Mighty Burke's in Anahiem

[Chadd 916]

I saw the ones on SportsNet News. I'm going to miss him (in Vancouver).

After Nonis had broken down accepting the Vancouver GM job, Burke called him a "big baby..." in jest.

Tony Gallagher, a columnist for The Province (Vancouver newspaper), had a running feud with Burke, and even he had only good things to write after Burke was unveiled as the Anaheim GM. Burke doesn't suffer fools gladly, so there should be a lot of interesting new feuds brewing up.

Do you guys think Babcock can get away from the Trap? If not, Burke might bring in another coach.

I give Burke props for helming entertaining teams, that do not feature the trap. Other than that, I'd have a lot of respect for the guy, especially after the way he handled the Bertuzzi-Moore situation.

You actually think he handled it well?

[Guest Marcelo Cordoba]

I have a feeling that he wouldn't have bought the club if a new CBA wasn't on the horizon that appears to be a lot more owner-friendly than the last one.

Tom Golisano, the new owner in Buffalo, has said on more than a few occasions that he wouldn't have bought the club if Bettman hadn't guaranteed him a new economic landscape once the CBA expired. He said, and the NHLPA have said, that owning the Sabres under the old system did not make any sort of economic sense.

Well...

The Samueli's had been talking to Disney for almost 3 years before the sale was announced (almost 4 years until the NHL owners approval), thus, long before the CBA expired. They (the Samueli's) are season ticket holders and very passionate fans of the team, especially Susan.

When rumor surfaced that Disney was interested in unloading, they threw their name into the hat, and one of the reasons that cited was that they wanted to keep the team here.

Next thing you know, the Ducks are in the Finals against NJ and all the sale talk stops.

Also, keep in mind that they own the management company that runs the Pond for the City of Anaheim, so, you could see that they had a vested interest in the direction the team was headed, as well as who owned ("owns, owns") the team.

[sherwood21 0]

I picked up somewhere that for the '05/06 season they'll be the Ducks, after that they'll consider a new name.

I think the Raiders would be funny.

JJ

Last I heard they were considering the "California Golden Seals" as their permanent name if they secure the rights.

are you serious?

Honestly, at this point, anything is an improvement. Besides, "California Golden Seals" actually has some history behind it.

could you explain?

Used to be an NHL team

[Adam91 0]

I don't if anyone in the Vancouver area heard Burke's wife Jennifer Mather just tear apart the local sports radio station ? It was just great

[ktang 34]

I read about it in the papers. I think it was great, too. She works for another radio station, and she lit into David Pratt, I think (he used to be on TSN for Vancouver way back).

But, now Burke will have to take the old "your girlfriend has to protect you" ribbing from his peers :D .

Like I said before, Burke didn't suffer fools gladly, so there is a great potential for running feuds with the LA media!

[Bane 1]

I saw the ones on SportsNet News. I'm going to miss him (in Vancouver).

After Nonis had broken down accepting the Vancouver GM job, Burke called him a "big baby..." in jest.

Tony Gallagher, a columnist for The Province (Vancouver newspaper), had a running feud with Burke, and even he had only good things to write after Burke was unveiled as the Anaheim GM. Burke doesn't suffer fools gladly, so there should be a lot of interesting new feuds brewing up.

Do you guys think Babcock can get away from the Trap? If not, Burke might bring in another coach.

I give Burke props for helming entertaining teams, that do not feature the trap. Other than that, I'd have a lot of respect for the guy, especially after the way he handled the Bertuzzi-Moore situation.

You actually think he handled it well?

Oops.. Should have been "I don't have a lot of respect for him." Corrected now.

[kosydar 0]

My personal favorite is how Burke attributed the seriousness of Moore's injuries to him "tripping over Bertuzzi's stick, which he dropped."

[RadioGaGa 162]

bumpin' an old favorite.

The war of words between Burk and Lowe continues. Burke is laying the balme on the rise in salaries of young players on Lowe.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242347&lid...=headlines_main

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Burke is dead on.

[Law Goalie 147]

Yup - he called it. With a few exceptions (Kurtis Foster being a recent one), the second contract is basically gone; that in effect means that teams have 2-3 fewer years in which to build a contender. As soon as their good entry-level players become RFA's, they take the top-dollar salaries away from the veterans, who then move on to teams that can afford them.

I'm still in awe of Ken Holland and the Wings' European scouting.

[DarkStar50 679]

Burke can complain all he wants. The landscape has changed. Burke should shut up and deal with it. Why is he the only one whining? Businesses evolve and the dynamics on how you run your business are always in flux. The way things were is not the way they will always be. So, Kevin Lowe accelerated the process. Now it's up to the other 29 GMs to work with the system they have in front of them.

Sure I wish the internet never came along so I wouldn't have to deal with online shoppers in my shop but I don't get to make that decision. The marketplace made the choice. I work with it, I deal with it, I react to it, and then I do what is best for my shop. If Brian Burke has a law degree from Harvard, he might want to start using his brains again to work with the system he has to work with, not the one he wishes were still in place.

[mrusse01 0]

Burkie must have skipped a few econ classes back at ol'Harvard. Hilarious that management is still complaining about contracts that THEY THEMSELVES are signing even with a salary cap in place. If you don't want to pay Corey Perry $26 million, then don't. It's that simple.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Burke can complain all he wants. The landscape has changed. Burke should shut up and deal with it. Why is he the only one whining? Businesses evolve and the dynamics on how you run your business are always in flux. The way things were is not the way they will always be. So, Kevin Lowe accelerated the process. Now it's up to the other 29 GMs to work with the system they have in front of them.

