Brian Burke's Role as President:

[FAN]

With the hiring of Brian Burke, I thought it is appropriate to start a thread comparing Davidson's role as President to Burke's.

Davidson's hockey management career began as the President of Hockey Operations with the Blues. There, he became the face of the franchise and was the true decision maker behind every hockey move, while Larry Pleau retained the role of GM. Larry Pleau who was on his way to retirement continued to handle the everyday GM duties for quite a few years until he resigned. During Davidson's time with the Blues, Pleau received almost zero credit for the Blues' rebuild, because Davidson was the guy making all the decisions. But when Doug Armstrong arrived, perhaps due to pending new ownership, Davidson took a step back and allowed Armstrong to act as more of a traditional GM and having greater decision making power. In Columbus, Davidson's role does not appear to be the same as when he first arrived in St. Louis, perhaps this is due to the hiring of his old friend Kekalainen who Davidson seems to trust completely as a evaluator of hockey talent.

Burke's hockey management career took a much different path. A GM of three previous NHL teams, he steps into the role of President of Hockey Operations having been a GM who demanded complete autonomy from the owners as late as last season. While Burke has never been shy about surrounding himself with guys with previous GM experience, he's always been the guy who was front and center who let it be known that all blame falls on his shoulders. It's been speculated that a lot has happened since his last year in Toronto and Burke is getting older. So one of the biggest question is will Burke's role be more like Davidson with Pleau or Davidson with Armstrong and Kekalainen? Will Burke replace Feaster and hire a new GM or replace Feaster himself? Burke has stated that Feaster is still the GM and still the guy in charge, but did mention that he will be guiding Feaster and that Feaster will be the transactional guy. What does this all mean?

My guess is that the status quo will remain for a while. While I do think Feaster can't be at all happy with this, it's likely in his best interest to keep his GM title and help lead a successful rebuild here in Calgary. Not sure how this will affect Weisbrod who came here looking to take upon a larger role. Fortunately for Feaster, Burke's good friends (Nonis and Murray) both have GM jobs.

Having been a strong critic of Feaster and his ability to a talent evaluator, I am thrilled at this hiring. Burke's ability to rebuild a hockey club is proven and he brings credibility to a club that sadly has turned into a bit of a joke in recent years.

Thoughts?

[icecube]

In before the inevitable "this needed it's own thread?" post

[TurnedTheCorner]

You should watch the videos of the press conference, they answer most of your questions.

"Will Burke replace Feaster and hire a new GM or replace Feaster himself?" - No

"Burke has stated that Feaster is still the GM and still the guy in charge, but did mention that he will be guiding Feaster and that Feaster will be the transactional guy. What does this all mean?" - Feaster is still the GM in charge of player moves and contracts. Burke oversees him directly, just as King did before.

"My guess is that the status quo will remain for a while. While I do think Feaster can't be at all happy with this, it's likely in his best interest to keep his GM title and help lead a successful rebuild here in Calgary." - Feaster and the hockey operations people who report to him are quite happy with this.

"Not sure how this will affect Weisbrod who came here looking to take upon a larger role." - This has no effect on Weisbrod's role.

[FAN]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

"Will Burke replace Feaster and hire a new GM or replace Feaster himself?" - No

So you think Feaster will keep his job the way Larry Pleau did under Davidson?

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

"Burke has stated that Feaster is still the GM and still the guy in charge, but did mention that he will be guiding Feaster and that Feaster will be the transactional guy. What does this all mean?" - Feaster is still the GM in charge of player moves and contracts. Burke oversees him directly, just as King did before.

So you think Burke will "guide" and "oversee" Feaster the way King did?

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

"My guess is that the status quo will remain for a while. While I do think Feaster can't be at all happy with this, it's likely in his best interest to keep his GM title and help lead a successful rebuild here in Calgary." - Feaster and the hockey operations people who report to him are quite happy with this.

How do you know this?

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

"Not sure how this will affect Weisbrod who came here looking to take upon a larger role." - This has no effect on Weisbrod's role.

Guys move on when their roles diminished. Under Feaster, Weisbrod was essentially the second in command and hugely influenced the direction of the club and can probably take credit for every move Feaster makes. But with Burke here, if Burke does exert his influence over the operations, Weisbrod's influence naturally diminishes.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Hopefully his role is to fight Kevin Lowe in a barn somewhere.

Anything other than that is just gravy.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by FAN

How do you know this?

As with all my remarks that answered your questions, I know because I watched the press conference. It's way better than conjecture, I highly recommend it.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I watched the press conference. It's way better than conjecture, I highly recommend it.

Presumably you have watched press conferences before.

With that experience, I’d expect you to know that what is said at a press conference often bears little resemblance to the truth. Anybody can find out the truth, after all. A lie doesn’t have that advantage; it doesn’t exist until it’s told.

‘Somebody said X at a press conference’ is about the worst evidence in favour of X, short of an Eklund rumour.

[TurnedTheCorner]

While what you're saying can have some some truth to it, there's no reason not to trust what was said at this particular conference. Things can change over time, and strategies and decisions that unfold may differ from what was laid out in this conference. But that doesn't make anything said in this conference a lie.

[Vulcan]

I'm just happy there is a hockey guy setting the long term goals of my favourite team. Hopefully amateur hour is over.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

While what you're saying can have some some truth to it, there's no reason not to trust what was said at this particular conference. Things can change over time, and strategies and decisions that unfold may differ from what was laid out in this conference. But that doesn't make anything said in this conference a lie.

Quite true. However, the Flames have a history of hiring new management personnel just a few months before firing the old ones. They never said at the press conference in '02 that Darryl Sutter was being hired to replace Craig Button — but everybody knew Button was finished. They never said in 2010 that Jay Feaster was being hired to replace Darryl Sutter — but everybody knew Sutter was a dead man walking.

'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.' What is there to say about people who go back for thirds?