"Obviously Brian Burke knows him really from the leadership that he provided that team," head coach Ron Wilson said. "It's just another guy who can bring a little bit more sandpaper to our lineup."

Wilson said May, who was celebrating his son's 13th birthday in California on Wednesday, was expected to take a red-eye to Montreal and be in Toronto's lineup Thursday against the Canadiens.

The coach made it clear he hoped May might stiffen a team that Wilson feels has been too meek, particularly in a 4-2 loss to Florida on Tuesday night.

"In a game like we were going through (Tuesday) night, I'd like somebody to stand up and express a little anger whether it be with his own play or his teammates' play," said Wilson. "I'm not sure, to be honest with you, if Brad May is that kind of a guy. But we do need some more vocality - or whatever the word would be - in our locker-room. It can't be as quiet as it is sometimes."

May's arrival in Toronto makes him a teammate of Dominic Moore, whose brother Steve had his career ended by a hit from Todd Bertuzzi, a former May teammate in Vancouver.

Bertuzzi's hit on Steve Moore came after May allegedly put a bounty on the former Colorado forward for his hit on former Canucks captain Markus Naslund.

"That's the past, simple as that," said Wilson. "He's a good guy and everybody who's played with him loves playing with Brad. That's more important than anything."

To make room for May on the roster, Toronto sent struggling rookie forward Nikolai Kulemin to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

"He hasn't been playing very well," said Wilson of the 22-year-old Kulemin, who had 14 points in 40 games this season, but just three in his last 15 games. "Hopefully he'll earn his minutes down there and he'll improve his play and we can call him back."