I am fairly certain that Burke has come out numerous times stating that he will not be the GM, and that he will hire someone to be the GM as well as an AGM.
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I would honestly have no problem with Burke taking on the role himself and having an AGM dealing with the day to day stuff. It's not like he's not experienced.
That said, Having him oversee everything a GM does would be preferable for me.
Burke is going to hire a GM. He is 100% sold on the management model. He will oversee this team until he wants to leave te game IMO. If a GM gets 2+ coaches before he is gone I think a president will get 2+ GM's. Burke will hire at least 2 before the owners think about replacing him. Love it or hate i think we are a Burke team for a long time.
Personally I am happy I like him and know he is one of the more respected and prominent figures amongst his peer group and the hockey community in general
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Burke is going to hire a GM. He is 100% sold on the management model. He will oversee this team until he wants to leave te game IMO. If a GM gets 2+ coaches before he is gone I think a president will get 2+ GM's. Burke will hire at least 2 before the owners think about replacing him. Love it or hate i think we are a Burke team for a long time.
Personally I am happy I like him and know he is one of the more respected and prominent figures amongst his peer group and the hockey community in general
Yeah, at his age he's probably looking for job security and he'll have more of it as the President.
My gut tells me that Burke doesn't want to be that full time GM at his age.
He'd rather do what most old people do. Get someone that he can trust and shares his vision, then call him at the fishing lodge if you screw things up
This was from less than a year ago, and he was pretty quick to say that he wants to be a GM again (3:46):
I wouldn't be surprised if the GM bug is still in him despite landing a different front office job. He admits in that interview that he expected to wait well into the next season before any GM opportunities would come up, which is where we are right now.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 03-25-2014 at 03:48 PM.
Burke has over-promised and under-delivered for the USA Olympic hockey program.
Under delivered? The US overachieved in 2010 and then this year likely finished about where they should have. They definitely were not as talented as Canada or Sweden the past two Olympics and would be in a group with Russia and Finland for the 2nd tier teams. That is where they finished how is that close to under-delivering?
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Hopefully the off-season is productive because if Burke doesn't make some necessary acquisitions it will be a big set back for the rebuilding of the club.
That seems like a pretty vague if not outright untrue statement. What types of moves does Burke have to make?
I would say outside of not giving away our top pick for nothing there is 0 moves he has to make and certainly no moves that need to be made that if not done would set back the rebuild.
It would be nice to add some 21-24 talent to the team but that seems unlikely as it is tough to get. It certainly doesn't set the rebuild back if we don't get this now. We still have likely two more years of rebuilding after this so this off-season is far from being crucial in terms of adding pieces outside of the draft picks we have.
I think that if nothing else Burke will hire a GM even if it is only in name and he is still the main guy behind the scenes.
I think he is bringing in someone to be in charge of the draft no matter what. From what he has said it seems like he does not want to have the responsibility/time commitment that it takes to judge all these guys. I think he will still have an impact on the top pick which is why he has been at games with Ekblad/Bennett etc. but I think the new GM will have a much bigger role in the draft than Burke.
Trades however I could see taking a different approach with Burke wanting a big say in what does/does not happen. I don't think he will say get player X or trade player Y but my guess is the guy that comes will a. think like Burke and b. clearly understand the direction Burke sees the team taking so that Burke doesn't need to directly tell him who to trade/trade for.
But at the very least I think a Poulin/Loiselle type will be coming and named GM even if most of their duties fit more with what a AGM would do.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if this happens too.
Burke... GM and President of Hockey Operations.
In other words... Burke answers to Burke for all decisions made. I think Burke will consider it a pretty sweet deal.
Except there are two issues with these arguments:
1. The Flames wanted this President structure, they went out and looked for it. So if Burke wants to be the "GM" in the traditional sense, then the Flames need to go out and hire Burke's new boss (assuming they want to keep the structure they decided they needed). How excited would Burke or the Flames be for that? Not very. The Flames clearly wanted a structure where they would be allowed to keep a longer term strategic vision with one person, the President, while having the ability to change direction more fluidly on the GM side, I doubt they've changed their minds on this given they just went there a year ago. Burke taking on a GM role essentially means KK becomes the president of hockey ops again, regardless of what the titles would say.
2. Burke likely would prefer the job security that will come with having a different GM in the club, as for the reasons explained above. He'd be foolish to take on both roles.
I don't doubt he'll take his time choosing (partially because he's picky, and partially because lots of candidates won't want the reporting to Burke gig), but I'd be shocked if he doesn't hire a different GM. How much leeway will that GM get is another story.
