I'll remember you for this and not the egregious giveaways.

Brian Burke doesn’t like waiting for the NHL trade deadline. Last year he made a major splash on January 31st, acquiring Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, and J.S. Giguere (uh, and I guess Fredrik Sjostrom). This year he made another deal, albeit less significant.

Gone is the much maligned Francois Beauchemin. In his place is Joffrey Lupul, probably best known for being traded for Chris Pronger on two separate occasions. The Leafs also get former first round pick Jake Gardiner and a conditional fourth round pick. According to Pierre LeBrun, the pick is a fourth rounder if Lupul plays 40 games for the Leafs next season, if not, it becomes a sixth round pick.

This is a pretty good trade for both the Anaheim Ducks and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There was a point where I truly believed the Leafs late season successes were harbingers for the following seasons. This led me to believe that all the Leafs really needed after both 2006 and 2007 was a capable goalie. Well, I was totally wrong. The problems afflicting the team ran much deeper than that. At that point I was still blinded by the pre-lockout Leafs who consistently made the playoffs and on occasion looked good enough to seriously contend. I was probably blinded then, too.

When I began to realize the deep-seeded problems afflicting the Leafs during 2008 I prayed the Leafs did not excel when the pressure of actually making the playoffs disappeared. Unfortunately, this was the time they did win, ruining the strength of their draft picks. I was a full supporter of Tank Nation over the past two seasons. They needed to fully re-build or else they would never win a Stanley Cup.

Now, most of this season has been very difficult for me to handle (I will go into further detail at another time of just how I dealt with the futility). And now the Leafs are transforming into the late-season good team that somehow appears every season when the pressure is off. Usually this is not indicative of how the team will play the following year. So, is this year any different? Is the Leafs performance over the final months of this season a mirage or is it a sign of things to come?

This is no mirage.

Stop laughing.