Ducks

[jawbreaker 0]

Ducks have huge problems, but it wasn't that bad after their Cup in 2007. But since then they are going down, 'cos Brian Burke is the best GM in the league. How he has managed to do so much damage?

1. He his soft with Niedermayer & Selanne. Scotty should have decided by the 1st of July, or at least before August. Well... Teemu was UFA, so not much he could do.

2. He throws big bucks on Schneider & Big Bert. He really overpaid for these players.

3. Gives away Penner! Instead of matching 4.25M, he gives that money to injury-prone Bertuzzi.

4. Gives 6M deal to Giguere. Sure, he is a great goalie. But the Ducks had Bryzgalov, who proved his goodness in the playoffs. As the backup they had very good prospect Hiller. Ok, sign Giguere, but after that trade him! Burke just didn't have the guts to go with two younger goalies. But if you have such a good D it's worth the risk.

5. Burke gives away Bryzgalov for nothing! This is pathetic, you don't give away starting goalie for free. L.A., Tampa, Phoenix were probably ready to give at least something. 2nd Round pick at least (Huet price).

6. He trades McDonald, who was one of the best forwards in the playoffs. Why not to trade/waive Marchant, or Big Bert?

Results:

No Cap Space. Still waives Bertuzzi. Ducks still have strong D and goalies, but TOP6 is not impressive by any means.

Is he really the GM, who should resurrect The Leafs? They better stuck with Fletcher.

Top GM-s in the National Hockey League are Kenny Holland, Bob Gainey, and George McPhee. Brian Burke is not even close.

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

eh

the biggest mistakes he has made:

1) getting nothing for Bryzgalov. Are you seriously telling me that LA/Tampa/Phoenix wouldn't have given up prospects/picks for that guy?

2) Bertuzzi, which in turn led to:

3) Penner being poached

4) Letting Neidermayer/Selanne come back, which in turn led to

5) McDonald trade

so yeah, he's been pretty brutal since 07

[wingfanatic4alltime 32]

THANK YOU finally someone agrees with me. Burke imo is overrated here is why yeah when he was with vancover the canucks were good but i believe they only got out of the first round once i could be wrong. When he left to go to the ducks vancover to this day hasnt been the same. Burke is doing the same exact thing to the ducks, he will bolt to the leafs next season and mark my words it will take the Ducks at least 2 years to fix what Burke has done to that team, yeah they got a cup but any one can say if it wasnt for gigure maybe the ducks wouldnt have that cup. Good post

(EDIT) Spelling

Edited June 28, 2008 by wingfanatic4alltime

[Guest mindfly]

Holland > Burke

That's a fact!

[Barrie 900]

I don't understand why the Leafs want Burke so badly. He is overrated!

[Cicada 4]

he's made some really bad decisions since they won the cup no doubt, but he did a great job building that cup winning team

[hillbillywingsfan 794]

I don't understand why the Leafs want Burke so badly. He is overrated!

you don't think he's better then what they have?

[Probert 5 For Fighting 0]

I don't understand why the Leafs want Burke so badly. He is overrated!

It's better to be overrated than not rated at all. Burke is not the GM everyone makes him out to be, but he's better than the dogcrap Toronto has dealt with for how many years.

And I can't really fault him for letting Penner go. Would YOU pay a guy like him or Filppula 4.25 million right now?

[ben_usmc 253]

didn't most of the Ducks talent come from the previous GM? The last 2 Pronger and Neids: not very hard one everyone knew wanted out and the 2nd offer to play with his brother.

[2probert4 8]

Ducks have huge problems, but it wasn't that bad after their Cup in 2007. But since then they are going down, 'cos Brian Burke is the best GM in the league. How he has managed to do so much damage?

1. He his soft with Niedermayer & Selanne. Scotty should have decided by the 1st of July, or at least before August. Well... Teemu was UFA, so not much he could do.

2. He throws big bucks on Schneider & Big Bert. He really overpaid for these players.

3. Gives away Penner! Instead of matching 4.25M, he gives that money to injury-prone Bertuzzi.

4. Gives 6M deal to Giguere. Sure, he is a great goalie. But the Ducks had Bryzgalov, who proved his goodness in the playoffs. As the backup they had very good prospect Hiller. Ok, sign Giguere, but after that trade him! Burke just didn't have the guts to go with two younger goalies. But if you have such a good D it's worth the risk.

