Cry, Baby, Cry!

What Brian Burke Is Really Playing At


Every time a sports news anchorman or a sports journalist gets a hold of Brian Burke, the temptation to bring up Kevin Lowe simply overwhealms them. And Burke, for his part, plays the role to perfection with the constant scowl and the repeated insults that he throws at Lowe. It makes great copy; the journalists must love it.

But what is Burke really playing at? There's little evidence to suggest that he's really as obtuse as he play-acts in interviews. He's generally one of the most respected GMs in hockey. So what's the deal? Let's analyze it through a process of elimination, and several truths will become clear.

Let's start off with a look at just what happened with Kevin Lowe. Lowe, who had struggled in the unrestricted free agent market, was in dire need of a player to replace Ryan Smyth's offensive production. He also needed to strengthen his powerplay, which was second to last in the NHL last year. Nobody scored fewer goals than the Edmonton Oilers. So, without some offensive help, the Oilers were looking at finishing close to the bottom in the standings, and this just 2 years removed from a trip to the finals. To a man like Kevin Lowe, who bleeds copper and blue, that was untenable.

After failing to secure a top line forward via trade or UFA market, Lowe made the choice to try to lure Thomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres. Vanek, a restricted free agent, was the top forward on the Sabres, and an asset that Buffalo needed to keep, as they had lost some valuable assets to free agency already. Lowe made an offer sheet of $7Million that Vanek accepted. Buffalo matched and the insults began. But Lowe made such a high offer because he knew it would make the choice difficult in Buffalo. Buffalo's GM took it personally, saying that he had advised Lowe in advance that he would match. Lowe called his bluff in hopes that he could get a player of Vanek's calibre. Unforunately for Lowe, Buffalo still matched, and cried about it to anyone who would listen. Rarely had such vitroil been spewn over a perfectly legitimate move.

It is interesting to note that with Buffalo securing Vanek at $7Million, it took no time for New Jersey to lock up their highly coveted restricted free agent Parise. That also took New Jersey out of the running financially for defenseman Sheldon Souray, who ended up signing in Edmonton. Not a bad bit of business by Lowe, even if he didn't intend it that way.

Once Buffalo matched, Lowe had to find another alternative for his problem at the forward position. He settled on Dustin Penner, a young left winger on the Anaheim Ducks. Penner had just completed his 1st full NHL season and had scored 29 goals. His last year in the AHL he had put up impressive numbers. In 59 games he had scored 39 goals and 84 points with a ridiculous +41 rating. At 6'4 and 250 pounds, Penner seemed like an ideal solution for Lowe. He was big, tough, durable, young and could score goals. A nice fit for a line with Ales Hemsky.

So, Lowe made his offer to Penner: 5 years at $4.25Million per season. Brian Burke, who is a man who knows full well that making RFA offer sheets is within the rules, acted furious.

At first, Burke stated that he agreed that RFA offers were a legitimate way of trying to secure players, but that Lowe had acted in a "classless" manner because the day Lowe made his offer sheet was also the day that Burke was being honoured by the BC Hockey Hall of Fame. So, the offer was fine, but Lowe should have called Burke to check his schedule first. At least, that's what Burke was saying. That only sounds ridiculous because it is.

Next, Burke stated that Lowe had done a disservice to the entire NHL by once again offering "a grossly inflated" salary offer to a young player. The insults grew with each new interview, and continue to this day. Eventually, Burke decided not to match the offer, and he received Edmonton's 1st, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks as compensation. Burke publicly stated that he expected those picks would be very high in the draft.

Lowe has been called virtually every name in the book by Burke, with the most frequent damnation being "stupid". Now, history tells us that Brian Burke is not a stupid man himself, so he surely sees the reality of the situation. The Edmonton Oilers are far better off with Dustin Penner than they are with those draft picks. Penner is a player the Oilers desperately needed, even if he alone is not enough to get them into the playoffs. Also, the Oilers are so loaded with young talent such as Gagner, Cogliano, Smid, Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Nilsson and O'Marra that those draft picks were easily expendable. Also, Lowe had received draft picks back in other trades so he still gets a 1st round pick in the draft anyway. So, getting Penner for those picks was certainly not a "stupid" thing to do.

From a financial standpoint, Burke must surely see the reality as well. Penner, about to enter his second full NHL season, is being paid for what the Oilers believe he can do, not for what he has done already. While we can't know until the games are played, Penner has shown every indication that he isn't a flash in the pan. He will play with Ales Hemsky, who is arguably better than Penner's linemates in Anaheim, Getzlaf and Perry. And at $4.25 per year, in an NHL that continues to grow, the Oilers may overpay in year 1, and get a smashing deal by year 4. As the NHL grows, so does the salary cap. And in an era when top players are being paid more than 6 Million dollars, Lowe certainly wasn't "grossly inflating' anything with his $4.25Million offer to a guy who scored 29 in his first full year. Make no mistake, Burke knows that this is true. He demonstrated it by signing Todd Bertuzzi to a $4Million contract. Bertuzzi is even more of a gamble than Penner is, since Bertuzzi hasn't played a regular shift in the NHL in 3 years. Last year his back gave out. The year before he was suspended, then hurt. And if Penner really isn't worth much, then why get so upset considering that you're getting 3 picks back?

So, since Lowe's move for Penner was a beneficial one for the Edmonton Oilers, and the salary he offered was, by comparision, not excessive, then what is Burke on about? As I stated before, Burke is not a stupid man. He knows all of this. The logical conclusion is that Burke is play-acting. Why?

Several reasons are obvious. Ryan Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, and Corey Perry are all restricted free agents next year. All are still unsigned. Burke wants to scare away anyone from ever touching his free agents again. If Burke loses Getzlaf or Perry, he loses a significant investment of time and money in youth. He cannot afford for that to happen if he wishes to keep the Ducks near the top of the standings and in the race for the Stanley Cup.

He also has another problem that gets conveniently overshadowed by making Lowe the villain: Scott Neidermayer can't make up his mind regarding retirement, and has yet to show up for the Ducks. The Ducks also did not re-sign Selanne. Including Penner, that's 3 important pieces of a Stanley Cup winning puzzle. That makes repeating very difficult.

Besides, Burke has a bombastic public persona to maintain. The "how dare he????" attitude is what's expected of Burke. He can't leave the audience dry, now can he? After all, Burke himself has carefully crafted the character he plays in front of the cameras and microphones.

As for Kevin Lowe and the Edmonton Oilers, they may just spoil Burke's hopes for high picks with those draft choices. Gone from last year's team are passengers like Lupul and Nedved, medoicre talent like Petersen and Markkanen, misused one dimensional talent like Sykora, and captain Jason Smith, who had, with all due respect to him, just had his worst year as a pro. Insert, point man Sheldon Souray, who last year broke the NHL record for powerplay goals by a defenseman, along with Joni Pitkanen, Mathieu Garon, Dick Tarnstrom, a healthy Jarrett Stoll and our man of the hour Dustin Penner. The Oilers can safely assume that their powerplay will not be second last in the NHL, and they certainly will not finish last in scoring. That may not mean a playoff spot, but it certainly means a mid table draft pick for Brian Burke at best.

So, when you see Burke's act on TV, you should never forget that it's exactly that. An act, meant to intimidate other GMs and deflect attention away from his own problems. Thankfully for Oilers fans, Kevin Lowe can't be intimidated. Like Burke, Lowe is a man who means business. He just doesn't need the attention starved act that goes along with Brian Burke.