Burke finally has scored his ‘dream job’
Brian Burke’s career odyssey, which includes NHL general manager stints in Hartford, Vancouver, Anaheim, and Toronto, extended to new territory Tuesday when the players of the newly founded Professional Women’s Hockey League named him their union boss.
In keeping with tradition, Burke, 68, left his tie unknotted when accepting the job offer from Kendall Coyne Schofield. But contrary to his reputation for toughness and truculence, he also had a tear in his eye.
“I did, I burst into tears,” recalled Burke, reached in Pittsburgh, where he is recovering from the second of two knee replacement operations this summer. “It was supposed to be my second interview, so I wasn’t expecting the offer right then and there. It’s been a dream for me.”
The PWHL, with Boston one of its six franchises, opened a free agent signing period on Friday and will stage a 15round draft (90 players total) Sept. 18 in Toronto. The league schedule, to begin in January, will be 24 games for the upcoming season, likely to expand to 32 with an earlier start in 2024-25.
Burke, who signed a multiyear contract, is walking into a unique situation as labor boss, given that PWHL players earlier this summer agreed to an eightyear collective bargaining agreement. It’s a chunk of bedrock labor peace, noted Burke, that should help establish a strong growth platform for the league.
“This is a perfect storm. First, they are down to one league,” said Burke, noting the women no longer have competing leagues distracting and dividing customer attention. “Right away, that improves our chances of figuring this out. Second, ownership is a single-entity enterprise . . . all teams are owned by [Los Angeles Dodgers owner] Mark Walter [and investor Billie Jean King]. And then there’s the eight-year CBA. We’ve got a framework here of labor peace and a chance for prosperity right out of the gate.”
The league has yet to identify team names, or name or coaches (it named GMs on Friday). The Boston-based entry has been rumored to be considering a number of college rinks — Harvard or Boston University could be ideal — and possibly Tsongas Center, home to UMass Lowell.
Typically, negotiating contract terms ahead of an expiring CBA is what occupies most of a union executive director’s time and mental space. To have that deal in place aids Burke in offering his strong advocate’s voice to the women’s game — no doubt a factor in his being hired by the five-member executive committee that includes Brianne Jenner, Hilary Knight, Liz Knox, Sarah Nurse, and Coyne Schofield.
“I don’t think any group of athletes in the last 20 years has improved as much as women hockey players,” said Burke. “By the metrics of skating, shooting . . . the force of their shots, the plays they make, their hockey sense. When they finally got some coaching and [financial support] they responded amazingly. I said a few years ago, if other athletes in other sports improved as much as women hockey players, Usain Bolt would have run an eight-second 100-meter [dash] 10 years ago.”
Burke, who followed his GM stints with team president tours in Calgary and Pittsburgh, soon will move full time to Toronto and work there. Canada’s hockey mecca also is expected to be home office for the PWHL.
This moment in time, Burke believes, is where the women’s game launches into prominence, rivaling its sisters in tennis and soccer.
“A lot of people say they’re fans of women’s hockey, but they’re not,” said Burke. “It’s popular right now to say, ‘I’m a fan of women’s hockey.’ But I’ve been a fan since before Nagano [US women’s Olympic gold over Canada], and I’ve since gotten to know all the top players, watched them play, gone to international competition . . . so to me, this is a dream come true to have an opportunity to work with these women.”
Burke said he was confident he could have joined another NHL club’s front office in the coming months and already had talked with a couple of European teams about jobs, “but I wanted to jump in front of this one. I love the product.”
Burke briefly played hockey in the minor pros before graduating from Harvard Law School and setting up shop as a player agent in Boston in the early 1980s. His path to Cambridge was set in place before he graduated from Providence, when then-coach Lou Lamoriello slid the LSAT exam application across his desk and into Burke’s hands.
Burke looked at it, thanked Lamoriello, and said he’d consider it.
“You don’t understand,” said Lamoriello. “This isn’t a request.”
It’s quite possible that the PWHL contract will be the last one Burke signs in his work career.
“I hope it’s my last stop,” he said. “I’d like to be there for the next 10 years, so I hope it’s my last stop. I’d like to stay for as long as they want me. I like the people. I like the landscape. I really think this is an unprecedented opportunity for female hockey players.”