[News] Brian Burke stepping back from Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

This isn’t accurate
He had a great year in Calgary and was good enough to be on Team Canada
He never had the offence that fans hoped but a dman that logs his minutes and is good enough to make team Canada’s blue line is a quality player
And he was signed for one more year so there was minimal risk
He was a good asset

This narrative persists? Ha. He was on the ice for such a ridiculously disproportionate number of goals against. Top of the league. You could set up a table for tea in the crease. Loped like a deer though. Smooth skater.

What we learned here was that he could skate well enough to play for a Team Canada who had elite D and notably F to play with him, but couldn’t carry the bag himself.

Hartley at least recovered some of the asset value that Brent decimated.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Back to the OP subject...he really is a great man. Just another example from Francis..

.

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...2-d04544d9f18c

Burke has always insisted on community engagement and led by example.

For this I admire him tremendously

Also, as a side note, mixed feeling about Francis. I like that a story like this is known, and chuckle when a sensationalistic guy like him can’t keep anything like my old Frigidaire.

As an aside, I know people who lived in Toronto early 90s (prior to Burke) and Dougie Gilmour, without fanfare, around the time where he was earning discussion about being arguably the best all around player , took a truckload of sleeping bags to deliver to the homeless. I don’t think they had an Eric Francis on the case. And Gilmour obviously wanted it that way. Dunno

Either way, there is a ton of interesting conversation to be had about Burke’s various appointments and his role in team success, but the social contribution is
exemplary and he truly deserves all of our respect

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

And after all that hard work Feaster did of shedding our team of all those high salaries and older players, BT under the BB era decided to sign/trade for;
Mason Raymond 28
Brandon Bollig 27
Jonas Hiller 32
Brian Elliot 31
Chris Versteeg 30
Niklas Backstrom 37
Troy Brouwer 31
And our payroll went from 56 million to 73 million.

You said they were in the exact same spot as they were 5 years ago. I showed you the main difference as to why they arent in the exact same position as 5 years ago and its a big one.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

You said they were in the exact same spot as they were 5 years ago. I showed you the main difference as to why they arent in the exact same position as 5 years ago and its a big one.

I hope it involves a flux capacitor.

[gargamel]

I've always wondered how much, if any, of Burke's charity work was due to guilt over the way he treated Peter Zezel. Deliberately trading a guy to the furthest possible place from his dying niece seemed like something only a villain in a sports movie would do.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by gargamel

I've always wondered how much, if any, of Burke's charity work was due to guilt over the way he treated Peter Zezel. Deliberately trading a guy to the furthest possible place from his dying niece seemed like something only a villain in a sports movie would do.

Wow. I just learned about that. That is really awful.

[Diemenz]

Burke was great for the community and organization here but Maybe he is not a fan of rain and didn’t feel like making Seattle his home.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by gargamel

I've always wondered how much, if any, of Burke's charity work was due to guilt over the way he treated Peter Zezel. Deliberately trading a guy to the furthest possible place from his dying niece seemed like something only a villain in a sports movie would do.

Didn't the NHL kybosh that trade?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by gargamel

I've always wondered how much, if any, of Burke's charity work was due to guilt over the way he treated Peter Zezel. Deliberately trading a guy to the furthest possible place from his dying niece seemed like something only a villain in a sports movie would do.

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Wow. I just learned about that. That is really awful.

Wait, what? I never heard about this. Is there any articles on it or anything or was it just speculation?

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Wait, what? I never heard about this. Is there any articles on it or anything or was it just speculation?

I found this:

http://theprovince.com/sports/hockey...of-peter-zezel

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Zezel asked if he could be traded to an Eastern Conference team so he could be closer to his dying five-year-old niece Jilliann, who had been diagnosed with a neutroblastoma.

Burke responded by moving Zezel to Anaheim, which couldn’t have been further away from Jilliann for Zezel, at which point the player promptly retired after he and his agent Mike Gillis talked things over.

There arose such a hue and cry that Burke ended up having to buy out Zezel’s contract and made a donation to a cancer charity — one that the Canucks favoured, not necessarily the player.

http://theprovince.com/sports/hockey...of-peter-zezel

[jayswin]

Thanks guys, yeah I found the same one after googling. That's really sad. I also didn't realize Peter had passed away from a rare blood disorder in 2009.

[JJolg]

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/25/sports/sp-20958

Seems like a different story from the two clubs making the deal

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Well yeah, of course the Canucks would come out and say they didn’t do it on purpose.

