Change for the sake of change isn't part of Brian Burke's modus operandi, you can count on that. But with his team mired in inconsistency, the GM isn't about to get complacent either.

Each move made is made for a reason, with considerable thought involved from a variety of sources. If a move is to be made, it'll be made not for any short-term gratification but for the long-term growth of the team.

He has pledged to make changes if the results of don't improve, but what are his options?

Let's run through the most likely scenarios.

First and always is a trade.

 

In the cap world trades are typically difficult to pull off and when completed, usually involve depth players switching places. Rarely do trades nowadays produce ground-breaking changes and the movement of major talents. Boston recently sent Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota for Craig Weller and a pick. That's about as big as ...

Ponikarovsky Stajan Kessel

Blake Grabovski Hagman

Kulemin Mitchell Stempniak

Mayers Wallin Orr

 

Kaberle Finger

Beauchemin White

Gunnarson Schenn

 

Goalie

Even on nights when they dominate, the Leafs seemingly find ways to lose.

“We’re controlling the play the last few games,” Matt Stajan said on Wednesday. “Obviously there’s been spurts when we’ve let down and the other team’s capitalized with two or three quick ones and that’s been the result of a few losses. But we’re trying.”

Take Tuesday night. The Leafs are up one on the Senators midway through the second period. Niklas Hagman tries to dance by Milan Michalek, doesn’t, and takes a penalty as a result. That penalty leads to Michalek’s game-tying goal and just minutes after that, Mike Fisher puts Ottawa ahead for good.

Little let-downs yes, but for a team that’s scored more than three goals just four times all season, little let-downs are perilously big.

“Again a couple sloppy plays in the neutral zone resulted actually in three goals against,” Ron Wilson explained following ...

Coming off of a shaky outing against the Flames on Saturday, Jonas Gustavsson will return to the Leafs goal on Thursday versus Carolina.

 

"I try to go into games with the same energy all the time," Gustavsson said on Wednesday following practice at the RBC Center. "Even if I’ve played good or bad, win or lose the game before, I always try to keep that same level because that’s the way I want it. I can’t prepare different ways just because we won or lost. I see the game as a challenge and a experience and I’m happy to get the chance."

 

Gustavsson was pulled from the game on Saturday less than ten minutes into the first period after he allowed three goals on five shots.

 

On the season he sports a 3-4-3 record, with a 3.06 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.

 

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Ponikarovsky Stajan Kessel

Blake Grabovski Hagman

Kulemin Mitchell Stempniak

Mayers Wallin Orr

 

Kaberle Finger

Beauchemin White

Gunnarson Schenn

 

Goalie

They were supposed to be the big, bad Maple Leafs.

But it was apparent very early on, that the label didn’t fit.

Two months later and the Leafs remain a team without an identity.

 

“I still think we’re searching for our identity,” Jason Blake said.

“We’re not the Detroit Red Wings. We don’t have that skill, how they play, it’s a keep-away fest for them there. But in order for us to win we’ve got to be good in all areas. We don’t have to be great, but we have to outwork [opponents], we have to outhit [opponents]. We have to chip pucks in, we have to use our speed on the fore-check, get to the net."

 

"We’re not going to have any easy nights. I don’t think we have to be great in all those areas, but we have to do them consistently good.”

Early last season, ...

Ponikarovsky Stajan Kessel

Blake Grabovski Hagman

Kulemin Mitchell Stempniak

Primeau/Mayers Wallin Orr

 

Kaberle Finger

Exelby Beauchemin

Gunnarson Schenn

 

Goalies

Ten in eighteen games.

The haunting total of times the Leafs have trailed 2-0 in this young season.

They managed to make it close in eight of the ten, pulling within one goal, but charging back to win fully and completely only a single time when they beat the struggling Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on November 6th.

So close and yet so far.

Only when this Leafs team finds itself deep in the hole does it seem able to find that necessary level of urgency.

“It comes automatically when you’re down,” Niklas Hagman said. “You have to start doing something, you have to get goals.”

The Leafs can argue that they’ve managed to fight back in most games, making the score close but ultimately still in the wrong favour for their liking.

Honourable yes, but the NHL doesn’t award points for honourable efforts.

A record of 0-10-3 when trailing after two periods reveals that.

A look at the ten 2-0 deficits:

CGY: ...

The relative struggles of sophomore defenseman Luke Schenn have been well-documented.

The difficulties have been evident.

There’s really no denying what’s been a rough start to Schenn’s second season in the NHL.

But a little perspective is required.

It seemed unlikely if not impossible that Schenn would emerge as a shut-down defenseman in his second year and yet that seems to have been the prevailing expectation.

Scott Stevens like Schenn was selected 5th overall by the Washington Capitals in 1982 and evolved into a Hall of Fame defenseman, but it was a process of evolution that turned him into a fearsome player, an evolution made all the more possible by playing in the sub-Toronto hockey markets of Washington, St. Louis and New Jersey.

Unlike Stevens, Schenn is under the microscope for every blunder. That’s the reality of the situation and there’s no excusing it.

Fairly or unfairly every mistake is replayed, ...