Monday, May 03, 2004
DELTA AS IN "CHANGE"
Brian Burke is gone as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.
In a way, it was bandied about all year as to whether Burke was going to get an extension on his contract or not, but when the relations between Burke and the rest of the brass seemed a bit cold, it seemed more and more likely that Burke would not return.
Hired to the GM post in June 1998, Brian Burke inherited a floundering team with a huge payroll that had missed the playoffs for two straight years. He managed to be budget conscious and arranged a core group of players (Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund, and Todd Bertuzzi had played for the Devils, Penguins, and Islanders, respectively) which helped get the Canucks to the playoffs each of the last four years.
The problem is, they've only gotten past the first round once, last year when they lost Game 7 of the second round at home against Minnesota. Herein lies part of the reason Burke is gone -- it appears management felt they had hit a plateau with him, and needed someone else as GM to get to the next level.
That said, Brian Burke did a hell of a job. He helped resurrect the franchise from the post-Pat Quinn and Mike Keenan-era doldrums, and got the fans to come back to the Garage every night, to the tune of 86 straight sellouts.
Yes, there's some assessment going on as to the makeup of the Canucks right now, and Brian Burke is probably not the first change which will occur with respect to the team. I'll get to those as the hopefully regular-length offseason goes along.
But for now, make no mistake about it -- whoever hires Brian Burke is going to get a good one.
In a way, it was bandied about all year as to whether Burke was going to get an extension on his contract or not, but when the relations between Burke and the rest of the brass seemed a bit cold, it seemed more and more likely that Burke would not return.
Hired to the GM post in June 1998, Brian Burke inherited a floundering team with a huge payroll that had missed the playoffs for two straight years. He managed to be budget conscious and arranged a core group of players (Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund, and Todd Bertuzzi had played for the Devils, Penguins, and Islanders, respectively) which helped get the Canucks to the playoffs each of the last four years.
The problem is, they've only gotten past the first round once, last year when they lost Game 7 of the second round at home against Minnesota. Herein lies part of the reason Burke is gone -- it appears management felt they had hit a plateau with him, and needed someone else as GM to get to the next level.
That said, Brian Burke did a hell of a job. He helped resurrect the franchise from the post-Pat Quinn and Mike Keenan-era doldrums, and got the fans to come back to the Garage every night, to the tune of 86 straight sellouts.
Yes, there's some assessment going on as to the makeup of the Canucks right now, and Brian Burke is probably not the first change which will occur with respect to the team. I'll get to those as the hopefully regular-length offseason goes along.
But for now, make no mistake about it -- whoever hires Brian Burke is going to get a good one.
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