Originally Posted by thefoss1957
Some quotes from Brian Burke that I would find disturbing, if I were a Flame fan:
"I don’t like playing flag football. I like teams that bang. I don’t like the way we play … we want black and blue hockey here. It’s what we do in Alberta. And that’s the first thing."
"We’ve got to be big and more truculent."
As a Blackhawk fan, I have come to appreciate the success that my team, and the 'Wings, for instance, have had with the finesse game. Trying to turn back the clock to the 90's or even the 70's, with it's "Broad Street Bully" model seems a stone cold FAIL, in this post-lockout NHL.
Looking at recent Stanley Cup Champion trends, it is the teams that SCORE that win, not necessarily the teams that HIT. Post lockout, it has been the NON-physical style of the Blackhawks, that have rung up multiple Cups, and current league leading success. Possession, puck movement, and finishing seem to trump "truculent" play. Example: In Wednesday's action at the UC, the Flyer's played "Black and Blue hockey" (actually, dirty cheapshotting hockey), and all they gained was a parade to the Penalty Box, while the 'Hawks filled the net.
The throwback model that Burke seems to be yearning for, is as dated as clogging a roster with 3 minute a night 4th liners, for their "grit".
For 20 years, the Pulford puppet GMs of the Blackhawks chased that very model...we never did get the elusive "Power Forward" that was required, and had only fleeting success in the Playoffs...even with the immediate post-Lockout teams, the build for that retro, grinding style bore nothing. It was not until Pulford's regime, and that whole mindset was wiped away, and the flowing possession style was embraced (partly by lucking into Kane as a draft pick...and not forcing an incompatible system on him), that consistent, winning, nay, dominant, Hockey came to Chi.
I truly hope that my Flame fan friends here DO find success...but, I do not see that success in Burke's stated desires. What I see is a dinosaur, clinging to an faded model.
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