Blue and White disease as its called in Toronto, and been around for decades and often creeps to the forefront even when you swap out players.
Brian Burke recognized it but couldn't fix it then, and its back now again in full bloom in this new group of players.
Can Brian Burke cure Leafs’ ‘blue and white disease’?
Brian Burke is scowling. After meeting with him a half dozen times in recent weeks, I’ve learned this is the default expression worn by the president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is his game face, his first impression, his warning to the outside world. Brian Burke scowls and you know he means business.
Then Burke starts talking about something he calls “blue and white disease.” And suddenly, as a lifelong Leafs fan, I question my devotion.
“The absolute insistence on winning was not here,” says Burke, who put together the Anaheim Ducks club that won the Stanley Cup in 2007. “If you need to be a championship team, success has to be something that’s desirable and attainable at any price. I really believe when I got here that the team had blue and white disease.”
This sickness, he explains, is caused by contradictions and market realities. No matter how poorly the team has played the organization thrived as the NHL’s most lucrative franchise. Win or lose, to be a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs meant you were paid handsomely, in the media and league spotlight, and lionized in the public as a demigod.
We love the Leafs so much they don’t need to love us back.
“I tried when I got here to embarrass them and shame them,” Burke says. “We talked openly about blue and white disease. We talked openly about complacency. I’ve been able to move the needle on every group of athletes I’ve ever had by shaming them and barking at them and publicly challenging them and I didn’t the move the needle on this group one bit". “If you can’t change the tone in the room through the force of your own personality, if you can’t do that, there’s only one thing to do and that’s start putting people on airplanes. So we blew up the room. We basically dynamited the team.”
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Can Brian Burke cure Leafs’ ‘blue and white disease’?
Sound familiar?
Leafs blew up the team and started over with Shanahan and his plan in 2014, and with a new batch of young players and now after big fat undeserving contracts have been handed out without earning them, complacency and acceptance of losing annually has returned as has Blue and White disease once again. If this team doesn't find any measurable success in 2021-22 season Ownership is going to push the reset button again and blow this all up, because there is no other cure but a fresh start.
