that's weak. You obviously have personal issues with Burke (guess his years in Vancouver pissed you off? Sedin twins, who picked them? Won a playoff series, won a Division title, helped increase attendance as you chaps were in rough shape---or was it all bad?)--- you give him no credit for The Ducks winning the Cup under his watch, despite other posters helping you out of the moves he made. His decision to leave the Ducks by all accounts was an amicable one. He continued to make decisiosn to better that organization even though he knew he was on his way out.
you mnetioned Dave Nonis did a 'great job' in Vancouver? good grief guy, he's a Burke man--worked with him in Vancouver then to Anaheim and now in Toronto. Does that reflect poorly on Burke as well?
gl to Burke in Toronto, he's going to need it.
Ok, fine...
a) Burke didn't bring in the top players. Guys like Bertuzzi and Naslund were brought in by other GMs. In fact, a lot of the credit goes to Mike Keenan for rebuilding the organization.
b) Burke was constantly trading away mid round picks for rental players who proved to be worthless. In 6 years of drafting, who did Brian Burke produce, other than the Sedin twins? He was given the twins due to the team's weak perfomance and his desire to overpay for another top 4 pick (McCabe & top 15 pick).
c) When prompted to deal the franchise player, and arguably the most exciting player in the league at the time, Burke dealt Bure and Hedican for what amounted to Ed Jovanovski. Jovo turned out to be a solid dman, but there should have been more available for a guy of Bure's calibre. Oh yah, the Canucks also got a 1st round pick in the deal... I think he played one or two games on the 4th line and was never heard from again! (Nathan Smith)
d) Burke was stubborn beyond belief. This is why he could never make a good trade. He was unwilling to trade one of his bust players, with the hope that the players would turn it around and prove him a genius. This is why the Canucks lost RJ Umberger over a few thousand dollars.
e) Burke's inability to find a starting goalie. First he gets rid of Arthurs Irbe, who had a good season on a bad team. He decided to go with Kevin Weekes (who he was very high on) and Garth Snow. And the final argument, Adrian Aucoin & 2nd round pick for Dan Cloutier. This was a gross overpayment at the time, as Cloutier had already been shuffled around to a couple organizations. Well, Aucoin moved on to be one of the top minute leaders in the NHL, while Cloutier won the Canucks a cup... i mean blew every playoff series he was a part of.
Burke did well for Vancouver... give me a break. It took Nonnis only a few months to pull off a deal that was better than all of Burke's moves combined.
