Burke Blows It-Gleason to stay stateside

Ah...Fenway Park at roughly 4:20. The Bruins had just won the 3rd annual Winter Classic and it was now time to announce the mens' hockey roster for Team USA (aka the team hoping to hold off the rest of the world for fourth behind Canada, Russia and Sweden). This announcement wasn't as hyped up as the Canadian roster announcement (in fact the US accomplished in about 5 minutes what it took Canada 30 minutes and two channels to do), but it had importance for those of us born in the US of A. They trotted out the little mighty mites wearing replica jerseys with player names on the back and everyone not already freezing to death held their breath.

They started with the forwards and there wasn't really much surprise as the talent pool wasn't exactly Mariana Trench deep (yeah that's your nerdy joke of the day). Then they got to the defensemen and my blood pressure shot through the roof. Each name they announced was more puzzling than the last. But what was more shocking was the name they left off. That's right folks, our very own Timmo Gleasonen was passed over for the likes of Paul Martin, Mike Komisarek and Jack Flippin' Johnson.

Let's do a little comparison shall we?

First off Tim Gleason's stats:
Not great, but not bad either. For him this is a career year despite playing for the worst team in hockey. Plus you can't discount the leadership and heart he brings.

How about that Paul Martin eh? He's really tearing it up. Oh wait...
Stats don't really tell the whole picture here because Martin has been injured for almost the entire season. In fact, as of December 23, he was listed as being out for four more weeks due to complications from a broken arm. That gives him what? Two weeks of games before he's thrown into Olympic play? Oh yeah that should work out well. He may not make it back at all, in which case he'd have to be replaced, something Burke is already acknowledging. Good choice. :rolls eyes:

Then you have Mike Komisarek:
His stats are worse than Gleason's while playing for a team that is also statistically a better team than Carolina (but who isn't these days?). It should be noted that he plays for Brian Burke's Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes that's right I am facilitating conspiracy theories. Plus when you have quotes like this it's hard not to:

Burke is president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and one of the defenseman on Team USA is the Leafs' Mike Komisarek. "He's my kind of guy," Burke said.

Finally we have Mr. Jack Johnson who is a -53 for his career and has not fared much better this season:
Keep in mind that LA is one of the better teams in the league as they sit at 13th league wide and 8th in the West. While he's put up more points than Tim has (16 to 12), he's shaky at best in his own end. Hopefully he brings that high quality defense with him to Vancouver.

Perhaps Brian Burke was too busy trying to figure out the definition of truculence (which by the way could be used to describe Gleason's game) to actually watch any of Gleason's games this season. Perhaps he missed where Tim Gleason neutralized the world's best players both in the regular season and the playoffs. Maybe he slept through Tim's sisu filled games against Washington. Or maybe Burke already knew who he wanted prior to the season starting; actual play be darned.

Whatever the reason, whatever the rationale, Brian Burke made a mistake when he chose to leave Tim Gleason off the roster. He wants a hard working, gritty team who'll play their butts off? Well guess what, "B": the guy that embodies those qualities is still sitting in Raleigh and his name is Tim Gleason. Best of luck in Vancouver.

Ed. note-thanks to Jenniwa30 for Burke's self-portrait.