On the second day of Leafsmas
Burkie gave to me...
Two Special Teams
and
A center for Phil Kessel
Special teams are extremely important. They make a great team unbeatable, a good team great, and competent ones would make the Maple Leafs a decent team. Right now they are sitting at 19th on the powerplay (15.8%) and 29th (77.4%) for a 93.2 combined special teams efficiency rating. That's not nearly good enough to overcome the team's 0.77 5-on-5 goals for/goals against differential.
How will Burke solve the problem? There are a few ways: bring in a coach that can teach special teams, bring in a forward to prop up the powerplay, scare the goalies into being better, or get the rules changed so that the Leafs get three minute powerplays instead of two. Can he do it?