Interesting Brian Burke Videos from his time as the GM of Canucks

[VanGnome]

holy god that rant turned long. sorry.

[VanGnome]

I forgot about Burke having that role hence the edit of my post, nm

You made good points anyway. Someone that knows what they are talking about. I should have checked first

[King of the ES]

you know, most canucks fans have long since turned on burke, in stark contrast to the outcry at the time of his firing. they were furious then at the mccaw regime (and stan mccammon in particular) for choosing not to renew the contract of the "best gm in hockey." this blow was softened when his protege took over, however, and the wound gradually closed and left a scar of bitterness at the lack of post season success burke achieved in his tenure in vancouver. fans also began shredding personnel decisions in hindsight as if they hadn't viewed them as the single greatest player acquisition(s) in league history a mere 2 or 3 years prior.

i've been guilty myself of badmouthing the guy and enjoying his failures with the leafs, but it's things like this (and many others) that make my respect for him as a human being, if not an nhl exec, grow more and more. sure the guy has a bit of blowhard in him (he is a lawyer, after all), and a touch of arrogance, but it's plainly obvious that he has a ton of character and is a really stand-up guy. we get on his case now for shooting his mouth off to the media, but do we really even disagree with the things he's saying, or do we just get indignant because he's saying them in public?

here's the kind of respect and loyalty this guy garners: remember dave nonis sobbing during the press conference where he was crowned gm, stating that "he hadn't expected to get the position that way," alluding to burke being forced down the plank?

this trickles down a lot into team culture. over the last year and a half, i've personally soured pretty significantly on the mike gillis regime. and this isn't just bitterness or disappointment with the on-ice success; it's the whole culture.

gillis rode in to town essentially unopposed upon the recommendations of tony gallagher (it's fun to point out, actually, that at this time gallagher and ed willes virtually swapped positions with the province, heel for face, in the way they covered the team -- it had previously been willes for the regime and gallagher the voice of dissension, but this flip started switching when the aquilinis gained sole ownership and the transition finished with the way nonis was fired and gillis was hired -- followed thereafter by willes writing gradually and gradually less about the canucks due, presumably, to either a lack of permitted access to the team or disgust) and a courtnall. he brought with him a lot of promises about becoming a "destination" market for players. he promised to vastly improve the team's drafting department and team facilities. he was going to build the team around character and work ethic.

he also brought his own culture with him. at first, it seemed like the emphasis was on professionalism and character, with things like community involvement taken into consideration. he also did everything in his power to stand on the big stage with the big market teams. in a lot of ways, he's succeeded. the media and fans consider vancouver a big market team now, where only 8 or so years prior the team was putting 14000 butts in the seats and was on the verge of being moved slightly down the pacific coast (oh yeah, burke is the guy who single-handedly turned that around, by the way). but what has gillis really accomplished? drafting is marginally better, at best, and vancouver still isn't a destination for big name free agents. the team had an incredible year in their anniversary season and have been consistently great, but they've still only been out of the second round once. there's also the fact that all of the canucks' success the last 4 years has been on the backs of acquisitions from the previous regime, from the scouting department, to the coaching staff, to the entire core of the team (sedins, kesler, burrows, hansen, raymond, salo, bieksa, edler, luongo, schneider). meanwhile, what have gillis's acquisitions done? bernier failed. demitra failed. sundin showed up and got paid and doesn't argue when the players and management talk about the great effect he had on the team. ballard eats cap space. the only prospect to make an impact on the lineup, gillis's prize prospect, the epitome of gillis's philosophy of character, turned eric lindros and was shipped out of town. his replacement, while too early to judge, looks like he has a lot of potential he won't meet. hamhuis is good. malhotra is unfortunate. samuelsson was shipped out, crippling the canucks' offensive versatility.

but as these realizations have set in, i've also realized that's it's not so much professionalism and character as it is robotic players and organizational small man syndrome. while their bid to appear as a big market team has succeeded to an extent in the media and entirely with canucks fans, i get the impression that the bluster hasn't really paid off within the league's inner circle of front office types, agents, players, and veteran hockey analysts. this attitude has lead to a league-wide perception of arrogance, overratedness, and dirty play, always keeping in mind that when there's that much smoke there's a pretty good chance you'll find at least a little fire. the other problem is that the napoleon complex has spread to the fanbase. no longer do canucks fans view themselves as the lovable underdogs, the small market team that can compete with the big boys. instead, they view their team as an indestructible powerhouse, mocking any albertan, ontarian or quebecer they luck into crossing paths with, boasting how even their ahl players could field a better team than the lowly flames or leafs.

gillis has no doubt done good things, too. the improvements to the facilities, the outside the box thinking and research, the financial investment in the scouting and player development departments, the expectation of professionalism from the entire organization, and some other things as well have all made a marked impact on the team. it has become a very well run business. hence why the aquilini family was happy to extend his contract.

what you end up with, in a nutshell, as the difference between the gillis regime and the burke/nonis regime is the trading of respectability, honour and character for a whole lot of money, both spent and gained. don't worry, though, it was a hockey trade.

