TORONTO - The night before their teams played against each other, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke had dinner with Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli.
It was a chance for the two fishing buddies to catch up on old times, share a few laughs and compare managerial philosophies.
For Burke, who has been charged with the task of rebuilding a franchise that has gone 41 years without a championship and has missed the playoffs for past three seasons, there might be no better brain to pick than Chiarelli's.
The Bruins, who defeated the Leafs 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday night, were among the worst teams in the Eastern Conference when Chiarelli was hired in 2006. Three years later, they sit comfortably atop the standings. Though no one expected Boston to improve this quickly, it shows that a rebuild does not have to be a long, painful process.
The question is whether the Leafs can accomplish a similarly swift turnaround.
"Peter Chiarelli's done a masterful job," said Burke. "They've got a multi-faceted team. They've got speed, they've got size, they can move the puck well and they've got good goaltending. This is a formidable team."
Wednesday night, the Bruins did not look so fearsome, but they still managed to hand the Leafs their fourth straight loss on home ice.
Toronto, which had been shut out in its last two games at Air Canada Centre, ended a 41-minute-and-49-second scoring drought on a first-period goal from Jason Blake. Lee Stempniak and Brad May added goals in the second period to put the Leafs ahead 3-1, but Boston, which received goals from Blake Wheeler, Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara, forced overtime in the third period.
While Stempniak and Blake both scored for Toronto in the overtime shootout, Boston picked up the extra point on goals from Wheeler, Martin St. Pierre and a nifty wrist shot from Michael Ryder.
The Leafs, who have the next five days off, head into the all-star break at a crossroads: not enough wins to contend for the playoffs and too many points to qualify for the lottery draft pick.
"Obviously, we would rather be in a better position," said Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle. "It's a learning process. We have a young team."
For a rebuilding team, the entry draft offers the easiest path to improvement. That is how the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks all transformed from bottom-feeders to top dogs.
The Bruins, who have only had one top-five draft pick in the last 10 years, chose a different approach.
"When I took the job, I said that we're retooling, not rebuilding, because the Boston market demands a competitive team," said Chiarelli. "Tanking was never a consideration."
Instead, the Bruins surrounded whatever youngsters they had in their system with proven veterans.
Leading scorer Marc Savard, goaltender Tim Thomas and captain Chara were all acquired through free agency. Several others - goaltender Manny Fernandez, defenceman Wideman and winger Chuck Kobasew - arrived via trade. And with the exception of Phil Kessel, who was selected fifth overall in 2006, most of the team's homegrown players were selected in the later rounds of the draft.
"That's the great thing about this salary cap era," said Leafs defenceman Ian White. "It doesn't have to take five or six years. We're making progress."
Constructing a team in this fashion may have worked for the Bruins, but Burke does not believe the Leafs have the foundation to support a similar structure.
"The pattern or the blueprint that I use to rebuild isn't quite like that," said Burke. "I'm not going to look at Boston. Whatever they did has worked and that's good for them. But that's not how I approach it."
This is not Burke being stubborn.
Unlike the Bruins, who had up-and-coming youngsters such as Kessel, David Krejci and Milan Lucic in their system, the Leafs are currently short on blue-chip prospects.
"The cupboard is somewhat bare with us and we have to replenish what's missing in the cupboard," said Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. "You can't, unfortunately, go down to the supermarket and pick stuff off the shelves right now. You have to be patient and do it through the draft."
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