GM's bid to kick-start Leafs is right on

A kick in the arse has never done a Maple Leaf any harm.

What's damaged this franchise is that so few well-placed boots have ever been delivered in the public arena, by them what counts, as if the players were delicate creatures to be cosseted and coddled. That's created a culture of non-accountability and lassitude.

Here's the news bulletin, circa Brian Burke: Play like a pussy and you ain't getting stroked for it.

In the past week, both Nik Antropov and Vesa Toskala have been rubbing their sore backsides. They've been called out by the general manager and rightly, if rudely, so. In each case, the player has responded as desired - putting a little more lead in their pencils, at least temporarily. Antropov has popped a few goals after a prolonged scoring drought. Toskala showed glimpses of last year's form.

It's a risky gambit, embarrassing a player as Burke did in a couple of open-mike forums, including the Conn Smythe dinner. Such tactics might backfire with an individual of different temperament, say a Tomas Kaberle, who found himself coach-whacked earlier in the season when nailed to the bench by Ron Wilson.

Knowing one's personnel, how they'll likely react, is critical. And these ambushes don't come out of the blue. By the time a dis goes public, it's already been addressed privately in chats with the player or his agent, believe you me.

Burke figured he'd seen enough. But the blunt-talking GM has been taken aback somewhat by the reaction to his reaction.

"The most amusing part of the last week is what people have been saying about me supposedly trashing my players," he said this week. "We don't trash players in this organization. I promise, if the day comes when I really blast a player publicly, everybody in Toronto will know it. I have no issue with the English language. I can speak loudly and clearly."

Burke's always done that, is notorious for it. But Toronto, hockey-wise, hasn't seen/heard such no-bull-spoken-here commentary since the Pat Burns coaching era and a lot further back than that for front-office frankness without a forked tongue.

"It's been 90 days," said Burke of his front office tenure. "I've left everyone alone during that time. But we've got to start being a little more candid around here. Sure, players don't like being called out but that's part of the job. Being challenged is part of being a professional athlete.

"At some point you've gotta say, the emperor has no clothes. Our fans and our sponsors deserve better than this."

The argument can be mounted that Burke's timing was in fact not so wise, with the trade deadline looming and Antropov, a free agent this summer, one of the club's few assets, his $2.1 million contract absorbable. Emphasizing the guy's drawbacks can only make him less attractive on the market or lower his value in terms of what can be fetched in return.

But the truth, well-known across the league as GMs start to work the phones, is that Antropov had just about zero trade appeal as of a fortnight ago.

While Burke won't admit it, there's been no bite on an Antropov dangle. If embarrassing the player has sparked even an iota of improved performance, with the clock ticking, that's all to the good. He's a markedly - and marketed - more attractive acquisition today than he was two weeks ago.

However brutal on the ice, these are interesting times for the Leafs. The pith of what they might become, eventually, starts now, with a reversal of culture.

Losing can be forgiven, on the learning curve.

But doing it half-assed can't.