[billabong]

burke was so close to a cup contender when in the early 2000's...if only a goalie who could atleast stop a beach ball would fall from the sky....

when i watch past canuck series on the nhl network channel and i see how bad cloutier was in the playoffs....it was 8-10 years ago and i didnt even really pay attention to them back then and i still get pissed off....it gets me in a bad mood

[King of the ES]

The Aquillini's always struck me as vain, materialistic individuals, Francesco moreso than whoever the others are as he's been the most prominent.

[Jagorim Jarg]

I anticipate a cool story bro, but I met Burke once in an elevator at GM place before the pre-game skate. He was on his way to the executive level and for some reason he took the public elevator, and made some brief statements about the team's sentiment at that time to 'get out of their funk'. He's much bigger than he looks on TV.

[VanGnome]

You've got that right, man. I have a friend who traveled with the team (not with the team, but followed them) during the 2011 run. Francesco was a star at the bars, especially in Nashville. Throwing around cash, being drunk, loud, obnoxious, etc. Not a surprise at all that he's getting divorced. The Canucks are his new toy, and he's BASKING in his newfound celebrity. Pure ego.

Totally agree with all of this.

In short, the goaltending situation has been handled reprehensibly. Schneider should've been moved not long after Luongo signed the monster deal. It's both sad and frightening that we're a team that's supposedly operating within a tight window to win a Cup, and we're effectively being forced to move the one piece of our team that's been (for the most part) consistent over the last 5 years, Roberto Luongo. I have no idea why this situation wasn't handled earlier. Whoever gets Luongo from us, now, will probably be getting the steal of the year, as we're not going to be getting squat in return.

[King of the ES]

burke was so close to a cup contender when in the early 2000's...if only a goalie who could atleast stop a beach ball would fall from the sky....

[tas]

2002-03 and 2003-04 were really the only two seasons where there was a chance. Don't forget that back then, there really wasn't a lot of parity. It was the age of Colorado, Detroit, and New Jersey. The Canucks were operating in, really, an unfair marketplace, like the MLB.

Had the Moore Incident not have went down in '04, that may have been our best shot, but, even then, probably pretty unlikely.

2005-06 was a MAJOR disappointment year, which is actually what I'm beginning to think is going to repeat itself for 2012-13.

[Jagorim Jarg]

people are still people regardless of the paycheque. As fans I think we forget that players are as varied as fans are.. And money does corrupt, even the strongest willed. A lot of people are petty, childish and arrogant.

[King of the ES]

I think you misunderstand the tone of my second point you quoted. I think that Gillis didn't want to ever sign Luongo to that monster deal, behind closed doors I think Luongo was/is a real prima donna but puts on the face of team player out to the media. I don't know if that was reflected in the team's lethargic play at times (multiple times), it almost seems that Schneider through and through was always more of a team guy, and Luongo saw that and became threatened by it.

[Super_Canuck]

I always liked him. Love him or hate him, he's a man of honour and ethics and does what he says. I remember a week before he got fired I saw him and said "Mr. Burke, I liked the job you've done, I hope you sign an extension here" and he said "I hope so too"

Also looking at the video of the 2002 Wings series, it brings back some terrible memories of what use to some terrible goal-tending year. Cloutier and Irbe lol...man how quickly we've forgotten and how quick people are to bash Lu, the best goalie we've ever had

[Forsy]

...

but as these realizations have set in, i've also realized that's it's not so much professionalism and character as it is robotic players and organizational small man syndrome. while their bid to appear as a big market team has succeeded to an extent in the media and entirely with canucks fans, i get the impression that the bluster hasn't really paid off within the league's inner circle of front office types, agents, players, and veteran hockey analysts. this attitude has lead to a league-wide perception of arrogance, overratedness, and dirty play, always keeping in mind that when there's that much smoke there's a pretty good chance you'll find at least a little fire. the other problem is that the napoleon complex has spread to the fanbase. no longer do canucks fans view themselves as the lovable underdogs, the small market team that can compete with the big boys. instead, they view their team as an indestructible powerhouse, mocking any albertan, ontarian or quebecer they luck into crossing paths with, boasting how even their ahl players could field a better team than the lowly flames or leafs.

