Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
His track record is pretty good actually. Not sure what qualifies as spotty. People around here love to criticize the Kessel trade, but if that is his worst trade, that is pretty damn impressive. Even in a losing trade he still got a young, PPG sniper who is currently and has been since the trade was made, better than either Seguin or Hamilton. Long run, Bruins won that trade, but so far I would rather have Kessel. Sorry for the sidetrack, but if Burke's record is "spotty" then there isn't a single GM in the league whose record isn't.
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I think his trade/signing track record is pretty good, his drafting not so much. What he did in Vancouver is probably his best comparable to what he could do in Calgary. Vancouver finished at the bottom of the West in 1997-98. Burke was hired at the end of that season. They bottomed out 1998-99, were four points out of a spot in 1999-2000, made the playoffs in 2001-2003, and were division winners by 2003-04.
In Anaheim, he walked into a pretty good situation but made some good moves that brought in Carlyle to coach, S. Niedermayer, Pronger, and Beauchemin.
In Toronto, he was brought in November 2008 after the Leafs finished 12th in the East the year before. They’ve missed the playoffs the 4 years since he was brought in (with one year being the year he was brought in midway through) but look to be a playoff team this year.
Feaster on the other hand, stepped into a situation in Tampa where they already had Lecavalier, St. Louis, Richards, and Khabibulin and Tortorella Coaching. I’m sure he made some moves that resulted in the Cup win, but it seems like the team already had a pretty solid base.
I think Feaster has also lost a lot of credibility with stuff like “intellectual honesty”, “answer is in the room”, guaranteeing playoffs, the ROR situation. Combine that with the media reports of owners/KK excessive involvement in hockey decisions, it’s no wonder people don’t have a whole heck of a lot of faith in Feaster’s ability to manage a rebuild. It also results in everyone being extremely jumpy at anything he publically states, like Murray’s mandate.
While Burke might have a huge ego, he does have a better body of work for building teams up when compared to Feaster. He also has the personality which would put a lot of the concerns above to rest. It would also end the idea of owners/KK involvement, as you would believe he simply would not come to Calgary unless he had complete autonomy. Plus his hate for Kevin Lowe.
For those reasons, I would be a lot more comfortable with this rebuild with Burke here over Feaster, especially if Wesibrod stayed on to deal with drafts, as that seems to be where he excels.