5. Burke gives away Bryzgalov for nothing! This is pathetic, you don't give away starting goalie for free. L.A., Tampa, Phoenix were probably ready to give at least something. 2nd Round pick at least (Huet price).

6. He trades McDonald, who was one of the best forwards in the playoffs. Why not to trade/waive Marchant, or Big Bert?

Results:

No Cap Space. Still waives Bertuzzi. Ducks still have strong D and goalies, but TOP6 is not impressive by any means.

Is he really the GM, who should resurrect The Leafs? They better stuck with Fletcher.

Top GM-s in the National Hockey League are Kenny Holland, Bob Gainey, and George McPhee. Brian Burke is not even close.

Burke is overrated, he walked into a gold mine at Anaheim, and now it's turning into the same mess he had at Vancouver. Guy makes me sick just to look at him.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

he's made some really bad decisions since they won the cup no doubt, but he did a great job building that cup winning team

No lie. It is easy to say well after the season happened that a few deals this past season with Burke turned out to be garberfunkle, whatever garberfunkle is.

Much like when the Wings traded for Bertuzzi at the time, I'd say it was similar to a 50/50 deal to where you don't know how Bertuzzi would perform and the like. At the time it certainly seemed like the Wings didn't have to give up all that much, and we certainly don't know how Matthias will play 5 years from now/how the draft pick will ultimately turn out, and so forth.

I think it was the same thing in a way with Burke signing Bertuzzi. Didn't really perform all that great in the postseason for the Wings but I personally thought/still thinks he has some game left to play. Now at $4M like Burke was offering? No, but I can understand Burke wanting to get him back because of how much of a force he was during most of his Vancover career.

I'll never understand much of putting Bryzgalov on waivers without trying to get him for something though.

With that being said, yes he didn't build a Cup winning team two years ago by mistake as you quoted. Is he overrated? Perhaps. Did the SI.com writer give him too much credit this season? Yes. Overall though through past seasons, is he one of the better GMs? Probably so.

[chrisdetroit 189]

No lie. It is easy to say well after the season happened that a few deals this past season with Burke turned out to be garberfunkle, whatever garberfunkle is.

Much like when the Wings traded for Bertuzzi at the time, I'd say it was similar to a 50/50 deal to where you don't know how Bertuzzi would perform and the like. At the time it certainly seemed like the Wings didn't have to give up all that much, and we certainly don't know how Matthias will play 5 years from now/how the draft pick will ultimately turn out, and so forth.

I think it was the same thing in a way with Burke signing Bertuzzi. Didn't really perform all that great in the postseason for the Wings but I personally thought/still thinks he has some game left to play. Now at $4M like Burke was offering? No, but I can understand Burke wanting to get him back because of how much of a force he was during most of his Vancover career.

I'll never understand much of putting Bryzgalov on waivers without trying to get him for something though.

With that being said, yes he didn't build a Cup winning team two years ago by mistake as you quoted. Is he overrated? Perhaps. Did the SI.com writer give him too much credit this season? Yes. Overall though through past seasons, is he one of the better GMs? Probably so.

Really. I think that it was alot more than just 1 bad move.

1. Overpaying Bertuzzi. He offered him much more than what we were offering and the guy was coming off of back surgery. $4mil for 2 years for that? This is just a stupid decision. No way any other GM in the league offers him more than 1 year. It's too much of an unknown.

2. Penner recieved an offer sheet because Burke didn't sign him in time. Burke had the option to sign him BEFORE anybody could post an offer and he let the opportunity get away. Another bad decision.

3. Burke let his #1 Defenseman not show up to play until January when he was under contract. That created uncertainty with his team. How can anybody let that happen. How do you make any plans not knowing if your #1 D man is going to play or not.

4. Burke waived Bryzgalov. He gave him away for nothing. I can't wait until the Ducks play Phoenix in the playoffs and Bryz beats Giggy. What a stupid move.

5. Burke traded McDonald for washed up Doug Weight. Duh!

So I count 5 really bad moves in 1 year. In my book there is no way he is one of the better GM's. Or at least he wasn't last year.

[edicius 3,269]

didn't most of the Ducks talent come from the previous GM? The last 2 Pronger and Neids: not very hard one everyone knew wanted out and the 2nd offer to play with his brother.

EXACTLY.

Burke inherited most of the pieces of that team. It's the same reason you can't give Holland credit for the Cup in '98 - he ultimately inherited that roster (although he gets MORE credit than Burke, as he was Assistant GM for 3 years before that).