To Burke’s credit, he responded appropriately, regardless of the origins of the trade.

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Does anybody else see this as a cost-cutting move? I understand everything that has been said with regards his hockey performance and such but wouldn't it make sense to keep him around in SOME capacity? He was probably earning $3 million year.

He was tired of the commute, and felt he was redundant under Tre. Can't say it's a surprise. Article in Athletic (paywall) by Eric Duhatschek.

Eric D. talks Brian B.

Burke maintained a residence in Toronto all the time he was working for the Flames and it was always my impression that he intended to move back there eventually, or until his children grew up and left the nest. That was my first thought when I heard the news Friday morning — that Burke was stepping down from his front-office position with the Flames. There was more to it than that, but ultimately Burke just wanted to be closer to his children and right now, that means living in Toronto, not Calgary.

“Every other Wednesday to Sunday, I was in Toronto,” Burke said in a telephone interview, after arriving in Toronto on Friday afternoon. “I’ve been doing 10,000 kilometers a month in the air for five years, and that doesn’t count any team travel. That’s just the commute. And I’ve had enough.

“When Ken (King, Flames’ president) and I first talked about this job, we talked about a four or five-year run and we’d evaluate it every year. So, every summer we’d talk about it. He’d say, ‘you still happy?’ I’d say, ‘yup, let’s keep doing it.’ This year, he said maybe we should take a look at this. When they extended Tree (signing general manager Brad Treliving to a contract extension last summer) I told Ken, ‘I’m going to be redundant at some point. I’m either going to have to leave or take a big pay cut.’

“So Ken said, ‘let’s talk about your future because I’m not sure if you’re providing the same value and let’s talk about it.’ I said to him, ‘I’m not going to push back at all Ken.’ I’d had it. I’m sick of the commute. I think Tree can get along fine without me, especially with Donnie Maloney being on staff. And there are other things I want to do.

[calgarygeologist]

Looks like Sportsnet has forced Burke to actually wear a tie properly on the air. He actually has it done up tonight. His first appearance after leaving the Flames was his typical get-up with the untied tie around his neck.

[getbak]

That was funny when Friedman told him he looked ridiculous with the tie done up.

[topfiverecords]

Thought Burke was great in the intermissions tonight. Adds good management insight.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

lol, Feaster brought in as the hatchet man.

Not. Even. Close.

The Flames didn't even realize they were trading Iginla until a month or two before the deadline. Eric Francis said following the trade something to the effect of Edwards thought Iginla would retire a flame up to the week prior to the deadline. You don't hire Feaster to be the GM to tear the thing down and trade Iginla if you're under the belief he's going to retire with the team.


The idea that Feaster was brought in to tear the thing down and rebuild just doesn't make any sense at all when you review the history of him coming on board with the team and the moves he made prior to everything falling apart.

The Flames had no intention at all of trading away Iginla until he forced their hand.

They didn't go into the feaster hiring or promotion thinking he would tear down the team, he presented them with a plan to keep winning with Iginla!

Trade for his buddies Tanguay and Cammalleri. Sign Wideman and Hudler. Sign Cervenka. Trading regehr for the capspace to sign Brad Richards. Attempt to trade a top 10 draft pick for the opportunity to sign a guy to 6.5 million per year in order to win now.

None of those moves are made with an eye towards rebuilding. Those moves were a net loss of significant draft picks. The Flames traded a 5th rounder to washington just to negotiate with Wideman 48-72 hours in advance of July 1st.

That is NOT a move a rebuilding organization makes. That's a panic move made by a GM without a plan, in an organization without a plan.

Feaster's tenure was an abject failure that necessitated hiring a career hockey ops professional to bring baseline credibility back to the organization. A job that was so unattractive--because of that lack of credibility--it was reportedly turned down by several experienced hockey people including former flames.

Feaster was there to hold King and Edwards' hand and reload the gun while they shot themselves in the foot.

Unfortunately, there are things once again giving me pause about the input and accessibility of hockey ops to senior management/ownership. I don't know if that has anything to do with Burke's departure but Flames fans better hope not.

Feaster running the team into the ground helped start the rebuild so for that I thank him.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

He was tired of the commute, and felt he was redundant under Tre. Can't say it's a surprise. Article in Athletic (paywall) by Eric Duhatschek.

Eric D. talks Brian B.

Well, I guess that answers the question (at least for me - maybe I am just late getting news) that the position itself will not be filled.