Q&A with Brian Burke
Former NHL coach and general manager guest speaker at inaugural President’s Leadership Dinner
Former NHL coach and general manager Brian Burke will be the guest speaker at the inaugural Cape Breton University President’s Leadership Dinner on Sept. 17 in Sydney.
Cape Breton Post reporter Jeremy Fraser conducted a phone interview with Burke on Aug. 30.
Q : How did Cape Breton University (CBU) recruit you to come to this President’s dinner?
A: David Dingwall and I have been close for a long time and he explained the concept and asked if I would be interested in speaking and I said absolutely. I have spoken at many of the top schools across Canada and I’m excited to come to CBU.
Q : Over the course of your career you worked with many NHL teams, including the Vancouver Canucks where you drafted Henrik and Daniel Sedin. This year, the twins retired, what are your thoughts on their careers?
A: I’m very proud of both of them. These guys had great careers, but more importantly, they’ve been unbelievable citizens in the city of Vancouver. They’ve done a ton of charity work, they’ve been great leaders in the community and the good news is they’re planning on staying there, so we’re not going to lose them back to Sweden, as we do with so many players.
Q : Are there any memories that you have of those two during their playing careers that will always stand out for you?
A: I remember the year after I drafted them yeah they went back to Sweden and played, and I went to watch them play and they had a very poor game. I sent our chief scout down to ask why and it was because they had stayed up until 4 a.m. studying for a calculus exam. These guys were two students and great kids and I remember being happy with them even though they had played poorly because it showed their commitment.
Q : You were the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks and happened to win a Stanley Cup with the team in 2006-07. What do you remember of that season?
A: We knew we were in contention. We made a deal in the offseason to bring in Chris Pronger and we were talking about the Stanley Cup right from training camp on. Most teams won’t do that because they think it’s a jinx, but we felt that we were close and obviously for us in the business that’s climbing Mount Everest for a general manager and a team. It was the best year professionally I ever had, but our players did a great job, we only lost five games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, we were a powerhouse and we proved it in the playoffs.
Q : In later years you also worked with the Toronto Maple Leafs. What was it like working in Canadian city, especially Toronto where the media has its way of being on top of you at all times?
A: It’s a different experience being the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. There has only been 15 of us. I’m proud to say that I was the GM of the Leafs, even though we didn’t get enough done there, but I enjoyed it very much. It’s a fabled-story franchise and I put a bunch of pieces in place that kind of locked up after I left, but we didn’t get the job done and they made a change and they brought in a new GM and that’s how it works. I enjoyed my time in Toronto, the media coverage isn’t great at times, but it’s a great hockey market.
Q : What are some of the things that you are most proud of as the general manager of the Maple Leafs?
A: I think if you go back drafting Nazem Kadri, drafting Morgan Reilly and I think there are still five guys there that I drafted. Signing Tyler Bozak as a free agent, trading for James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel. I think I put some good pieces in place there, but again, you get judged by how many games you win, and we didn’t win enough games.
Q : Just recently you were with the Calgary Flames,
what are your thoughts on your tender with that franchise?
A: I loved the entire five years. It was fantastic living in Calgary – what a dream – I remember when I was younger I went to the Olympics in 1988 in Calgary when I was working
for the Canucks and I remember saying to Pat Quinn, my boss at the time, it would be a dream to work here some day and then I got a chance to work there. The people are wonderful, the city is beautiful. I enjoyed it very much.
Q : When you heard the news of Pat Quinn’s death in November 2014, what was going through your mind?
A: He was ill, so it wasn’t a surprise, but it was horrible loss for the hockey community and for Canada. We’re going to talk about Pat when we talk about leadership (at the President’s Dinner) he was a great leader, a great coach, a great GM and a great mentor and friend to me, so it was a sad day for me, but we had known it was coming for a while.
Q : At the President’s Dinner coming up at CBU, what are some of the things you will be talking about?
A: We will be talking about leadership and how you can teach it, how you can improve it and how you can define it. Leadership is the scarcest and most highly-compensated character trait in the history of the world. It’s an important thing and if we can refine how we teach leadership at CBU and kind of mold some of the students coming out there, that’s the goal.