"We made a very substantial offer to Brad Richards," Burke said Wednesday at the Leafs prospect camp. "What we offered I don't think is material. We lost out on the Brad Richards sweepstakes for two reasons -- one, we didn't offer as much money as other teams and more importantly we didn't structure the contract like other teams did.

"These deals that are front-end loaded and have small amounts on the back end in my opinion are designed to circumvent the salary cap. I won't do them, I never have, I'm not going to."

The Leafs are believed to have offered Richards a $42-million, six-year deal.

Even still, the Leafs GM says he's confident the team has improved with the moves its made. The team signed centre Tim Connolly to a $9.5-million, two-year deal and acquired centre Matthew Lombardi and defenceman Cody Franson from Nashville for Brett Lebda, a prospect and a draft pick.

"For now we're done," said Burke. "We'll see what happens. If we get a chance to upgrade we'll do it."

Joe Corvo does not have a stellar reputation in Boston for several reasons, the main stemming from an incident at a nightclub in Boston in 2003, where he allegedly punched and kicked a 34-year-old woman. Corvo pled guilty to counts of both felony and misdemeanor assault and received a two-year suspended sentence to go with an undisclosed amount of community service.

John Ahlers, Brian Hayward - Anaheim Ducks: Ahlers might be an excellent play-by-play announcer, but Hayward overwhelms him on the air. Hayward is an ex-goaltender and as is often the case with ex-goaltenders, his analysis is heavily slanted in favor of goaltenders -- any goaltender. He speaks about goaltending as a mystical pursuit, which is extremely frustrating to viewers looking for answers or explanations about goaltending technique.

He's also heavily biased in his general game analysis and is hard-pressed to find fault in the Ducks for anything. He's the announcer who accused Brent Seabrook of "selling it" to draw a call on this hit.

Several reports in recent weeks have indicated the NHL will have some form of radical realignment in 2012-13, when the Winnipeg Jets will shift from the Eastern Conference to the West, where they belong.

It is widely assumed the Detroit Red Wings would move to the Eastern Conference.

And while nothing is official, as the Board of Governors will continue to discuss possible scenarios when they meet in December, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold might have let the cat out of the bag during a radio interview. He told KFAN of Minneapolis that the Wild would be in the Central Division along with Winnipeg, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas and possibly Columbus.

He didn't mention Detroit, which leads one to assume the Red Wings would in fact be in the East.

Leipold didn't say this was a done deal, but by the tone of his remarks, he seems fairly certain it will happen.