Interesting thought: Maybe Burke does not hire a GM

[Mango]

Came across this little nugget. It's just speculation by Garrioch, but food for thought nonetheless:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/n...hockey-league/

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.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/03/22/...chopping-block

George McPhee, Washington: His contract is up and there’s a good chance he’ll be thanked by the organization. He won’t be out of work long because Brian Burke may have a warm seat waiting for McPhee in Calgary. McPhee has been the VP and GM of the Caps for 16 years. They are always respectable but don’t have any banners hanging in their rafters either and this year they could miss the playoffs.

[Komskies]

GMGM? Could be worse I suppose.

[killer_carlson]

I would LOVE GM as GM. 100% in support of this.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Mango

Came across this little nugget. It's just speculation by Garrioch, but food for thought nonetheless:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/n...hockey-league/



http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/03/22/...chopping-block

McPhee has ties to Calgary I think. I know my old boss is a friend of his.

[calgarygeologist]

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

Quality post.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

It is not going to happen any time soon. Burke is here for a while you can count on that

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

You are looking at this all wrong. You can't pine for some vision of what you think would be a top GM. You have to be happy that a) we don't have one of the worst GM's and b) Burke is good at surrounding himself with smart guys to fill in for his weaknesses.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

Better you stick to rocks

[FAN]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Did anyone else catch the Sportsnet preview show?

John Shannon had an interesting theory where Burke stays as the President of Hockey Ops, and hires a couple of AGMs and assigns them their own tasks.

If (big if) this does happen, could it be Gillman and maybe one of Poulin/Loiselle?

I can't see Gilman moving into another AGM position especially since he might have a chance at the Canucks GM job. Poulin and Louiselle maybe but not if Burke plans to hire a GM I don't think. Regardless, I think Burke hires a GM.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Mango

Came across this little nugget. It's just speculation by Garrioch, but food for thought nonetheless:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/n...hockey-league/



http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/03/22/...chopping-block

We should bring in another GM who built around a winger and oversaw an underachieving team.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I would LOVE GM as GM. 100% in support of this.

Erat for Forsberg. Uggh. But every GM has made a bad trade here and there.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The Flames need to dump Burke. I believe it was a wrong decision to bring him into the organization. I probably shouldn't say this for fear of Burke tracking me down and filing a lawsuit against me but he is an idiot, in my opinion.

Maybe you could beef this out a little bit.

Why do you think he is "an idiot"?
Why is it the "wrong decision to bring him into the organitation"?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Maybe you could beef this out a little bit.

Why do you think he is "an idiot"?
Why is it the "wrong decision to bring him into the organitation"?

My view on things is that Burke has a persona of being a visionary at rebuilding teams and finding draft talents. I think this is why he was brought into the Flames organization. Burke is actually pretty good at seeing talent in young players. Where he fails is in putting together a successful team because he sometimes gets blinded by individual pieces/players and fails to look at the whole team. His desire for Phil Kessel was a little too strong and probably set the Leafs back a little bit during their rebuilding phase. Kessel has obviously evolved to be a key player in Toronto but he wasn't the immediate solution that Burke expected.

Burke pulled off a stellar draft in acquiring the Sedins for Vancouver but he also lagged in turning the Canucks from a losing organization into a winning one. The Canucks had a lot of talent when Burke came in but he couldn't make anything happen. The development of the Sedin brothers was also mis-managed and took longer than it should have.

Burke has over-promised and under-delivered for the USA Olympic hockey program.

The Flames have a talented, young group of players for the future but I don't foresee Burke as putting the right pieces in place for those players to accelerate their game. 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.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think Burke wants the job and if no one amazing is available by mid-summer, he will make a case to the owners that he keep the roll for another season.

I thought that it was just a few weeks before the Flames hired him, he said that he wanted to be a GM again. And when asked after Feaster was fired if he might take the position permanently, all he said was that he wasn't hired to be the GM (not a complete denial).

In the end, he might be the best one for the job though.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think Burke wants the job and if no one amazing is available by mid-summer, he will make a case to the owners that he keep the roll for another season.

I thought that it was just a few weeks before the Flames hired him, he said that he wanted to be a GM again. And when asked after Feaster was fired if he might take the position permanently, all he said was that he wasn't hired to be the GM (not a complete denial).

In the end, he might be the best one for the job though.

This makes no sense. In the "President" structure, Burke is the top dog, regardless of whether there is a GM or not. He is where the buck stops, meaning nothing can go on with the team he doesn't approve of. So why would Burke not want to hire a GM to do all the dirty work he'd get to approve anyway?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

This makes no sense. In the "President" structure, Burke is the top dog, regardless of whether there is a GM or not. He is where the buck stops, meaning nothing can go on with the team he doesn't approve of. So why would Burke not want to hire a GM to do all the dirty work he'd get to approve anyway?

Because they are still 2 different jobs. It's quite possible that he likes the day-to-day duties of being a GM. Just like some people like field work compared to office work even if the office position has more authority (just as an example).

There is also the possibility that he thinks he is better than any other candidates and won't give it up until someone comes along who he believes can do it better.

[FAN]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Because they are still 2 different jobs. It's quite possible that he likes the day-to-day duties of being a GM. Just like some people like field work compared to office work even if the office position has more authority (just as an example).

There is also the possibility that he thinks he is better than any other candidates and won't give it up until someone comes along who he believes can do it better.

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.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by Mango

Came across this little nugget. It's just speculation by Garrioch, but food for thought nonetheless:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/n...hockey-league/



http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/03/22/...chopping-block

McPhee? - do not want.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think Burke wants the job and if no one amazing is available by mid-summer, he will make a case to the owners that he keep the roll for another season.

I thought that it was just a few weeks before the Flames hired him, he said that he wanted to be a GM again. And when asked after Feaster was fired if he might take the position permanently, all he said was that he wasn't hired to be the GM (not a complete denial).

In the end, he might be the best one for the job though.

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.