The Burke era begins, finally

With the deal announced on November 29th at a press conference in Toronto, the worst kept secret in the NHL has come true. Brian Burke is the new General Manager of a re-building Maple Leafs team.  Ever since the rumour broke that Burke was number one on the Maple Leafs list for potential GM’s, there has been much speculation as to whether Burke can actually turn this team into a contender, or to continue the 41-year trend of being a pretender.

After entering the league in 1992 as the GM for the Hartford Whalers, Burke was fired after only one season.  The main reason being that they had made the playoffs for seven straight seasons before hiring Burke, and in that one and only season, they missed, leading to Burke’s dismissal.

After six-years as the Vice-President in charge of discipline for the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks took a chance on the un-experienced Burke to become their GM and turn the floundering franchise around in 1998.  He did just that, increasing attendance by drafting such players as Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and Brendan Morrison.  He also acquired, via free-agency or trade, players like Sami Salo and Ed Jovanovski, all of whom became fan favorites in Vancouver. There has been much speculation as to whether Burke can actually turn this team into a contender, or if it will continue the 41-year trend of being a pretender.

After a lengthy contract dispute in Vancouver between Burke and the Canucks management, it was decided that he would not return as GM.  When Bryan Murray was relieved of his duties as GM of the Anaheim Ducks, Burke was named the replacement for the 2005 season.  The Ducks did not win the Cup the first season Burke was there. However, he was able to lure free-agent Scott Niedermeyer and trade for Chris Pronger to join the already loaded team.  This set them up to not only make the Cup finals in 2006, but dominate Ottawa in the finals to capture theirs, and Burke’s, first Stanley Cup.

Some critics, including Al Strachan, believe that the team in Anaheim was given to him already poised to win a Stanley Cup, however some believe that without the acquisitions of Niedermeyer and Pronger to the team, Anaheim wouldn’t have done what they did during that season.

Overall, Burke has been the long term GM of two completely different teams; one where he took over in a no salary cap era and attempted to build from the ground up, and was unsuccessful at winning the Cup.  He then moved on to Anaheim, where he took an already stacked team, added Scott Niedermeyer, Chris Pronger, and coach of the year Randy Carlisle, and went on to win the championship.

Although know one knows right now what Burke, who will make approximately 18 million dollars over six seasons, will do with the Maple Leafs to put his stamp on the team, Leaf fans are expecting him to build a cup contender in the years to come. For that one day when the planning of a parade down Yonge Street becomes a reality.

For Open Ice Hockey, I’m Jesse Michael