You mean they have more than a swimsuit edition?

“What player votes in a poll like this? What imbecile? Whoever filled out the ballot has a room temperature I.Q. … I get the survey tomorrow, ‘who is the most over-rated GM?’ You think I fill it out and crap all over my peer group? I would throw it in the trash.” -- Brian Burke with a few thoughts on the Sports Illustrated poll on the most overrated players in the NHL.

The folks at Sports Illustrated might want to take Brian Burke off the cold call list when seeking subscriptions this January, the Leafs President and GM isn't particularly a fan of their hockey coverage (such as it is) and he's especially less than impressed with their most recent observations on hockey with the release of their Most Overrated Poll.

Burke, appearing Wednesday on Bob McCown's Prime Time Sports show on Sportsnet and the Fan 590, expressed admiration for the yeoman like work of Michael Farber, dismissed the rest of the magazines coverage of the sport as basically irrelevant, particularly the poll of the most overrated, which incidentally featured two Leafs, with defenceman Dion Phaneuf holding down the magazine's most over rated spot at number 1, his second time at the top of the SI listings, his last appearance as number one coming in 2010.

The poll which is reportedly compiled by player vote, featured fifteen names.  The players that don't perform as much as their hype would suggest, at least in the mind of those that contributed to the tabulations.

Needless to say, the election of Phaneuf as the most over rated is making waves beyond the Leafs corner offices, the Toronto based media outlets have begun their own reviews of the poll and are finding the Sports Illustrated poll leaves them wanting.

Globe and Mail-- Dion Phaneuf a victim of perception

Globe and Mail-- Dion Phaneuf voted most overrated NHLer in SI Poll

Sportsnet-- Is Phaneuf the most overrated?

Yahoo Sports-- Is Dion Phaneuf of Maple Leafs really the most overrated player?

Toronto Star-- Leafs' Dion Phaneuf voted most overrated player in NHL; Brian Burke...
Toronto Sun-- Players say Phaneuf overrated
Toronto Sun-- Leafs GM slams 'cretin' voters

National Post-- Leafs' Brian Burke talks trade speculation in radio interview
TSN-- Phaneuf voted most overrated player in NHL Player poll
CBC Sports-- Leafs' Phaneuf most overrated NHLer, according to poll
NBC Sports-- Burke says anonymous player polls are "designed to crap on fellow NHLPA members"

Burke of course, would be expected to defend his players, especially Phaneuf the team's captain and he makes a fairly valid point about the nature of the poll, which isn't seemingly based on any kind of statistical overview or success/failure ratio, but rather on the gut feelings of those 161 players that cast a ballot.

And it's that final statistic that seems to discount the gravitas of the poll, there are 750 players currently on NHL rosters, of that only 161 voted, a number that makes the voting levels of Canadian elections look like full participation.

It's also the key part of Burke's argument against the poll, not so much as a true study but rather as something for someone with an axe to grind to weigh in on. He wonders aloud why the NHLPA would not try to remind it's players that they diminish their unity by allowing fellow members to "crap" on their own membership.

But why paraphrase the man, he does a wonderful job of explanation all on his own, you can listen in on that topic and other items of importance to the Leafs Nation, from the video archive of Wednesday's show.
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