So the draft lottery happened last night with the Edmonton Oilers channeling their inner Chicago Bulls and pulling off the three-peat. Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov? Their team will score a million goals and let in a million plus one. Also, lol Columbus.

Anywho, with the Oilers winning, the Leafs stayed put at fifth overall and truth be told, that's historically been a pretty good place to draft great players from. Going back 32 years to the 1980 draft, the 5th overall spot has produced good players such as:

Jaromir Jagr, Bill Guerin, Tom Barasso, Darius Kasparaitis, Rob Niedermayer, Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek, Blake Wheeler, Carey Price, Phil Kessel, both Schenns, Ryan Whitney, and Eric Brewer.

Not too shabby. Now let's hope Burke doesn't go and screw up all up by drafting Tyler Biggs 2.0.

Links after the jump

Leafs Links

Brian Burke Cares

The picture that sums up four seasons

Brian Burke's Insistence on Adhering to Self-Imposed Rules Limits the Leafs

Bourne's hit the nail on the head here.

Annotated Leafs Apology Letter

Bitter Leaf Fan has the real rough draft letter.

The Leaf Corporate "Apology" Letter and the Year-End Media Day

Mike at VLM breaks these down.

Breaking Down the Burke Press Conference

BCP goes line by line with Burke's presser.

Top 10 Hits of the 2011-12 Season

Phaneuf comes in at #7 and #1. Boom.

The Toronto Maple Leafs of Oz Part II

Fighting for Stanley with part two.

Lack of Success Hasn't Changed Burke's View

The captain of the Titanic didn't want to alter course either.

Burke Eyes Trade Market to Improve Maple Leafs

This would work if we actually had some assets to trade with.

and finally....

An article written by some stupid journalist who doesn't know what a salary cap is.

Other Links

Round One Eastern Conference Playoff Preview

DGB looks ahead to the four Eastern series.

Trades Could be Aplenty at this Year's Draft

I don't know if this excites me or scares me.

From The Branches