Sure I wish the internet never came along so I wouldn't have to deal with online shoppers in my shop but I don't get to make that decision. The marketplace made the choice. I work with it, I deal with it, I react to it, and then I do what is best for my shop. If Brian Burke has a law degree from Harvard, he might want to start using his brains again to work with the system he has to work with, not the one he wishes were still in place.

But the problem is, it's hurting the game.

Hell, look at the money being tossed nowadays. It's reverting to pre-lockout. Tossing millions to healthy scratches.

Can hockey survive another lockout?

[DarkStar50 679]

There is the game as we know it as the NHL. Then there is the business of the game known as the NHL run by 30 individual GMs who only worry about their clubs and how they perform. The GMs are employees of the clubs. If the GMs do not perform and manage winning teams they will be fired. The GMs have no incentive to worry about the game. The GMs only incentive is to worry about their own jobs. There is a big distinction between these two differences, the business of the game and hurting the business of the game. GMs are not going to worry about hurting the business of the game. Do you think Neil Smith worried about the business of the game when he was offering Joe Sakic mega-bucks? Neil Smith wasn't worried throwing money at Theo Fleury, Syl Lefebvre, Stephane Quintal, Valeri Kamensky(that was in one off season!), Mike Keane, and Brian Skrudland. He was doing his job until he lost his job. Fans worry about the game, not the GMs.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

No way was Penner worth that and Lowe knew that.

So...if GMs keep on overspending, there won't be a game for fans to worry about, or a job for them, for that matter.

He's the only one whining because he's the only one who gets it.

[hockey3 0]

Penner wouldnt be worth that much on another team, but edmonton was having trouble recruiting top level talent 4 million is still high but they were running out of options had cap room to fill, and needed someone to play on the the top line.

[Chadd 916]

Penner wouldnt be worth that much on another team, but edmonton was having trouble recruiting top level talent 4 million is still high but they were running out of options had cap room to fill, and needed someone to play on the the top line.

You overpay for Unrestricted Free Agents, paying that much for Penner was utterly asinine.

[DarkStar50 679]

Maybe there is some bad blood between Burke and Lowe that goes way back to when Burke was either in Vancouver or working for the NHL. Maybe Lowe wanted to screw Burke anyway he could. There are usually three sides to every story; Burke's version, Lowe's version, and the truth. We will probably never know the truth.

[DarkStar50 679]

From yesterday's New York Times blog by Stu Hackel:

"Burke’s Law: Such a shy fellow, that Brian Burke, so often reluctant to say what he thinks, so measured in his comments. Burke told the LA Times yesterday that Corey Perry’s five-year contract extension worth $26.63 million — which he sees as another example of teams opting to sign their talented young players to expensive long-term contracts — is a reflection of the offer sheets that were handed out last summer by Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe.

Lowe and Burke exchanged harsh words a year ago after the Oilers submitted a five-year $21.25-million offer sheet to the Ducks Dustin Penner that the Ducks, declined to match.

“They’re all being re-signed at inflated prices,” Burke said. “Everything I said a year ago has come true. Every single word. Most [general] managers don’t like starting fights with any other managers. . . . Thanks to the Edmonton Oilers, the second contract [for players] has disappeared.

“You go right now from entry-level to what used to be the third contract, thanks to two offer sheets from Kevin Lowe.”

Well, perhaps that’s true, but there’s some revisionist history going on here. The fact remains that Burke got himself in that mess when he signed Todd Bertuzzi to a highly inflated $8 million deal.

After Lowe was rebuffed in his effort to sign RFA Thomas Vanek in Buffalo, he targeted the Ducks, who Dan Barnes in the Edmonton Journal says were “the perfect target since Burke had left the organization vulnerable to just such a raid on three fronts; by not rushing to re-sign Penner in the wake of the Vanek attack, by not securing playing commitments from waffling veterans Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, and by signing Bertuzzi, which left him short of cap space.

“The rest, as they say, is hysteria,” Barnes continues. “Burke refused to match, took three draft picks instead, and hasn’t shut up since.”

Barnes also condemns TSN, which he calls Burke’s “pet television network, [which] stuffs a microphone in his yap every chance it gets and Burke predictably spouts his repetitious tripe.

“Strangely enough,” Barnes says, “I didn’t see Burke’s face on TSN on Friday,” when Burke put Bertuzzi on waivers leading to his buyout a few days later.

Sure enough, the Wednesday LA Times story in which Burke goes after Lowe again turned into a TSN Sports Centre piece which is here.

As regulars know, we have the greatest respect for TSN. No one covers hockey better and has a better assemblage of experts at their disposal.

Burke used to be one of them, and so it might be natural for them to feature his thinking as much as they do. But while TSN are exceptional they are not perfect and we hope Burke’s law has not turned into TSN’s law."

So, apparently, there is more here than meets the eye...........

[RadioGaGa 162]

War of Words, indeed!

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242532&lid...s=topStory_main

[Fury of One 6]

Both of them should just go on Yo Momma and end it.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Now Bettman has put on his Ref shirt and stepped in...but, why didn't he say something when Burkie was shooting his mouth off first? Hmm...FOG (Friend of Gary's) I guess...

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242742&lid...s=topStory_main

[RadioGaGa 162]

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=243086&lid...s=topStory_main

Burke's comments tp Canadian Press about Bettmans' order for quiet.