3 years in.....rank Brian Burke's tenure with the Flames

[TheScorpion]

But really -- I really really like Burke. I think he's a fantastic hockey mind and I love that he hates the Oilers.

[Geeoff]

It seems like his main job is to be Brian Burke and soak up media attention while Brad Treliving does his thing incognito.

[dustygoon]

And drives a pickup

And supports any and all causes

And drinks beer (he should ditch the dip)

[Calgary4LIfe]

As someone who couldn't stand Burke and was very negative about him even being considered a candidate, I must say that he has been much better than I ever thought possible. He hasn't said anything stupid in the media. He has made good moves. I don't even fault him for the trade deadline in which Cammalleri didn't move as it was just a weird TD that year with a lot of the big names moving right before the deadline.

The only bad move I think he has made was signing Stajan for too long of a term, but then again Stajan is apparently some leader in the dressing room, and you need a guy like him on a young team.

One thing I have to applaud him for is the class he has shown. When Darryl got shown the door, King and Feaster made a few jokes at a season ticket holder meeting about his tenure as GM. It would be way too easy to make a joke about Feaster's tenure with his blunders and missed blunders, but Burke showed a lot of class by praising Feaster on a number of occasions publicly for the work he had done. Once would have sufficed, but he did this a number of times. I believe he also acknowledged Darryl Sutter once or twice for some of the moves made under him that the Flames are benefiting from. That's class, and that is how it should be.

Flames have stopped being the joke of the league after Burke was hired, and for this I am grateful for Burke - and I seriously couldn't stand him and what I thought was an abrasive and controlling personality. He has shown none of this so far from my limited vantage point. Shocked that I have started to like him, and I have never warmed up to Feaster other than his comments about "working hard to win" rather than become like the Oilers when the rebuild started.

I don't know enough about what his involved with his job, and how well he does it to give him a grade, but the Flames have stopped being a joke and he is at least deserving of a big pat on the back for that.

[bucksmasher]

Originally Posted by FakenHaken

Ok I get that you don't like Burke. His blusterous remarks can grind on you especially over the years he's been in the league.

However, if you are going attach blame to 4 and 5 why not also give him credit for the Russell trade and Hamilton trade as a direct result of point 1. By setting up go forward that we were not going to just give away Cammy like we were apt to do as a franchise in the past he gave bullets to Treliving to negotiate great trades in the future by getting these 2nd rounders for Hudler, Russel, and Glencross. Yes Treliving got the trades done, but not without the groundwork first being laid.

Burke isn't my cup of tea either, but I do admit he seems at every opportunity to credit his employee Treliving openly to whomever will listen. Also, its not often that Treliving has made many bad deals as a rookie GM. That is a rare in a competitive league where other GM's aren't likely to do you any favors. I'd have to think that both Burke and Maloney had a hand in this through mentoring and delegating the authority to Treliving to do as well as he has. In a nutshell I think we sometimes cheer Treliving for being some sort of wizard and then blame Burke for any decision we think Treliving didn't do as well on. Seems disingenuous to me.

Good points. I see Treliving at having the communication skills, patience and political correctness to get tricky and sensitive deals done with other GMs. But I have little doubt that many of his "wins" are a result of having Brian Burke as a resource.

[Coach]

I don't really see how Engellend can be considered a bad move. Slightly overpaid? Sure. Contract hindering other moves now or in the future? Nope. But a serviceable NHL defenseman who isn't a liability and will stand up for his teammates? Yes.

When you look at some of the other 5/6 dmen contracts around the league that aren't ELC or bridged players, his contract actually looks pretty good.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I don't really see how Engellend can be considered a bad move. Slightly overpaid? Sure. Contract hindering other moves now or in the future? Nope. But a serviceable NHL defenseman who isn't a liability and will stand up for his teammates? Yes.

When you look at some of the other 5/6 dmen contracts around the league that aren't ELC or bridged players, his contract actually looks pretty good.

Agreed. He wasn't the greatest signing ever but he's been valuable for us. The way he played when Gio went down at the end of the season before last was huge.

And then there's him fighting two Canucks at the same time in the playoffs and later telling their bench he'd fight five of them at once:



The guy isn't as bad as some people here often make him out to be.

[Captaincanada80]

He's taking quite a bit of slack for not trading Cammy.

I truthfully believe that may have set a precedent Calgary wasn't going to sell for less than market value. If that stand may have not been taken by Burke at that time, Treliving probably couldn't have fetched as much as he did for the Glencross, Hudler and Russell deals. After the Feaster regime (See Iginla,Bowmeester) you needed to shed the reputation and say your not taking whatever you can get.

Call me a glass half full kinda guy but I don't see it as a huge negative.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Captaincanada80

He's taking quite a bit of slack for not trading Cammy.

I truthfully believe that may have set a precedent Calgary wasn't going to sell for less than market value. If that stand may have not been taken by Burke at that time, Treliving probably couldn't have fetched as much as he did for the Glencross, Hudler and Russell deals. After the Feaster regime (See Iginla,Bowmeester) you needed to shed the reputation and say your not taking whatever you can get.

Call me a glass half full kinda guy but I don't see it as a huge negative.

I don't see it as a negative either. If anything it's Cammy's fault for sucking pre-deadline and then deciding to light it up immediately after. That's 100% on the player. No one was going to pay the asking price looking at his stats pre-deadline. But looking at his overall stats that season (26G, 19A, 45PTS in 63GP) it's easy to see why some people get caught up in the ''why didn't he trade him'' talk.

And as Burke said, he wasn't going to allow the Flames to be known as a team that gives away their players simply to make a trade. Obviously none of us know what goes on behind the scenes, but I honestly think that the excellent returns for the players you listed don't happen if the Flames are known to trade away pending UFAs simply to get rid of them. I think his stand on Cammalleri allowed us to get the returns we did for those 3, which have clearly aided the rebuild. I'll gladly take that rather then Burke trading him away for a 4th round pick and not getting what we did for the other 3. For all we know it also had a trickle down effect which allowed us to score Hamilton for the price we did.

Burke has been great his entire time here. Never discount the effect that having a savy NHL executive veteran who is part of the NHL's ol' boys club at the top of your club's ladder can have.