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This was from less than a year ago, and he was pretty quick to say that he wants to be a GM again (3:45):
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I wouldn't be surprised if the GM bug is still in him despite landing a different front office job.
If you believe what he has said publically since getting hired, that was before he talked to his friends/colleagues in the other major leagues who told him that he should reconsider and that the President role would be a perfect fit for him at this point in his career.
I believe he and King have both said they discussed the President role back in March of last year, but Burke turned it down because he still wanted to be a GM. That's when King started to pursue Shanahan for the job, and Burke started doing his research. After Shanahan turned it down, either Burke or King contacted the other to see if the offer was still on the table/if Burke had changed his mind.
At that point, Burke met with King and Edwards to discuss their vision for the role and the future of the team and the position of President.
Burke doesn't strike me as the type of guy who will say whatever it takes to get a job, and I don't think Edwards and King would take kindly to him blowing smoke just to manipulate himself back into a GM's job.
The thing is, the President/GM job has been linked for most of NHL history, so it won't really be hard for Burke to take the pieces that he likes and making that the President's role, and then assigning the other parts of the job to the new GM.
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Yep and it is not like Burke hasn't been President and GM at the same time before. The reality is that this President structure isn't necessarily something that Burke truely believes in. I have said all along that the GM title is quitte meaningness given we have Burke in charge. No reason for Burke not to take on the GM title if he wants it and let him hire assistants to help him with the things Burke doesn't enjoy doing. The only benefit of having Burke as Peesident only is that theoretically, like KK, Burke woukd never be the fall guy.
That's ridiculous. From all the information we have been given about the new management structure, the new President of Hockey Ops position is one that is taylor made to Burke, and in the process of development with him in the early stages of the job. Are you really suggesting that he doesn't truly believe in something that he is active in helping to forge?
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Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
The Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch names Washington's George McPhee and Vancouver's Mike Gillis -- two obvious choices -- as GMs who could lose their jobs soon. Garrioch figures McPhee could land in Calgary under president of hockey operations Brian Burke. This would explain why Burke has seemingly slowed his GM search.
Is it that difficult for Garrioch—or whomever is speculating here—do a little back-checking in his research? Burke has said a few times now that several candidates are unavailable for interview or release by their current teams to pursue the Flames job until after the draft. THAT is the reason for the delay.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Burke even said when he got the job that he was only looking for a GM job until the Flames approached him with this new job. The more he thought about it, the more he was intrigued by it. He came to Calgary to be President, not GM and he is committed to making it work.
I believe Burke when he says he will be hiring someone after the season/draft. He will still have final say on hockey personnel decisions without having to deal with time consuming GM tasks like trade negotiations, contracts, and scouting.
Of course I could be wrong. Maybe getting a 2nd round pick for Berra gave him a huge thrill and he won't be giving up GM duties anytime soon.
If you believe what he has said publically since getting hired, that was before he talked to his friends/colleagues in the other major leagues who told him that he should reconsider and that the President role would be a perfect fit for him at this point in his career.
I believe he and King have both said they discussed the President role back in March of last year, but Burke turned it down because he still wanted to be a GM. That's when King started to pursue Shanahan for the job, and Burke started doing his research. After Shanahan turned it down, either Burke or King contacted the other to see if the offer was still on the table/if Burke had changed his mind.
At that point, Burke met with King and Edwards to discuss their vision for the role and the future of the team and the position of President.
Burke doesn't strike me as the type of guy who will say whatever it takes to get a job, and I don't think Edwards and King would take kindly to him blowing smoke just to manipulate himself back into a GM's job.
The thing is, the President/GM job has been linked for most of NHL history, so it won't really be hard for Burke to take the pieces that he likes and making that the President's role, and then assigning the other parts of the job to the new GM.
I'm not saying that he would weasel himself into a position to can a GM and assume the roll. But, he might like GMing enough that he won't hire someone until it's the perfect candidate which would keep him de facto GM for maybe another season or two. Plans change all the time.
I think it could go either way and the fact that the president is also a qualified GM really lessens the urgency of needing to find someone. We could wait another season if we have to.
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This was from less than a year ago, and he was pretty quick to say that he wants to be a GM again (3:46):
I wouldn't be surprised if the GM bug is still in him despite landing a different front office job. He admits in that interview that he expected to wait well into the next season before any GM opportunities would come up, which is where we are right now.
As the President he can do whatever parts of the GM job that he enjoys (scouting he's mentioned he likes) and can avoid the parts he doesn't (negotiating with agents he has mentioned as not liking).
Pretty sure he's fine with his role and it's clear he will hire a GM by the summer.