Once you see Burke actually doing what he does, it's a disaster. Look at the Canucks. That team STILL hasn't recovered totally from his "leadership". The Ducks will be in disarray for at least a few years after he leaves due to his missteps.

[Barrie 900]

you don't think he's better then what they have?

True, good point.

Toronto from the sounds of it wants to get the best guy possible, many of us here don't think Burke is the best guy out there.

[Reds4Life 51]

EXACTLY.

Burke inherited most of the pieces of that team. It's the same reason you can't give Holland credit for the Cup in '98 - he ultimately inherited that roster (although he gets MORE credit than Burke, as he was Assistant GM for 3 years before that).

Once you see Burke actually doing what he does, it's a disaster. Look at the Canucks. That team STILL hasn't recovered totally from his "leadership". The Ducks will be in disarray for at least a few years after he leaves due to his missteps.

Totally disagree. I do think Burke is overrated, but on the other hand he built the 07 Ducks.

He traded Fedorov and got Beauchemin. No one really knew Beauchemin is solid defenseman. And he was a beast in 07 playoffs.

Ducks defense before Burke became Ducks GM:

Višněvskij, Ozolinš, Havelid, Salei, Škoula, Carney

All gone.

He traded everyone but Giguere/Bryzgalov; Pahlsson, R.Niedermayer, Getzlaf, Perry, Penner, McDonnald. And he built the team around them.

He brought in these players:

30.7.2005 - Moen - from Chicago

4.8.2005 - S. Niedermayer - UFA

10.8.2005 - DiPenta - UFA

22.8.2005 - Selänne - UFA

22.8.2005 - Huskins - UFA

15.11.2005 - Beauchemin - from Columbus

18.11.2005 - Kunitz - from waivers

21.11.2005 - Marchant - from waivers

28.11.2005 - Shannon - UFA

9.3.2006 - O'Donnell - from Phoenix

3.7.2006 - Pronger - from Edmonton

12.7.2006 - Carter - UFA

12.7.2006 - S.Thornton - UFA

13.11.2006 - Parros - from Colorado

28.12.2006 - Caron - from Chicago

3.1.2007 - Jackman - from Florida

26.1.2007 - Hartigan - from Columbus

27.2.2007 - May - from Colorado

He definitely deserves credit for 07 Cup. He built that 07 Ducks team.

Edited June 28, 2008 by Reds4Life

[jim3033 1]

Burke wears the right brand shoes. He's still a good GM from a lawyer standpoint but does he have a good hockey sense? I think so. He's kind of like the Crosby of GM's.

[Dabura 12,232]

Brian Burke:

God? No. Hackjob? No. Good GM? Yes.

Did he have a brutal year? Yes. Does that change the fact that he's a good GM? Not really.

Does every GM make mistakes? Yes.

Has Ken Holland made mistakes? Yes, one of which involved everyone's favorite whipping boy, Todd Bertuzzi.

Give it a rest.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

I count letting penner go as a good move.... they got some good draft picks for an overated player

[therock48880 14]

I count letting penner go as a good move.... they got some good draft picks for an overated player

Let's see, a 6'4" 245 pound power forward who is only 25 years old, has scored 45 and 47 points the past two years while never missing a game. Overrated?

Instead they got Bertuzzi and his bad back.

Let's see, 4.5 for Penner or 4.0 for Bertuzzi? That ones a no-brainer, imo.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Let's see, a 6'4" 245 pound power forward who is only 25 years old, has scored 45 and 47 points the past two years while never missing a game. Overrated?

Instead they got Bertuzzi and his bad back.

Let's see, 4.5 for Penner or 4.0 for Bertuzzi? That ones a no-brainer, imo.

i never said signing bertuzzi was good, just letting penner go for that money while gaining draft picks was a good move.

[South Dakota wings fan 7]

didn't most of the Ducks talent come from the previous GM? The last 2 Pronger and Neids: not very hard one everyone knew wanted out and the 2nd offer to play with his brother.

Bryan Murray should get most of the credit for building the Ducks. Trading for to get an unhappy dillweed out of Edmonton was his only real accomplishment.

[South Dakota wings fan 7]

i never said signing bertuzzi was good, just letting penner go for that money while gaining draft picks was a good move.

Would Kenny be wise to trade for Schneider if Stuart fails to return? He is a known commodity, and might make a good replacement for one year even if he is overpaid.

