7
ANAHEIM — One of the pleasures of a rare trip to the West Coast is a chance to catch up with Brian Burke.
Burke, who tries his best to live up to the stereotype of the blustery Irishman, is not every NHL executive's cup of tea for that reason. But for precisely that reason, he is every reporter's cup of tea, unless the reporter happens to be one of the fools Burke does not suffer gladly.
There is always a burr under Burke's saddle, although these days you might wonder why. The Anaheim Ducks did not start well in the season after their first Stanley Cup win, as defenceman Scott Niedermayer took a long sabbatical to consider his future in hockey and high-scoring winger Teemu Selanne took an even longer one.
But since Niedermayer had his epiphany on ice and returned to play on Dec. 16, the Ducks are 7-2-2. They are 3-1-1 in their past five games, as their offensive problems seem to be sorted out. And Selanne is skating again, although he is a few weeks away from a decision on a comeback. If he does return, Burke might be spared trying a big play at the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 26 in order to load up for the playoffs.
Related Information
- Anaheim Ducks
- St. Louis Blues
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Martin Gelinas
- Ryan Getzlaf
- Andy McDonald
- Scott Niedermayer
- Teemu Selanne
- Mats Sundin
- Doug Weight
The trade deadline, though, is one of the burrs under Burke's saddle. He thinks the salary-cap system works against the Ducks and is trying, so far unsuccessfully, to change a rule to open things up. He is also bucking for a change to the instigator rule and is firing away at the NHL's competition committee, which blocked him on the instigator move.
So far this season, there have been nine trades in the NHL, with Burke responsible for four of them. His biggest one sent centre Andy McDonald to the St. Louis Blues for centre Doug Weight, a move made necessary to accommodate Niedermayer's return under the salary cap. It was not exactly Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first-round draft picks and $15-million cash.
Burke says the restrictions posed by the salary cap have killed the blockbuster trade for the most part, which is bad for the hockey business. That is why he is pushing for a change to the collective labour agreement that would allow clubs to pay part of the salary of players they trade away. He started out asking for a $2-million (all currency U.S.) maximum in such trades, then lowered it to $1-million, but it was still rejected by the NHL's board of governors a year ago.
But Burke is still pushing it and thinks he may get it passed eventually, even though it would also require the approval of the NHL Players' Association because it is a change to the collective agreement.
"I think it does have support and we're making a mistake not doing it," Burke said yesterday, a few hours before the Ducks played the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I think the lack of buzz hurts our business. When people are standing around the water cooler in an office in Toronto talking about a trade made the night before, that's important for our game."
Told that people in Toronto need no encouragement to talk about trades, real or imagined, and that the favourite topic in the Centre of the Hockey Universe (the sarcasm font is on here, e-mailers) is the imaginary trade of Leafs captain Mats Sundin to the Ducks for about half of Burke's current roster and his first-round draft picks for the next decade, the GM laughs.
"I haven't talked to [Leafs GM] John Ferguson about Mats Sundin once," he said. "We have a legitimate No. 1 centre, and that's Ryan Getzlaf."
The problem Burke ran into with his trade proposal was that too many clubs wanted to use it to fix what they see as a flaw in the collective agreement. They want to close the small loophole that allows a player's salary to come off the salary cap if he is sent to the minor leagues. Several GMs told Burke they would vote for his proposal, but only if one-way NHL contracts in the minors would then count against the cap.
But Burke rightly says those were no votes, so he will keep fighting, just as he will keep fighting to change the instigator rule. And, he says, the competition committee can take a hike.
