Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Huh. My memory of Burke's relationship with Hartley is quite different.
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I think Granteeed is right to what he is alluding to. Burke didn't know Hartley until Burke started working with him in Calgary. However, he would often talk about Hartley with the media about how great he was, and how he is old-school like Burke, and how he hates to lose.
One of the things that I remember Burke specifically saying was that if he asked Hartley to tank to get a better pick, that Hartley would probably beat him up - or something to that effect.
He seemed to genuinely have a high regard of Hartley.
Now, things might have changed and Burke soured on Hartley - who knows? Maybe what you have heard came afterwards.
I don't, however, feel that Hartley would be considered for Pittsburgh. Burke is the POHO anyway, not GM, so it will be Hextall's decision. Hartley will bring a bit of a shadow and a bit of an uneasy feeling when the NHL is trying to clean itself up. Hartley has never physically abused players (to my knowledge) like Peters has, but he has definitely been a bully from what many people hinted at. I don't think many teams will be too eager to take that chance.
What did you hear specifically? It really sounded like Burke absolutely loved Hartley.