...

[tas]

FALSE. The bolded text assumption is exactly why this Vancouver Canucks is a dirty, diving team is seen as "league wide". I can already see the useless, unnecessary back and forth argumentation of your points that will get us nowhere because of the bias against this team borne out of that assumption. This is also the reason why your whole argument, which contains agreeable facts and correct analysis is mired in wrong conclusions and overall incorrectness (in other words, your specific examples showcase weakpoints of the gillis regime, but no regime is free of these weaknesses, and the regime overall is healthy, and much healthier when compared to previous regimes).

This false assumption is the "smoke" that indicates a fire, but even the smoke is 'virtual' and manufactured by the media in order to sell papers (of which our provincial media is only too traitorous and retarded to prevent it from festering and growing). None of these issues: arrogance, diving, whining, dirty, over-rated applies specific to any single team in the entire league, let alone the Canucks. Name any team, and not only could you provide good examples of how each of these terms could apply to them, you would be able to find many teams who could pinpoint it to any of their rivals at any time. These are manufactured stories help paint a team as a bad guy, and it sells because enough ignorant people are willing to believe it and become passionate about hockey through their hatred. The media is manipulating them to get them reading their stories of non-existent protagonists and antagonists.

[disisdayear]

Thanks to OP for taking us down memory lane...Burke is and was indeed a beauty.

His candor and honesty is missed...Burkie sure doesn't talk like a lawyer, which is opposite to MG's lawyer-talk that we've all become accustomed to. Funny, how two guys who have seemingly similar backgrounds (i.e., ex-hockey players, academics with professional academic credentials, family men, etc.) can be so outwardly different. Other than Burkie being more expressive (combative is probably a better descriptor...my favourite Burkeism is when he said he'd drive Trent Klatt to the airport), I think think their basic philosophy to building a team is more similar than many of us think (probably explains why they are at a stalemate on the Luongo deal).

One thing that has not been discussed about Burkie is the graciousness, compassion and class that he showed in dealing with his son's death. For a man who outwardly demonstrates a lot "truculence", he was unwavering in his expression of love and support for his son. His support for "You can play, if you can play" campaign in honour of his son, I believe, will have a more profound impact on his reputation than anything he's done in hockey.

That sort of social responsibility is a common thread that binds Burkie, Gillis, and other professionals (i.e., I think everyone can agree that what Gillis and the organization has done to honour Rypien and his life struggles is commendable).

Notwithstanding timing and circumstances, I believe that both Burke and Gillis will go down as making significant contributions to the success and failure of the Canucks...though neither have led us to the holy grail of hockey, I think we can all agree that the quality of hockey that we have been able to witness under their watch has been equally entertaining.

[MoneypuckOverlord]

Brian Burke is a very good GM. It's just that some things are obvious. He is extremely arrogant, and often lets his mouth get the best of him. I respect the work he's done in Vancouver. But to be honest if you ask me, MIke Gillis as a GM >>>> Brian Burke. I wasn't impressed with him saying, "I'm not a fan of the Acquillini's" on top of tampering with the Vancouver Canucks.

[Forsy]

perception i said.

and the point of my post wasn't to dissect the successes and failures of gillis's regime and compare them to those of management teams around the league, although i did derail myself and went off about that tangentially. my main goal was to discuss the team's culture under gillis and my own changes in how i view the team now as opposed to when gillis first took over, and even as recently as the stanley cup run.

[cannucklehead4life]

When Brian Burke lived in Vancouver as the GM he was actually my neighbor for a few years. He's a really nice guy. We never talked hockey ever cause i didn't want to be that guy. But I did have a few good conversations about dogs(he had two awesome mastiff's) Vancouver that kind of stuff. He really loved this city. I myself thought that he was a great gm. My only real problem with him was that he couldn't pick a good goalie to save his life. All the guys he tried here. The same thing is happening in Toronto. The only place he had one was in Anaheim and Bryan Murray drafted him

[King of the ES]

FALSE. The bolded text assumption is a media-driven perception wherein the Vancouver Canucks is a dirty, diving team is seen as "league wide". Because of the bias against this team borne out of that assumption, I can already see the useless, unnecessary back and forth argumentation of your points that will get us nowhere. The reason your whole argument is mired in wrong conclusions and overall incorrectness (but contains agreeable facts and correct analysis) is because of this assumption clouding what can be seen of the vancouver canucks. Your specific examples showcase weakpoints of the gillis regime, but no regime is free of these weaknesses, and the regime overall is healthy, and arguably healthier when compared to previous regimes.

[King of the ES]

Who would argue that the prospect depth is WEAKER than the burke or nonis eras?