Welcome to the Calgary Flames’ age of truculence.
Brian Burke, known for his smash-mouth style of hockey, was unveiled Thursday as the Flames’ new president of hockey operations. The announcement was made at a conference room inside the Scotiabank Saddledome and capped a whirlwind 24 hours of speculation.
According to the Flames’ new management flow chart, Ken King will remain as the CEO of the Flames sporting group, which includes the CFL Stampeders, the WHL Hitmen and the National Lacrosse League Roughnecks. Jay Feaster also remains as the general manager and will work in tandem with Burke, who described his role as an advisor.
“This is a relatively new structure in professional hockey,” said Burke, who was relieved of his president and GM duties with the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this year. “There are few teams in the NHL have this type of management structure. There are a number of teams in the NFL that do. There are a number of teams in MLB that do. A number of teams in the NBA that do and it works. And it’s going to work here.
“I’m not the general manager of the Calgary Flames,” added Burke. “Jay Feaster is. Jay and I have been friends for a long time. We met this morning and talked about how to make this work and we’re both committed to winning. I think I can provide some help but I think that Jay’s got great ability and he’s already made some very important steps in fixing things here.”
The 58-year-old Burke was in Calgary on Wednesday and met with King and Flames’ owner Murray before agreeing to come aboard. Two months ago, the Flames flew NHL chief of player safety Brendan Shanahan into Calgary, where he dined with Edwards and King and discussed a position with the organization. In the end, Shanahan passed on the possibility and Calgary went back into search mode.
Burke was asked how big a rebuilding job he faces in Calgary, compared to the one he inherited when he took over the Maple Leafs.
“In Toronto, there was a lot of work that needed to be that took longer than I thought, in terms of getting some assets out of there. Obviously, we made a major acquisition in acquiring Phil Kessel. The compensation that was paid turned out to be higher than expected. But I’d do the trade again tomorrow.
“I think Jay has already taken some of the major steps to rebuild,” Burke insisted. “I think Calgary had the best draft of anybody. It’s hard in a cap system to turn your team around. I don’t like time frames. I see guys who say this is a three-year rebuild and I think they’re just buying three years for themselves. I have seen (the Flames’ AHL affiliate) Abbotsford play and I do think there’s help on the way.”
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