Ex-Leafs GM Brian Burke Makes Absurd Joke Regarding Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews

With Matthews sidelined for Tuesday's game against the Boston Bruins, the Leafs went out onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena and embarrassed the Bruins, skating away with a 4-0 victory on the heels of an excellent performance from netminder Anthony Stolarz. The Leafs' win on Tuesday pushed their record without Matthews in the lineup to an impressive 36-19-2.

On Wednesday, ex-Leafs GM Brian Burke appeared on the "Leafs Morning Take" podcast to chat with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill. Among the items discussed was the Leafs' surprisingly strong record with Matthews sidelined. Burkie's reaction to the news was as priceless as it was ridiculous. Without hesitation, Burke stated "get rid of him," with a straight face, seconds before bursting out laughing. The clip can be seen below:

As Burke outlined on the podcast, the record with Matthews out is more a product of every player knowing that they need to elevate their game and play a little harder to make up for the lost talent. This is certainly a plausible reason as to why the Leafs are so dangerous with Matthews sidelined.

Obviously, Burke knows that you can't trade a generational goal scorer like Auston Matthews. Just one season ago, Matthews did something that we haven't seen since the days of the great Mario Lemieux when he potted 69 goals. The Leafs are not a better team without Auston Matthews. They just work a little harder.

The frustrating thing in all of this is that the Leafs have this in them. They can turn it on anytime they choose to. The fact that they don't play like that every night is what irks people.

At any rate, Matthews stands a reasonably good chance of getting back into game action this weekend when the Leafs host the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens on back-to-back nights on Friday and Saturday. If Matthews is unable to return for either of those games, his next opportunity to play will be November 12th against the Ottawa Senators.