When Brian Burke arrived from Anaheim to take over the Maple Leafs in November 2008, he felt strongly that he would be able to take advantage of Toronto’s weak position in the standings by using salary-cap space to buy assets from other teams.

The cap system was just three years old by that time, and Burke was convinced he saw the future.

Well, Burke was right. Just his timing was off. He was ahead of his time in terms of how he believed the cap system would evolve.

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Here we are in 2019, more than a decade later, and the Leafs just had to pay the Carolina Hurricanes the ransom of a 2020 first-round draft pick to make Patrick Marleau’s $6.25-million U.S. contract go away.

Some, not all, Leaf fans were taken aback by this. The club had to pay the Hurricanes a first-rounder? Why? That’s crazy! The reality is that a Toronto first-round pick is likely (but not guaranteed, of course) to fall somewhere between No. 20 and No. 31 in the draft, which makes it less valuable.

GM Kyle Dubas, meanwhile, correctly reasoned that players such as Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson, not to mention Mitch Marner, were more valuable assets at this time to a Leaf team pursuing a Cup than a pick that would turn into a prospect not likely to arrive in Toronto before 2023. So, the deal with Carolina probably wasn’t as agonizing as you might think.

We’ve seen various innovative ways of dealing with cap issues in recent years, such as Toronto and Columbus swapping David Clarkson and Nathan Horton. Three years ago after Pavel Datsyuk told Detroit he was going back to Russia, the Wings dealt his rights to Phoenix (not yet named Arizona). The price was the No. 16 pick in the draft and a second-rounder, with the Wings getting the No. 20 pick back.

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Those were peculiar circumstances involving players who were no longer playing. With the Marleau deal and P.K. Subban’s trade to New Jersey, however, we see more clearly that NHL general managers view cap space as every bit as much of an asset as an active player, prospect or draft pick. It took a long time for GMs to get to this point after years of dealing with cap pressure by stubbornly hanging on to players even if it meant sacrificing something more valuable.

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If Leaf fans were bothered by surrendering the first pick to move Marleau, some were probably just as irritated by the fact Dubas didn’t change emphasis in the draft and start pursuing big, strong prospects. After all, St. Louis won the Cup with a big, gritty team, right?

That’s clearly not how Dubas saw it. Of the six players the Leafs drafted on Saturday, none were six feet tall, and three were five-foot-nine. Clearly, Dubas’s belief in speed, skill, hockey IQ and puck possession over size is not going to change. He doesn’t see height, in particular, as any kind of crucial factor in determining the value of a prospect.

It’s been happening with the Leafs, really, since boss Brendan Shanahan preferred William Nylander over strapping winger Nick Ritchie back in 2014, and continued the next year when the Leafs selected Marner over big defenceman Noah Hanifin. When presented with six-foot-three centre Auston Matthews in 2016, of course, the Leafs jumped at the prospect. It’s not like they don’t like talent if it comes in a larger package.

Seven of the top 13 picks on Friday were six-foot-two or more, so if the Leafs had been drafting in that area they might well have grabbed one of those players. But tiny Jack Hughes was the first pick and Montreal was thrilled to get five-foot-seven Cole Caufield with the No. 15 selection.

The belief that Toronto needs to get grittier is undoubtedly true. The belief that size alone determines whether players have that ingredient is false.

Boston, which knocked off the Leafs in the first round, was led by Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Torey Krug. Giant Zdeno Chara on the back end surely helped, as did six-foot-two fourth-liner Sean Kuraly. But the Bruins beat the Leafs with goaltending and experience, and some of their best players (Krug) were more hardnosed and smart going about their business than Toronto’s (Nazem Kadri).

So what about St. Louis? Well, the best St. Louis players up front were Ryan O’Reilly, Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, none of whom are thumpers. To get O’Reilly and his smart, cerebral game, the Blues traded away size in the form of six-foot-six Tage Thompson and six-foot-four Patrik Berglund.

The real St. Louis bulk was on the back end, led by Alex Pietrangelo, Joel Edmundson, Colton Parayko and Jay Bouwmeester. Could the Leafs use some of that? Yes, if those D-men can move the puck and play Toronto’s game.

But Toronto fans need to accept the fact Dubas and his group have a philosophy that isn’t going to change, and be happy that at least the Leafs are committed to a plan that’s in tune with the times. Toronto’s real need is to get its key players — Matthews, Nylander, Marner — to learn how to perform in the playoffs with the same determination and snarl as players such as Bergeron and O’Reilly.

That and the very different skill of salary-cap management, an art many hockey fans still don’t necessarily value, are going to be the factors that determine much of the future for this hockey club.