Hiring this former Duck would fit the bill
CHICAGO - The inevitable became a done deal yesterday in Anaheim, where Brian Burke, the Ducks' president/general manager stepped down from his day-to-day running of the 2007 Cup champs, and in a matter of days will be able to begin a new job elsewhere in the NHL.
Unless you've just tunneled free from a very deep Winnipeg snowbank, rumors have been hot and heavy for a year or more that Burke, 53, will end up running the Maple Leafs. A source well connected to the Toronto organization noted here soon after John Ferguson Jr. was ditched as GM late last season that the Leafs had an agreement in place with Burke, and all that was left was for the Ducks to cut him free.
Now that he is free, Burke soon will field a number of offers, most likely with Toronto first in line - a line that could end right there. If so, look for Burke to be the Blue-and-White guru by Thanksgiving, if not sooner. Other than his much-loved hunting and fishing trips, he is not one who enjoys sitting around.
If Boston ownership is truly serious about getting the sagging spoked-B franchise really rolling again, now is the time to bring Burke to Boston. Club owner Jeremy Jacobs had that chance before, when Burke was let go as the Canucks' GM following the 2003-04 season, but opted to stay with his Harry Sinden-Mike O'Connell management team.
Burke signed in Anaheim in June 2004, and only some nine months later, Jacobs finally shook up the Causeway Street front office, canning O'Connell and soon thereafter moving Sinden to an easy-street advisory role. The job of club president, held by Sinden for decades, remains open, which would allow for Burke to move seamlessly, and perfectly, into the corporate infrastructure.
The senior Jacobs was not available for comment yesterday, but his son, Charlie, responded to a Globe e-mail request to comment about Burke.
"That is indeed a big news story if the reports are accurate," wrote the junior Jacobs. "Unfortunately, as you know, we are prohibited from commenting on any personnel issues related to other teams as defined by league rules. Therefore, on behalf of the Bruins and the Jacobs family, we have no comment at this time."
Peter Chiarelli, on the job as the Bruins' GM since the summer of 2006, also declined comment.
Burke, speaking via telephone from his Ducks office, only confirmed what he had to say in an afternoon news conference in Anaheim. His boss, Michael Schulman, will issue a letter around this time next week, officially empowering teams to negotiate with Burke.
"I'm not sure," said Burke, "what the job market is in November for a GM."
Given his success in Vancouver, where he revivified the moribund Canucks franchise, as well as the Cup he helped shepherd the Ducks to, Burke will be in huge demand.
Sinden, one of Burke's regular fishing and hunting companions, no doubt will advance his name with the elder Jacobs. Whether Jacobs cares to listen this time, no one knows. Jacobs has constantly praised Chiarelli from the time he hired him, and said here in the spring of 2007 that he would back his rookie GM should he decide to can first-year Bruins coach Dave Lewis. Weeks later, Chiarelli indeed fired Lewis, who has this year and next remaining on the four-year deal he signed in Boston only weeks after Chiarelli became GM.
Two other clubs to keep in mind in the Burke sweepstakes: Chicago and Ottawa. The Blackhawks, who lost to Chiarelli's Bruins last night, 2-1 in a shootout, have Dale Tallon in charge, but he is among the few holdover employees from the regime of the late Bill Wirtz. Burke would be a logical candiate for the Hawks, and he could arrive at an ideal time, with the franchise's fortunes on the rise. Ottawa has GM Bryan Murray running the show, but keep in mind that Burke and Roy Mlakar, the Senators' president and CEO, have been longtime, loyal pals. As of yesterday morning, the highly talented/underperforming Senators were tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference.
Make no mistake, Burke would come to Boston only if empowered to run the show. Could he work with Chiarelli? Without question. They are both bright, a couple of Harvard grads, and Chiarelli has joined Burke on a couple of his fishing trips to the Northwest. They are pals. When it came time for the Bruins to hire a GM, Burke publicly praised both Ray Shero and Chiarelli as the new era's young guns. Shero was offered the Boston job but opted to take over the Penguins. Chiarelli then took over the Bruins.
But Chiarelli, with only next year remaining on his deal, would have to defer to Burke, as he once did to John Muckler in Ottawa. He didn't come to the Hub of Hockey to play a supporting role. To date, he has had carte blanche to run the team to his liking, and has all but cleaned out the front office from the Sinden-O'Connell era. By many accounts, he and Sinden barely talk. Burke is not one to be caught up in titles. The bet here is that he would be comfortable with Chiarelli ascending to club presidency, as long as the soon-to-be-ex-Duck were left with complete autonomy in terms of all hockey decisions, from front office employees to Zamboni drivers.
It has become clear in his two years on the job that Chiarelli neither courts nor enjoys the spotlight. To aid him in that role, the club hired Hall of Fame winger Cam Neely, who said in a conversation Sunday, responding to a note here about Burke's then-pending availability, that he didn't feel it was time to make changes in the front office. Some stability finally taking hold and the club's record solid, Neely noted, status quo was the way to go.
Neely's point, given the franchise's failings the last 15 years, is certainly valid.
However, Burke is among the top two or three GMs in the game today. A case could be made that he is No. 1 in his field. Given Anaheim's sterling organizational record, minor league teams included, it's an easy case to make.
"Some people said, 'You're the most sought-after free agent now,' but I don't know that," Burke said in the news conference. "There's no way I'd have the nerve to go somewhere else if I hadn't won a championship. It validated me [when it came time to leave Anaheim]."
Burke walks it and he talks it. Boston is a franchise now with some momentum, but it needs more, especially in a consumer market grown drunk on, and conditioned to, championships (see Foxborough, Fenway, and the co-resident on Causeway Street).
Without question, Burke is the guy to help talk it up, grab media attention (his back-and-forths with NESN's Mike Milbury would be appointment TV), and add the overall roster toughness to reclaim the sizzle and magic that has been lost on Causeway Street for nearly a generation.
It's all right there now for the elder Jacobs. It is his time to step up.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. 