[Doggy 130]

Totally disagree. I do think Burke is overrated, but on the other hand he built the 07 Ducks.

He traded Fedorov and got Beauchemin. No one really knew Beauchemin is solid defenseman. And he was a beast in 07 playoffs.

Ducks defense before Burke became Ducks GM:

Višněvskij, Ozolinš, Havelid, Salei, Škoula, Carney

All gone.

He traded everyone but Giguere/Bryzgalov; Pahlsson, R.Niedermayer, Getzlaf, Perry, Penner, McDonnald. And he built the team around them.

He brought in these players:

30.7.2005 - Moen - from Chicago

4.8.2005 - S. Niedermayer - UFA

10.8.2005 - DiPenta - UFA

22.8.2005 - Selänne - UFA

22.8.2005 - Huskins - UFA

15.11.2005 - Beauchemin - from Columbus

18.11.2005 - Kunitz - from waivers

21.11.2005 - Marchant - from waivers

28.11.2005 - Shannon - UFA

9.3.2006 - O'Donnell - from Phoenix

3.7.2006 - Pronger - from Edmonton

12.7.2006 - Carter - UFA

12.7.2006 - S.Thornton - UFA

13.11.2006 - Parros - from Colorado

28.12.2006 - Caron - from Chicago

3.1.2007 - Jackman - from Florida

26.1.2007 - Hartigan - from Columbus

27.2.2007 - May - from Colorado

He definitely deserves credit for 07 Cup. He built that 07 Ducks team.

Thank you. Some ridiculous things being said in this thread.

[rage 24]

Would Kenny be wise to trade for Schneider if Stuart fails to return? He is a known commodity, and might make a good replacement for one year even if he is overpaid.

Never would happen.

[eva unit zero 271]

I'm going to remove all the players on the list of Burke's acquisitions who were not top six forwards, top four defensemen, or the starting goaltender during the Cup run. I am also going to remove players who had already planned on signing with the Ducks before Burke was hired.

15.11.2005 - Beauchemin - from Columbus

Third-pairing defenseman in Columbus who worked out because he was instantly paired with Scott Niedermayer, who was able to cover most of Beauchemin's deficiencies. He was an expendable young player that could go to Anaheim in return for what was effectively a salary dump by Burke.

9.3.2006 - O'Donnell - from Phoenix

A salary dump by Phoenix; O'Donnell was deemed too old and expensive for the Yotes, after he had been signed to play in the top our and was then made expendable by the performance of youngsters Zbynek Michalek, Paul Mara, Keith Ballard, and Derek Morris. Burke's acquisition of O'Donnell can be viewed two ways; either as a prelude to expecting the defection of Salei that summer (signed as a UFA with Florida) or as a statement to Salei of 'this guy is who we want to spend this money on.'

Judging by Burke's history and attitude, I would more readily believe the second statement as Anaheim never really made an effort to retain Salei, who was and still is a better AND YOUNGER defenseman than O'Donnell and signed with Florida for almost exactly the same amount O'Donnell was making per year.

3.7.2006 - Pronger - from Edmonton

Traded for a top young winger, a top defensive prospect, two first round picks, and a second round pick. Given that Pronger has a third place and ninth place finish in Norris voting since being acquired for that price, and he has yet to be the Ducks' best defenseman over a season, I would argue that trade was overpayment, especially given that Pronger had requested a trade. Ultimately, Burke was trading for a top three defenseman, so it's not like this can be called a bad trade.

There you have the list of 'significant' acquisitions Burke made who were around for the Cup. You'll notice I also removed Kunitz; this is because he was around when Burke was hired, and was claimed by Atlanta via waivers and played two games for the Thrashers before the Ducks were able to get him back via waivers. That doesn't count as a Burke acquisition unless you count Doug Brown as a Ken Holland acquisition for the 98-99 season.

Three significant deals. Two of which his motive seems to be more about ridding his team of defensively sound Europeans and replacing them with Canadians who are downgrades. Another in which he traded away a skilled young winger, an elite level defensive prospect, and two first picks to get a guy who would be his #2 defenseman.

I would argue the only thing Burke did as far as Anaheim's Cup was to not destroy the roster until after they won. As it stands, the Ducks are not going back to the top any time soon after Burke's series of bad decisions this year that downgraded the talent on the team while removing youth in favor of aging veterans who won't be back.