The Leafs have made strides in the Brian Burke era. They’re a deeper, faster, tougher group than the Toronto squads that came before just before and after the 2004-05 lockout, but something’s still missing.

A bona fide No. 1 centre.

Now, you can try convincing me Tyler Bozak is that guy, but you’d be wasting your breath. You can say he’s on pace for an 18-goal, 41-assist, 59-point season – which would shatter all his previous career highs – but I’d answer that the 25-year-old’s success this season is more a product of playing alongside point production machines Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul than anything of his own doing.

Ask yourself this: If Bozak were on a team that was a serious threat to win the Stanley Cup, which line would he be playing on? Certainly not the top line. Maybe the second line, but probably not there, either. On a team like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Vancouver or Philadelphia, odds are he’d be a third-liner at best.

Then there’s first-year Leaf centre Tim Connolly. I don’t think the 11-season veteran was a bad signing as some have suggested – and with nine assists and 15 points in 21 games, he hasn’t been a bust of an unrestricted free agent signing. But again, where would Connolly be playing on a team that had a Ryan Getzlaf, or an Anze Kopitar? He wouldn’t be challenging either of those stars for their positions on the top line, that’s for sure.

The Leafs are making the most of what they have, but to think Toronto’s centremen are even close to equal with the NHL’s best is wishful thinking in the extreme. The league’s GMs know how tough it is to acquire a true No. 1 centre and as such aren’t willing to trade one unless there’s a gun pointed squarely between their shoulderblades.

That represents Burke’s greatest challenge. He’s shown he’s won’t wait on a top centre through the draft. And when you consider the top free agent this summer is Zach Parise – a winger – he’s unlikely to find one on the open market. That leaves Burke little option but the trade route. And to land a No. 1 centre from any team, he’ll have to deal a good portion of the youth, talent and depth he’s built up thus far.

It’s not ideal, but at this stage, it’s the Leafs’ only hope.